A monolingual English-speaking teacher reflects on her experiences practicing a translanguaging stance in first grade with two multilingual learners and provides a set of guiding principles.
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Melissa Gunter
Asking students to write meaningfully about mathematics can be daunting! Help students learn to write with purpose.
Janice Novakowski
Mathematical storytelling is a way for young children to make connections between mathematics and their lives. The practices of using equations and materials are shared as sparks for mathematical storytelling.
Karen C. Fuson and Steve Leinwand
The power of Number Talks and extensions that can build to an equitable Math Talk Classroom
Margaret Rathouz, Nesrin Cengiz-Phillips, and Angela S. Krebs
Issues of equity in mathematics classrooms existed prior to COVID-19. For many students, however, meaningful participation in mathematical discussions became nearly impossible in online settings during the pandemic. In this study, we note the diversity in and nature of participation in mathematical discourse in an online course for preservice teachers (PSTs). We investigate the influence of implementing two support strategies for discussion: (a) establishing a “rough-draft/revision” orientation to mathematical tasks; and (b) providing time and structure (tasks and prompts) in an online discussion board for PSTs to post their initial thoughts, react to peers’ solutions, and collectively revise their ideas. In this article, we highlight several benefits of these support strategies to equitable PST participation in a unit on number theory. For example, as compared with oral discussions where only a few PSTs offered their ideas, the written discussion format encouraged every PST to post their ideas. Using a rough-draft/revision stance in the prompts fostered sharing and revealed diverse mathematical approaches, perspectives, and ideas. We argue that giving students opportunities to interact with one another and the mathematics in a variety of ways promotes equitable participation.
Chepina Rumsey, Jody Guarino, and Michelle Sperling
We describe how mathematical argumentation supports curiosity and exploration by sharing a first-grade lesson in which students explored decomposition with subtraction. We also reflect on the conditions that supported the inclusion of mathematical argumentation.
Stephanie D. Sigmon, Kelly Q. Halpin, Damien J. Ettere, and Jennifer Suh
This article models how to plan and facilitate implementing the same task in two sixth-grade classrooms with two different learning goals using the Five Practices structure.
Ashley Schmidt, Treshonda Rutledge, Tandrea Fulton, and Sarah B. Bush
Do you use mathematical discussions to increase engagement in your classroom? In this Front and Center article, authors provide a discourse tool that can be used to reveal potential biases found in the implementation of the Five Practices.
Victoria R. Jacobs, Susan B. Empson, Joan M. Case, Amy Dunning, Naomi A. Jessup, Gladys Krause, and D’Anna Pynes
The authors introduce an activity involving “follow-up equations” to connect with ideas children have already expressed during fraction problem solving.
George J. Roy, Kristin E. Harbour, Christie Martin, and Matthew Cunningham
Using this strategy, a teacher facilitates a short conversation during which students verbally explain and justify reasoning. We have found that a coordinated series of number talks supports students’ reasoning when comparing fractions.
