‘I don’t know what to do”, ‘I can’t do this’, ‘It’s too hard’! Sound familiar in your maths lesson? As teachers, we can give into productive struggle and guide children explicitly through the maths process all the time and often we regularly need to. But what about problem solving and students sitting in the uncomfortable feelings of learning. Teachers don’t want to rob them from the triumph that comes with solving successfully. Are we stretching their learning if we provide all the answers? How will they transfer the skill if we do?
To experience true triumph in the light of problem solving, I believe that students need to build upon their bravery, persistence and resilience. Don’t get me wrong, there is a delicate balance with managing this and I don’t advocate for teachers to leave struggling students sitting in spaces beyond their learning capability. Our expertise informs us to judge accurately, when to hang the carrot, and when to step in.
Explicit teaching is also so very important. Juggling the need to teach explicit strategies, concepts and skills to problem solve are also important. However, through this post I am referring to providing the time for the application of skills. Where children have opportunities to practise, develop and stretch their skills beyond their capabilities because they are trusted & guided to try.
In some classrooms I’ve stepped in to teach in this way, my style of teaching is not received well by students. These are the places where students have not had much opportunity to problem solve, or are not used to having to sit with the uncomfortable feelings associated with learning maths and applying, generalising and problem solving. When I have persisted with this teaching style in the room, it has not taken long for the mood to change and the motivation to kick in. It works, children want to strive to improve, they want to be inspired and they want to succeed when presented with real and engaging maths. We can’t and shouldn’t spoon feed everything; we don’t want to destroy the joy of learning, instead let’s nurture, inspire and grow it.
I’ve left you a 3 Tiered Task here from my Year 3 & Year 4 Lesson Pack on Fractions: Equal Distance. You can grab the full Freebie here https://teachbuysell.com.au/l/1-freebie-year-3-year-4-fractions-equal-distance-lesson/68b7a216-a89c-4a9c-a508-1663fcc0a115
Give it a go tomorrow and let me know how it goes…
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Mrs Rowntree 