Another Question About My Methodology

There is something that is not working about my methodology. I have yet to get feedback from teachers about our work with number talks. I know this is an integral aspect to my research but I am having difficutly making it happen. Sometimes I feel like we didn't actualy do enough for them to be reflective. Although I always find something to be reflective about so why shouldn't they. Othertimes I just feel guilty that I am giving them one more thing to do. Should I have included my reflective questions about working with me around number talks in my general coaching cycle feedback form? I know it may seems silly but I think one form is just less overwhleming.

Learning by Doing

How does supporting teachers to implement number talks inform my coaching practice?

I was recently reminded of why doing the math we will teach is so important. Kelly, a first grade teacher and I are members of the same study group. Study groups are a PD opportunity where teachers, instructional leaders, and staff collaborate in small groups to learn about common topic of interest. This year my group is focusing on the Context for Learning program. We agreed to rotate the facilitator role for each study group session and Kelly volunteered to go first.  It was a string talk that she facilitated during our last meeting that provided me with this opportunity to reconnect with the experience of doing math. String talks are very similar to number talks and the reason why this anecdote is relevant to my research.

Kelly’s string talk was about looking at number on a Rekenrek. She did a quick image routine where she would quickly show us her number and arrangement of beads and we had to recreate the amount and then share how we saw it. I think, at first, everyone felt really silly doing this math together. As adults, it wasn’t challenging math. However, as we shared our individual thinking a very important idea about doing math came to light: There are lots of different ways or approaches to solving a problem. Even though the math was basic we were able to have a rich discussion about both content and pedagogy. 

I know logically that bringing a group of educators together to do some math can be a powerful experience but somehow I had become disconnected from the practice. With the very fast pace of our days doing math somehow got put on the back burner.  It has become an afterthought rather than the heart of my coaching work. At times, teachers and I will do math together but it happens off the cuff and usually because we have some extra time at the end of our planning session. I have had many conversations about how doing the math first provides insight and informs our planning but talking about it very different than actually doing it. I need to do better job of providing the time and space for teachers to engage with the mathematics they will teach. I need to support them in internalizing this as an integral part of their planning work by allowing them to experience and reflect upon its process and impact.   

The K Team

How does supporting teachers to implement number talks inform my coaching practice?

The 4 lead teachers on the kindergarten team share the same smart goal. As I discussed in my last post this is around enhancing student’s ability to explaining their thinking clearly and articulately and increasing student to student discourse. I am thinking that it would be useful to focus the coaching cycle with the K team on number talks. Although I have done work around number talks in other coaching cycles I have not yet made it our sole focus. Can I do this? I like the specificity of it but am wondering if the teacher will not feel supported in their workshops. How can we translate our work in number talk to the math workshop without losing focus?

The other piece I am thinking about is working with this team as a whole. At the moment my meetings have been individually based or co-teacher based. Since they all have the same goal it seems purposeful to be planning and reflecting on number talks as a team. I think this would also create a great opportunity for teachers to observe each other’s number talks and learn from each other.  When the team had worked with Iva during their literacy coaching cycle they had given feedback that they would have liked more team planning. They shared a literacy smart goal as well. Iva had done two meeting as a team, one at the beginning of the cycle and one at the end. I am wondering how often we should be looking at number talks as a team. Is it just a few times throughout the cycle or do we try to make this our regular practice?

Her Smart Goal Matches My Research

How does supporting teachers in implementing number talks inform my coaching practice?

Sharron, a kindergarten teacher, and I just completed our first planning session in our new coaching cycle. Sharron’s smart goal for the year is about supporting students to explain their mathematical thinking. In our conversation Sharron revealed that she had read most of the number talk book and watched the videos and felt inspired. She feels lucky to have a designated time in her week to have number talks with her girls. What a great opportunity for me and my research!

During our conversation I wanted to dig into her smart goal a bit. I set up my agenda as follows:

·         What does "explain their mathematical thinking" mean to you?

o   What does it look like, sound like, feel like?

o   Is this orally or in writing

o   Why is this goal important to you?

·         What have you and your studnets done so far in terms of explaining math thinking?

o   What are some highlights?

o   What are some aspects that you are thinking about?

Sharron shared a lot of valuable insights about where students are and where she would like them to go in terms of explaining their thinking and discourse. I feel that my agenda helped me gather the information I was looking for. I know that Sharron is seeing that some of her students get lost in the excitement of number talks and don’t often have the time they need to think or the opportunity to share. Sharron is planning on trying some parallel taught number talks with her fellow teacher. We also discussed students using the quiet thumb sign and teacher’s responsibility to provide think time. Some questions I am thinking about that may support Sharron in thinking more about this idea: Does math have to be done quickly? Why or how could speed support a student’s math ability? How do they develop that speed? When does speed enhance the learning when does it not make sense?

I had to explicitly ask Sharron to share something positives that she sees in her number talks or math class in general. It’s not that she was being negative but simply that she was focused on the things she is thinking about. It’s great that she is reflecting this way but I want her to also reflect on what is going well too.