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

by Peter Liljedahl

information communicated from a teacher to a student who sees the topic as one big unit will only inform that student of what it is that they can do; but because they don’t have a clear picture of the whole unit and all its subtopics, they cannot see what there is still left to learn. The teacher, on the other hand, with their greater sense of the scope and scale of the topic, can use the information that is communicated from the student to determine what that student can do AND what they cannot yet do. In order for assessment to equally inform teaching and learning, we need to find ways to help students see mathematical topics as collections of subtopics, sections, and/or special cases the way teachers do, and to use this knowledge to inform themselves about what it is they can and cannot yet do.

“Relevancy needs to be closer to home. Why are syllables important? Because they help us read big words. Why do we need to know the difference between a simile and a metaphor? So we can use these techniques in our own writing to express ideas without being too obvious.” — The Teacher Clarity Playbook, Grades K-12: A Hands-On Guide to Creating Learning Intentions and Success Criteria for Organized, Effective Instruction (Corwin Literacy) by Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey, et al. https://a.co/deZhKQP