Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics, Grades K-12: 14 Teaching Practices for Enhancing Learning (Corwin Mathematics Series)

by Peter Liljedahl

Stalling - Like the students who slacked, these students did not attempt the task. Unlike the slackers, however, these students filled the time with legitimate off-task behaviors like sharpening a pencil, getting a drink of water, going to the bathroom, or endlessly rooting in their backpack for some vital piece of equipment. When interviewed, these students told us that they either didn’t know how to do the question or knew that if they just waited for a few minutes the teacher would go over it. Faking - Some students pretended to do the task but were, in reality, doing nothing. Faking involved studiously looking at the board, flipping pages in the textbook, appearing to ponder, and pretending to write something on their page. But, for all the bluster and show, nothing was being achieved. Like the stallers, these students were hiding behind legitimate student behavior. The difference was that while the stallers hide behind legitimate off-task behavior, the fakers hide behind legitimate on-task behavior. When we interviewed them, we learned that, like the stallers, these students either didn’t know how to do the task or were just killing time until the teacher went over it. Mimicking - Unlike