Status & Mindset Interventions
In her book Strength in Numbers: Collaborative Learning in Secondary Mathematics, Ilana Horn writes: “Judgements about who is smart based on prior achievement or social categories violate a fundamental principle of equity and are consequential: learning is not the same as achievement” (2012, p.20). The resources below were curated to help you redefine "smarts" in math, disrupt status divisions, develop growth mindsets, and foster a collaborative math community.
Anticipatory Planning
How often does your planning for math involve searching for the "best" problem and then thinking about how you want to teach the problem? It's safe to say this is how most of us approach(ed) lesson planning. The problem with this approach, however, is that it is teacher focused and neglects to consider how students might perceive and respond to the problem. Conversely, anticipatory planning focuses planning efforts on imagining how students might respond to a problem and using that information to plan questions that will push and clarify student thinking and build understanding by sequencing and connecting approaches students are already using.
If you've ever tried to facilitate constructivist math learning in your classroom and it fell short of your expectations, it's likely because the key factor, anticipatory planning, was missing! The template below can help you prepare to facilitate constructivist math learning in your classroom. Grab a planning buddy and give it a try!
Anticipatory Planning
How often does your planning for math involve searching for the "best" problem and then thinking about how you want to teach the problem? It's safe to say this is how most of us approach(ed) lesson planning. The problem with this approach, however, is that it is teacher focused and neglects to consider how students might perceive and respond to the problem. Conversely, anticipatory planning focuses planning efforts on imagining how students might respond to a problem and using that information to plan questions that will push and clarify student thinking and build understanding by sequencing and connecting approaches students are already using.
If you've ever tried to facilitate constructivist math learning in your classroom and it fell short of your expectations, it's likely because the key factor, anticipatory planning, was missing! The template below can help you prepare to facilitate constructivist math learning in your classroom. Grab a planning buddy and give it a try!
Research Lesson Study Overview
What is a Research Lesson?
A research lesson is designed to explore a specific mathematical and/or equity related teaching goal. During a research lesson, a teaching team introduces students to new learning and tests out a new lesson structure, pedagogical move, or task, and then collects data to determine how it impacted student learning. The lesson is also observed by two outside individuals: a content commentator and an equity commentator. The commentators provide feedback for the team during their debrief, including considerations for achieving or further building on the content and equity goals of the lesson.
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The lesson study research cycle consists of 8-10 hours of collaborative planning time and culminates in a research lesson event in which the team closely observes student thinking, followed by a lesson debrief. The two month cycle provides educator research teams enough time to explore a content area deeply and to become familiar with the thinking of 3-4 focus students to inform and guide their inquiry lesson.
This resource provides detailed agendas for 8 weekly one hour meetings that culminate in a research lesson study and debrief event. Teams can complete 2-3 research lessons over the course of an academic year and significant learning occurs throughout the inquiry process.
To view videos from research lessons including an overview of the research team inquiry process, visit our memorialization blog posts from some of our public research lessons:
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Overview
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Gather & Organize
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Research & Clarify
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Hopes and Dreams for Students
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Identify strengths & funds of knowledge
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Determine a research question and theory of action
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Determine a content and an equity goal
Research & Clarify
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Anticipate & Plan
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Plan the research lesson
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Anticipate student thinking
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Conduct a mock lesson!
Anticipate & Plan
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Observe & Collect Data
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Debrief & Look at Student Work
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What did focus students say or do?
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How well did the lesson achieve the content & the equity goals?
Reflect & Share
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We are grateful to JFF, KnowledgeWorks’, and the Student-Centered Learning Research Collaborative and its funders for their support. Learn more at sclresearchcollab.org
