Schema is our brain's way of organizing our thoughts and experiences. It's the way we make sense of the world around us. As students engage in academic discourse in this course, they're revising, extending and building new schema around mathematics concepts. View this video to learn more about schema.
Facilitation plays a pivotal role in creating a classroom rich with academic discourse. Asking facilitation questions that focus on student thinking helps engage them in deeper learning around the concepts. Click through the slideshow for a few quick strategies.
For facilitation to be effective we must purposefully plan the types of questions we are going to ask ahead of time. The types of questions you ask should make students accountable for their thinking. The questions should address thinking that results in correct solution strategies and thinking that results in incorrect thinking strategies. Students should be engaged in processing, communicating, evaluating, considering the thoughts of others, and refining their own thinking.
Engaging students in discussions around the problem solving activities is a great way to explore connections, expand perspectives, and have students check and challenge each other. Have students share strategies, compare, and share their work. Click through the slide deck then watch the video to learn more about sharing student work.
Students use their My Thinking Path, exit tickets, student notebooks (including problems of the day, math journal prompt) to review all that they have learned. Engage them in a discussion around what they have learned.
Click the image to see the slide deck to get more information about My Thinking Path and Exit Tickets.
Reflection Poster
Extending the Learning
Learning Showcase and Celebration
*Parents, community members, school administrators, teachers, and board members should be invited to this showcase and celebration.