Latest / Rounding Up / Developing Student Agency: The Strategy Showcase with Tutita Casa, Anna Strauss, Jenna Waggoner, and Mhret Wondmagegne

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Developing Student Agency: The Strategy Showcase with Tutita Casa, Anna Strauss, Jenna Waggoner, and Mhret Wondmagegne · Rounding Up

0:03
When students aren't sure how to approach a problem,
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many of them default to asking the teacher for help.
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This tendency is one of the central challenges of teaching,
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walking the fine line between offering support and inadvertently cultivating
0:17
dependence. In this episode,
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we're talking with a team of educators about a practice called the Strategy
0:23
Showcase,
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designed to foster collaboration and help students engage with their peers
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ideas. Well,
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we have a full show today and I want to welcome all of our guests.
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So Anna Marette. Jenna Toda, welcome to the podcast.
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I'm really excited to be talking with you all about the strategy showcase.
0:46
Thank you. It's our pleasure. Thanks. Thank you.
0:49
So for listeners who've not read your article, Ana,
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could you briefly describe a strategy showcase?
0:55
So what is it and what could it look like in an elementary classroom?
1:00
So the main idea of the strategy showcase is to have students' work
1:05
displayed either on a bulletin board. I know Marette and Jenna,
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some of them use posters or whiteboards.
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It's a place where students can display work that they've either
1:17
started or that they've completed,
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and to become a resource for other students to use.
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It has different strategies that either students identified or you identified
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that serves as a place for students to go and reference if they need
1:34
help on a problem or they're stuck,
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and it's just a good way to have student work up in the classroom and give
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students confidence to have their work be used as a resource for others.
1:47
That was really helpful.
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I have a picture in my mind of what you're talking about,
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and I think for a lot of educators that's a really important starting point.
1:55
Something that really stood out for me in what you said just now,
1:58
but even in our preparation for the interview,
2:01
is the idea that this strategy showcase grew out of a common
2:06
problem of practice that you all and many teachers face.
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And I'm wondering if we can explore that a little bit. So Toda,
2:15
I'm wondering if you could talk about what Ana and Jenna and Marette
2:20
were seeing and maybe set the stage for the problem of practice that they were
2:24
working on and the things that may have led into the design of the strategy
2:28
showcase.
2:30
Yeah. I had the pleasure of teaching my co-authors when they were
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master students,
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and a lot of what we talk about in our teacher prep program is how
2:40
can we get our students to express their own reasoning?
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And that's been a problem of practice for decades now.
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The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics has led that work and to
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me I see is that idea of letting go
3:00
and really being curious about where students are coming from.
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So that reasoning is really theirs.
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So the question is what can teachers do?
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And I think at the core of that is really trying to find out
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what might be limiting students in that work. And so Anna,
3:20
Jenna, and Marette,
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one of the issues that they kept bringing back to our university classroom is
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just being bothered by the fact that their students across the elementary grades
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were just lacking the confidence and they knew that their students were
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more than capable.
3:37
Jenna,
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I wonder if you could talk a little bit about what did that actually look like?
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I'm trying to imagine what that lack of confidence translated into what you were
3:46
seeing potentially or what you and Ana and Marette were seeing in classrooms
3:49
that led you to this work.
3:52
Yeah, I know definitely we were reflecting, we were all in upper elementary,
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but we were also across grade levels anywhere from four to fifth grade all the
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way to sixth and seventh.
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And across all of those places when we would give students especially a word
4:02
problem or something that didn't feel like it had one definite answer or one way
4:07
to solve it or something that could be more open-ended,
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we a lot of times saw students either looking to teachers of,
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I'm not sure what to do, can you help me?
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Or just sitting there looking at the problem and not even approaching it or
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putting something on their paper or trying to think what do I know?
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A lot of times they didn't feel like there was one concrete approach to start
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the problem.
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They would shut down and feel like they weren't doing what they were supposed to
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or they didn't know what the right way to solve it was.
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And then that felt like kind of a halting thing to them.
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So we would see a lot of hesitancy and not that courage to just kind of be
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productively struggling.
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They wanted to either feel like there was something to do or they would kind of
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wait for teacher guidance on what to do.
4:42
So we're doing this interview and I can see Jenna and the audience who's
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listening, obviously Jenna, they can't see you, but when you said the right way,
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you used a set of air quotes around that.
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And I'm wondering if you or Anna or Marette would like to talk about this notion
4:56
of the right way and how when students imagined there was a right way
5:01
that had an effect on what you saw in the classroom.
5:05
I think it can be definitely,
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even if you're working on a concept like multiplication or division,
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whatever they've been currently learning,
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depending on how they're presented instruction,
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if they're shown one way how to do something but they don't understand it,
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they feel like that's how they're supposed to understand to solve the problem.
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But if it doesn't make sense for them or they can't see how it connects to the
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problem and the overall concept,
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if they don't understand the concept the most multiplication,
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but they've been taught one strategy that they don't understand,
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they feel like they don't know how to approach it.
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So I think a lot of it comes down to they're not being taught how to understand
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the concept, but they're more just being given one direct way to do something.
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And if that doesn't make sense to them or they don't understand the concepts
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through that,
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then they have a really difficult time of being able to approach something
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independently.
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I think Jenna offered a really nice segue here because you all were dealing with
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this question of confidence and with kids who when they didn't see a clear path
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or they didn't see something that they could replicate, just got,
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or for lack of a better word,
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they kind of turned to the teacher or imagined that that was the next step.
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And I was really excited about the fact that you all had designed some really
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specific features into the strategy showcase that addressed
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that problem of practice.
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So I'm wondering if you could just talk about the particular features or the
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practices that you all thought were important in setting up the strategy
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showcase and trying to take up this practice of a strategy showcase.
6:27
So we had three components in this strategy showcase.
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The first one, we saw it being really important, being open-ended tasks,
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and that combats what Jenna was saying of the right way.
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The questions that we asked didn't ask them to use a specific strategy.
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It was open-ended in a way that it asked them if they agreed or disagreed with a
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way that someone found an answer and it just was open to see
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whatever came to their mind and how they wanted to start the task.
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So that was very important as being the first component.
7:02
And the second one was the student work displayed,
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which Anna was talking about earlier.
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The root of this being we want students' confidence to grow and have their
7:12
voices heard. And so their work being displayed was very important,
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not teacher work or not an example being given to
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them,
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but what they had in their mind. And so we did that intentionally with having
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their names covered up in the beginning.
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We didn't want the focus to be on who did it,
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but just seeing their work displayed being worth it to be displayed and
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to learn from.
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And so their names were covered up in the beginning and it was on one side of
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the board. And then the third component was the students identified strategies.
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So that's when after they have displayed their individual work,
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we would come up as a group and talk about what similarities did we see or
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differences in what the students have used.
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And they start naming strategies out of that.
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They start giving names to the strategies that they see their peers using,
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and we identify and create this strategy that they are owning.
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So those are the three important components.
8:14
Okay. Wow. There's a lot there.
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And I want to spend a little bit of time digging into each one of these and I'm
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going to invite all four of you to feel free to jump in and just let us know
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who's talking so that everybody has a sense of that.
8:28
I wonder if you could talk about this whole idea that when you say open-ended
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tasks,
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I think that's really important because it's important that we build a common
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definition. So when you all describe open-ended tasks,
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let's make sure that we're talking the same language. What does that mean?
8:42
And I wonder if you want just jump in on that one.
8:46
Sure. Yeah. An open-ended task as it suggests,
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it's not a direct line where, for example,
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you can prompt students to say,
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you must use blank strategy to solve
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this particular problem. To me, it's just mathematical.
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That's what a really good rich problem is,
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is that it really allows for that problem solving that reasoning.
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You want to be able to showcase and really gauge where your students are,
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which as a side benefit is really beneficial to teachers because you
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can informatively assess where they're even starting with a problem
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and what approaches they try, which might not work out at first,
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which is okay,
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that's part of the reasoning process and they might try something else.
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So what's in their toolbox and what tool do they reach for first and how do they
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use it?
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I want to name another one that really jumped out for me.
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This was a big deal that everybody's strategy goes up.
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And Ana,
9:50
I wonder if you can talk about the value and the importance of everybody's
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strategy going up. Why did that matter so much?
9:57
I think it really helps. The main thing for confidence.
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I had a lot of students who in the beginning of starting the strategy showcase
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would start kind of like at least with a couple ideas, maybe a drawing,
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maybe they outlined all of the numbers,
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and it helps to see all of the strategies because even if you are a student
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who started out with maybe one simple idea and didn't get too far in the
10:22
problem, seeing up on the board maybe, oh,
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I have the same beginning as someone else who got farther into the
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problem. And really using that to be like,
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I can start a problem and I can start with different ideas,
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and it's something that can potentially lead to a solution.
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So there is a lot of value in having all of the work that
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everyone did because even something that is just the beginning
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of a solution, someone can jump in and be like, oh,
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I love the way that you outlined that,
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or you picked those numbers first to work on,
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let's see what we can use from the way that you started the problem to
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begin to work on a solution. So in that way,
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everyone's voice and everyone's decisions have value.
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And even if you just start off with something small,
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it can lead to something that can grow into a bigger solution.
11:23
Can I ask you about another feature that you mentioned?
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You talked about the importance at least initially of having names removed from
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the work.
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And I wonder if you could just expand on why that was important and
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maybe just the practical ways that you managed withholding the names,
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at least for some of the time when the strategy showcase was being set up.
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Can you talk about both of those please?
11:47
Yes. Yeah, I think all three of us when we were implementing this,
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we all kids are different.
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Some of them are very eager to share their work and have their name on it,
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but we had those kids that maybe they just started with a picture or whatever it
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may be. And so we saw their nerves with that and we didn't want that to
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just mask that whole experience.
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And so it was very important for us that everybody felt safe.
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And later we'll talk about group norms and how we made it a safe space for
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everyone to try different strategies.
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But I think not having their names attached to it helped them
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focus not on who did it,
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but just the process of reasoning and doing the work.
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And so we did that practically I think in different ways,
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but I just use tape,
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masking tape to cover up their names. I know some of,
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I think maybe Jenna you wrote their names are on their back of the paper instead
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of the front,
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but I think a way to not make the name focus is very
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important. And then hopefully by the end of it,
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our hope is that they would gain more confidence and want to name their strategy
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and say that that is who did it.
13:02
I want to ask a follow up about this because it feels like one of the things
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that this very simple,
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but I think really important idea of withholding who created the strategy or who
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did the work. I mean,
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I think I can say during my time in classrooms when I was teaching,
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there are kids that classmates kind of saw as really competent or strong
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in math.
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And I also know that there were kids who didn't think they were good at math
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or perhaps their classmates didn't think were good at math.
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And it feels like by withholding the names that would have a
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real impact on the extent to which work would be considered as
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valuable. Because you don't know who created it,
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you're really looking at the work as opposed to looking at who did the work and
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then deciding whether it's worth taking up.
13:51
Did you see any effects like that as you were doing this?
13:55
This is Jenna. I was going to say, I know for me,
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even once the names were removed,
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you would still see kids sometimes want to be like, oh, who did this?
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You could tell They still are almost very fixated on that idea of who is doing
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the work. So I think by removing it, it still was definitely good too.
14:09
With time, they started to less focus on who did this, and like you said,
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it's more taking ownership if they feel comfortable later down the road.
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But sometimes you would have several students would choose one approach,
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kind of what they've seen in classrooms,
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and then you might have a few other slightly difference of maybe drawing a
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picture or using division and connecting it to multiplication.
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And then you never wanted those kids to feel like what they were doing was
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wrong. Even if they chose the wrong operation,
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there was still value in seeing how that was connected to the problem or why
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they got confused.
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So we never wanted one or two students also to feel individually focused on if
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maybe what they did initially not wasn't correct,
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but maybe was leading 'em in the wrong direction,
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but still had value to understand why they chose to do that.
14:49
So I think just helping, again,
14:51
all the strategies work that they did feel valuable and not having any one
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particular person feel like they were being focused on when we were reflecting
14:57
on what we put up on display.
15:00
I want to go back to one other thing that Marette you mentioned,
15:03
and I'm going to invite any of you again to jump in and talk about this,
15:07
but this whole idea that part of the prompting that you did when you invited
15:11
kids to examine the strategies was this question of do you agree or do you
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disagree?
15:17
And I think that's a really interesting way to kind of initiate
15:22
students' reflections.
15:23
I wonder if you can talk about why this idea of do you agree or do you disagree
15:28
was something that you chose to engage with when you were prompting kids?
15:32
And again, any of you all are welcome to jump in and address this.
15:37
It's Anna.
15:38
I think one of the reasons that we chose and agree or disagree is because
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students are starting to look for different ways to
15:47
address the problem at hand. Instead of being like,
15:50
I need to find this final number or I need to find this final
15:55
solution, it's kind of looking,
15:58
how did this person go about solving the problem? What did they use?
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And it gives them more of an opportunity to really think about what they would
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do and how what they're looking at helps
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in any way.
16:13
And then this is Jenna.
16:14
I was also going to add on that I think by being agree or disagree versus being
16:18
like, yes, I got the same answer,
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and I feel like the conversation just kind of ends at that point.
16:22
They could even be like, I agree with the solution that was reached,
16:25
but I would've solved it this way or my approach was different.
16:28
So I think by having agree or disagree, it wasn't just focusing on yes,
16:31
this is the correct number, this is the correct solution,
16:34
and more focused on again,
16:35
that approach and the different strategies that could be used to reach one
16:38
specific solution.
16:39
That was the answer or the correct thing that you're looking for.
16:42
And this is Tutta,
16:43
and I agree with all of that and I can't help but going back just to the word
16:48
strategy, which really reflects students' reasoning,
16:52
their problem solving argumentation really it's
16:57
not a noun, it's a verb.
16:59
It's a very active process and sometimes
17:04
we as teachers,
17:05
we're so excited to have our students get the right answer
17:10
that we forget. The fun in mathematics is trying to figure it out.
17:15
And I can't help but think of an analogy,
17:18
so many people love to watch sports.
17:20
I know Jenna's a huge Yukon women's basketball fan
17:25
big time. Or if you're into football,
17:28
whatever it might be that there's always that goal.
17:32
You're trying to get as many more points and as many as you can,
17:37
more points in the other team.
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And there are a lot of different strategies to get there,
17:41
but we appreciate the fact that the team is trying to move forward and
17:45
individuals are trying to move forward. So it's that idea with the strategy,
17:50
we need to as teachers really open up that space to allow
17:55
that to come out and progressively in the end,
18:00
we're moving forward even though within a particular timeframe,
18:04
it might not look like we are quite yet. I like the word yet,
18:08
but it's really giving students the time that they need to figure it out
18:12
themselves to deepen their understanding.
18:15
Well, I will say as a former Twin Cities resident,
18:18
I've watched Paige Becker's for a long time and.
18:21
There we go.
18:22
In addition to being a great shooter,
18:24
she's a pretty darn good passer and moves the ball.
18:27
And in some ways that kind of connects with what you all are doing with kids,
18:30
which is that moving ideas around a space is
18:35
really not that different from moving the ball in basketball and that you have
18:38
the same goal in scoring a basket or reaching understanding,
18:42
but it's the exchange that is actually the things that sometimes makes that
18:46
happen.
18:46
I love it. Thank you. Nice job.
18:50
I wanted to go back to this notion that you were talking about,
18:54
which is Cona,
18:55
the strategies as you were going through and reflecting on them.
18:59
I wonder if you could talk a little bit about what does cona mean and why was it
19:04
important as a part of the process?
19:08
Yeah, so I think the idea of Cona and co
19:13
identifying the strategies was important. Just to add on to the idea,
19:18
we wanted it all to be about the students and their voice and it's their
19:22
strategy and they're discussing and coming up with everything and we know of the
19:27
standard names of strategies like standard algorithm or whatever,
19:31
but I think it gave them an extra confidence when it was like, oh,
19:36
we want to call it,
19:39
I forgot the different names that they would come up with for strategies.
19:43
I think Jen, I think they had said maybe stacking numbers, something like that.
19:46
They would put their own words. It wasn't standard algorithm,
19:48
be like we're going to stack the numbers on top of each other,
19:50
I think was maybe one they had said.
19:53
So I think it added to that collaboration within the group that they were in and
19:58
also just them owning their strategy. And so yeah.
20:02
That leads really nicely into my next question and Ana,
20:05
this is one I was going to pose to you,
20:07
but everyone else is certainly welcome to contribute.
20:10
I'm wondering if you could talk a little bit about what happened when you all
20:14
started to implement this strategy showcase in your classroom.
20:18
So what impacts did you see on students' efficacy, their confidence,
20:23
the ways that they collaborated? Could you talk a little bit about that?
20:26
So I think one of the biggest things that I saw that I was very proud of
20:31
was there was less of a need for me to become part of the conversation as the
20:36
teacher because students were more confident to build off of each other's
20:40
ideas instead of me having to jump in and be like, alright,
20:44
what do we think about what this person did? Students,
20:47
because their work became more anonymous and because everyone was kind of
20:52
working together and had different strategies,
20:55
they were more open to discussing with each other or working off
21:00
of each other's ideas because it wasn't just,
21:03
I don't know how to do this strategy.
21:05
It was working together to really put the pieces together and come to a final
21:09
agree or disagree.
21:11
So it really helped me almost figure out where
21:16
students are and it brought the confidence into the students without me having
21:21
to step in and really officiate the conversation.
21:25
So that was the really big thing that I saw at least in some of my groups,
21:29
was that huge confidence and more communication happening.
21:34
Yeah, this is marette. I think it was very exciting too,
21:39
like Anna saying that them getting excited about their work
21:43
and everything up on the board is their work.
21:47
And so seeing them with a sticky note,
21:49
trying to find the similarities and differences between strategies and getting
21:53
excited about what someone is doing,
21:56
I think that was a very good experience and feeling for me because of
22:01
the confidence that I saw grow through the process of the kids,
22:04
but also the collaboration of it's okay to use what other people know
22:09
to build upon the things that I need to build upon.
22:13
And so I think it just increased collaboration,
22:15
which I think is really important when we talk about reasoning and strategies.
22:20
Which actually brings me to my next question, and Jenna,
22:23
I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about what did you see in the
22:26
ways that students were reasoning around the mathematics or engaging in problem
22:31
solving?
22:32
Yeah, I know one specific example that stood out was again,
22:36
that initial thing of when we gave a student a problem,
22:38
they would look to the teacher and a little bit later on in the process when
22:41
giving a problem, we had done putting the strategies up, the names,
22:45
and then they were trying a similar problem independently.
22:48
And one of my students right off the bat had that initial reaction that we
22:51
would've seen a few weeks ago of being like, I don't know what to do.
22:53
And she put a question mark on the paper.
22:56
So I gave her a minute and then she looked at me and I said,
22:58
look at this strategy,
22:59
look at what you and your classmates had done to come together.
23:01
And then she got a little redirection, but it wasn't me telling her what to do.
23:04
And from there I stepped away and let her just reference that tool that was
23:07
being displayed. From there, she was able to show her work,
23:11
she was able to choose a strategy she wanted to do,
23:13
and she was able to give her answer of whether she agreed or disagreed on what
23:16
she had seen. So I think it was just again,
23:17
that moment of realizing that what I needed to step in and do was a lot smaller
23:21
than it had previously been,
23:22
and she could use this tool that we had created together and that she had
23:25
created with her peers to help her answer that question. I.
23:28
Think to add onto that, it's Anna,
23:31
there was a huge spike in efficiency as well because all these
23:36
different strategies were being discovered and brought to light and put onto the
23:40
strategy showcase. Maybe if we're talking about multiplication,
23:43
if some student had repeated addition in the beginning and
23:48
they're repeatedly adding numbers together to find
23:53
a multiplication product, they're realizing, oh my goodness,
23:56
I can do this so much more efficiently if I use
24:01
this person's strategy or if I try this one instead.
24:05
And it gives them the confidence to try different things instead of getting
24:08
stuck in the rut of saying,
24:09
this is my strategy and this is the way that I'm going to do it,
24:12
they became a little more explorative and they wanted to try different things
24:16
out or maybe draw a picture and use that resource to differentiate their
24:21
math experience.
24:24
I want to mark something here that seems meaningful,
24:26
which is this whole notion that you saw this spike,
24:29
but the part that I'm really contemplating is when you said kids were
24:34
less attached to this is my strategy and more willing to adopt some of
24:39
the ideas that they saw coming out of the group that feels really,
24:44
really significant,
24:45
both in terms of how we want kids to engage in problem
24:49
solving and also in terms of efficacy.
24:53
That really I think is one to ponder for folks who are listening to the
24:57
podcast is the effect on students' ability to be more flexible in
25:02
adopting ideas that may not have been theirs to begin with.
25:06
Thank you for sharing that. Ana.
25:07
I wonder if you could also spend a bit of time talking about some of the ways
25:11
that you held onto or preserve the insights and the strategies that
25:16
emerged during a showcase.
25:18
Are there artifacts or ways that a teacher might save what came from a
25:22
strategy showcase for future reference?
25:25
So I think the biggest thing as a takeaway and something to hold
25:30
onto as a teacher who use the strategy showcase
25:35
is the ability to take a step back and allow students to utilize the
25:40
resources that they created.
25:43
And I think something that I used is I had a lot
25:47
of intervention time and time where students were able to work in small
25:52
groups and work together in teams and that sort of thing,
25:57
keeping their strategies and utilizing them in groups.
26:01
Remember when this person brought up this strategy,
26:04
maybe we can build off of that and really utilizing their work and carrying it
26:08
through instead of just putting it up and taking it down and putting up another
26:13
one.
26:13
Really bringing it through and any student work is valuable.
26:18
Anything that a student can bring to the table that can be used in the future,
26:23
like holding onto that and giving them that confidence.
26:26
Remember when this person brought up that we can use a picture to help solve
26:31
this problem.
26:32
Bringing that back in and recycling those ideas and
26:37
bringing back in not just something that the teacher came up with,
26:41
but what another student came up with helps any student's confidence in the
26:45
classroom.
26:47
So I want to ask a question and TDA and Marette,
26:50
I'm hoping you all can weigh in on this.
26:52
If an educator wanted to implement the strategy showcase in their classroom,
26:56
I want to explore a bit about how we could help them get started and tota,
27:00
I think I want to start with you and just say from a foundational
27:05
perspective of building the understanding that helps support something like a
27:09
strategy showcase. What do you think is important?
27:13
I actually think there are two critical things.
27:15
The first is considering the social aspect and just building off of what
27:20
was saying is if you listen carefully,
27:24
she's really honoring the individual. So instead of saying, look,
27:29
that there was this paper up there as teachers,
27:34
we have a lot on our walls.
27:36
It's actually naming the student and honoring that student,
27:39
even though it's something that as a teacher, you're like, yes, someone said it.
27:44
I want them to actually think more about that.
27:47
But it's so much more powerful by giving students the credit for
27:52
the thinking that they're doing to continue to advance that.
27:57
And all that starts with assuming that students can,
28:01
oftentimes at the elementary level,
28:04
we tend to overlook that they're so cute, especially those kindergartens pre-K,
28:09
kindergarten, but it's amazing what they can do.
28:13
So if you start with assuming that they can and waiting for their response,
28:17
then following up and nurturing that,
28:20
I think you as teachers will get so much more from our students
28:25
and starting with that confidence. And that brings me to the next point
28:30
that I think listeners who teach
28:35
in the upper elementary grades or maybe middle school or high school might be
28:38
like, oh, this sounds great. I'll start with them,
28:42
but I want to caution that those students might be even more reticent
28:47
because they might think that to be a good math student,
28:51
you're supposed to know the answer, you're supposed to know it quickly,
28:54
and there's one strategy you're supposed to use. And so in fact,
28:58
I would argue that probably those really cute pre-K and kindergartners will
29:03
probably be more open because if anyone has asked
29:08
a primary student to explain what they have down on paper 83
29:13
minutes later, the story will be done.
29:15
And so it might take time.
29:19
You have to start with that belief and just really going with where your
29:23
class and individuals are socially.
29:26
Some of them might not care that you use their name, others might,
29:29
and that might take time.
29:31
So taking the time and finding different ways to stay with that belief
29:36
and make sure that you're transferring it to students once they have it.
29:40
As you can hear a lot of what my co-authors mentioned,
29:44
then they take it from there,
29:46
but you have to start with that belief at the beginning that elementary students
29:49
can.
29:51
Marette. I wonder if you'd be willing to pick up on that,
29:53
because I find myself thinking that the belief aspect of this is absolutely
29:58
critical,
29:59
and then there's the work that a teacher does to build a set of norms or
30:04
routines that actually bring that belief to life,
30:08
not only for yourself but for students.
30:10
I wonder if you could talk about some of the ways that a teacher might set
30:15
up norms, set up routines,
30:17
maybe even just set up their classroom in ways that support the showcase.
30:22
Yeah, so practically,
30:24
I think for the strategy showcase,
30:27
an important aspect is finding a space that's accessible to
30:32
students because we wanted them to be going back to it to use it as a resource.
30:37
So some of us used a poster board, a whiteboard,
30:40
but a vertical space in the room where students can go and see their
30:45
work up I think is really important so that the classroom can feel like there's,
30:50
and then we also did a group norm during our first meeting with the
30:54
kids where we co-constructed group norms with the kids of like,
30:59
what does it look like to disagree with one another?
31:01
If you see a strategy that you haven't used,
31:04
how can you be kind with our words and how we talk about different strategies
31:08
that we see up there.
31:10
I think that's really important for all grades in elementary because some kids
31:15
can be quick to their opinions or comments,
31:19
and then providing resources that students can use to share their
31:24
idea or have their idea on paper I think is important. If that's ticking
31:29
notes, a blank piece of paper pencils,
31:32
just practical things like that where students have access to resources where
31:36
they can be thinking through their ideas. And then, yeah,
31:40
I think just constantly affirming their ideas that as a teacher,
31:44
I think I teach second grade this year and very
31:49
different for fourth graders that I student taught,
31:51
but I think just knowing that every kid can do it are able,
31:56
they have a lot in their mind and I think affirming what you see and building
32:01
their confidence does a lot for them.
32:03
And so I think always being positive in what you see and starting with
32:08
what you see them doing and not the mistakes or problems that are not important.
32:13
Jenna, before we go, I wanted to ask you one final question.
32:17
I wonder if you could talk about the resources that you drew on when you were
32:21
developing the strategy showcase.
32:23
Are there any particular recommendations you would have for someone who's
32:26
listening to the podcast and who wants to learn a little bit more about the
32:28
practices or the foundations that would be important or anything else
32:33
that you think it would be worth someone reading if they wanted to try to take
32:37
up your ideas?
32:39
In general? When we were developing this project,
32:41
a lot of it again came from our seminar class that we did at Yukon with tta,
32:44
and we had a lot of great resources that she provided us.
32:47
But I know one thing that we would see referenced throughout our article is the
32:51
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.
32:54
I think it's just really important that when you're building ideas to one,
32:56
look at research and projects that other people are doing to see connections
32:59
that you can build on from your own classroom,
33:02
and then also talking with your colleagues.
33:03
A lot of this came from us talking and seeing what we saw in our classrooms and
33:07
commonalities that we realized that we're in very different districts,
33:10
we're in very different grades and what classrooms look like.
33:12
Some of us were helping pushing into a general ed classroom.
33:15
Some of us were taking kids for small groups.
33:17
But even across all those differences,
33:19
there were so many similarities that we saw rooted in how kids approach problems
33:23
or how kids thought about math.
33:25
So I think also it's just really important to talk with the people that you work
33:27
with and see how can you best support the students.
33:30
And I think that was one really important thing for us,
33:32
that collaboration along with the research that's already out there,
33:35
that people have done.
33:37
Well, I think this is a good place to stop,
33:38
but I just want to say thank you again.
33:40
I really appreciate the way that you unpack the features of the strategy
33:44
showcase the way that you brought it to life in this interview,
33:47
and I'm really hopeful that for folks who are listening,
33:49
we've offered a spark and other people will start to take up some of the ideas
33:53
and the features that you described.
33:55
Thanks so much to all of you for joining us.
33:57
It really has been a pleasure talking with all of you.
34:00
Thank you. Thank you, thank you. Thank you so much.
34:06
This podcast is brought to you by the Math Learning Center and the Meyer Math
34:10
Foundation dedicated to inspiring and enabling all individuals to
34:14
discover and develop their mathematical confidence and ability.
34:26
I.