Talk with Your Hands

This post continues the series on building a math community.  As the saying goes, "Actions speak louder than words." Hand signals are powerful tools in the math classroom.  Students can all share their thinking at the same time without hearing a sound.  Amazing!  Learners are engaged and actively listening.  Lastly, these motions serve as real time formative assessment for the teacher. Such power!

Here are some favorites that I use.

• Thumb up right in front of your chest - This says, "I've had time to think and I have an idea."
• When students agree with the speaker, they hold up their thumb and pinky, folding down their three middle fingers, waving them to say, "I agree with you."  A student mathematican has a boost of confidence as peers make this motion, agreeing with the speaker's strategy or comment.
  
• After an idea has been shared, many times I ask students if they agree, disagree, or are still thinking, simply using their thumbs.  This same signal also works well when I ask student to self-assess their comfort level with a new strategy:  thumb up if they feel comfy; thumb down if they feel confused; and thumb sideways if they are starting to feel comfy.  It's a quick and effective way to take a pulse of the class.
  

  Agree	Disagree	Still thinking about it

Interested in how other teachers use hand signals.  Check out these Teaching Channel video clips: 

• https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/student-silent-signals
• https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/classroom-silent-communication-signals

As the school year starts, it's a perfect time to model hand signals and weave them into your math discussions.  They can actually be used throughout the day, too.  What are some ways you use hand signals to strengthen the math discussions in your classroom? Share your ideas.  We all learn from each other.

Supporting Students' Math Talk

This post continues the series centering on building a math community.  When starting a new school year with a new group of math students, as you start to have math discussions, it's the perfect time to introduce prompts to support student conversations.

In reading, students regularly turn and talk.  They learn to use sentence stems to grow a reading conversation.  Some favorites that I hear the students use include: "I can add on...", "This connects with...", "A different idea I have is...".  Why do we use these in reading?  They offer the students an entry point, a way to get started on their conversation.

This same structure is essential in math.  It's not easy for many young mathematicians to verbalize their thinking.  The use of prompts gives students a way to start or respond.

During the early days in math, introducing math talk prompts requires continuous modeling.  Then students need to practice using them.  It takes time, but it's time well spent.  As the prompts are introduced they can be displayed on a class chart and even taped onto students' math notebooks as tools for their conversations.  Like all new routines. with time the prompts become a natural part of the class' math conversations.  And the reward is deeper math discussions!

When students start to use the prompts freely, compliment them.  This will inspire others to use them more, too.  Some students may create their own sentence starters.  Add their ideas to the list.

What are some strategies you use to grow math conversations in your classroom?  Share your ideas.  We all learn from each other.