Maths Session

Yesterday I had a go at trialing a new way of teaching maths. I have been reading about communities of Maths and rich mathematical tasks. I split the class into two groups (about 15 students in each group). We talked about how we will be working today (Sharing our strategies, not worrying just about the answer, supporting others, talking and arguing). The word 'arguing' had such negative connections for these kids so we talked about arguing in maths and how lots of professionals argue to help them understand and problem solve. We went over the success criteria and looked at the problem. This session was so different to our past ones where we focus on a strategy. The students at first were stuck on what the problem was asking. ( I resisted the urge to tell them) I gave them a problem-solving poster as a tool which helped them understand what the question was actually asking. They managed to work out what the problem was asking and began using strategies to solve the problem. It was interesting watching students, you could quickly pick up on any misconceptions / and gaps in their learning. In the end, both groups managed to solve the equation using multiple strategies. The children recognized the need to know lots of different strategies to help them solve different problems. 

The feedback I got from the lesson was the students loved the maths session, they were all engaged and thinking critically about the problem. They said they wanted our maths sessions to be like this every day.

So what??

I am going to try and do these problem-solving session twice a week, and the other 3 maths session will be opt-in workshops where we learn different strategies or work on our specific number knowledge. The students will sign into the workshop at the start of the week via a google form. 

https://nzmaths.co.nz/mathematics-inquiry-communities