The Power of Math Discourse

Promoting math discourse in our classrooms is essential to fostering critical thinking, building a resilient learner, and promoting student collaboration. 

• Fostering Critical Thinking: Math discourse encourages students to think critically. By discussing mathematical concepts, students must explain their thought processes, justify their answers, and challenge their peers' thinking. This process helps them better understand the material and promotes higher-level thinking skills.

• Building a Resilient Learner: Effective math discourse can help create a growth mindset among students. When they see that their ideas and contributions are valued, they become more open to taking risks, making mistakes, and learning from them. This mindset shift is crucial in building resilience and confidence in tackling math challenges.

• Promoting Student Collaboration: Math discourse is powered by effective communication and collaboration. Students must learn to articulate their ideas clearly and concisely. This skill is transferable to various aspects of life and future careers, making math discourse essential to a well-rounded education.

How can I encourage math discourse in my classroom? 

• Encourage a classroom atmosphere where students feel safe to ask questions, share their thoughts, and make mistakes without fear of judgment.

• Instead of asking yes-or-no questions, use open-ended ones that require students to explain their reasoning. Consider getting your students thinking with non-curricular and curricular tasks. Review the storyboard in your course landing page to view rich task ideas! 

• Use collaborative activities where students can learn from one another and develop problem-solving skills. Having students work on their Whiteboards together is a great example of encouraging collaboration in your classroom. 

• Offer support when necessary, allowing students to explore solutions and productively struggle independently. Meaningful plan “huddles” for when students work collaboratively to gather to formalize learning or provide advancing questions to the group. 

• PLAN for discourse. Review prior knowledge and common misconceptions in relation to the concepts/task in advance. Prepare questions for assessing and advancing student thinking in advance. This discourse guide is a great tool to begin with when planning discourse. 

More Resources: 

The resources below are from the summer conference Essential Session: Evidence of Student Thinking Through Math Discourse