The POWER of 4 Little Words!
I am pretty sure that I am not the original author of this powerful saying, but I am absolutely positive that I say these words more than any other words during mathematical conversations with students.
Indulge me as I tell a little side story to offer some background information: When working with teachers, I regularly talk about my "Teacher Wall" because it is one of the things in my career that was very simple to implement, and yet, has had some of the greatest impact on my own instruction. My Teacher Wall held a simple 8-1/2 by 11 piece of paper with the words "How Do You Know?" for an entire school year and eventually these words fell out of my mouth before I even thought about it when I was teaching - especially during math time.
...so what is a Teacher Wall?
Early in my career I realized that I often answered my own questions in class – who knows if my students knew the answers or not – it seems that I was just too impatient to find out. Somewhere around my fourth year of teaching, I had a principal who was amazing at using Wait Time (on students and with staff!). If you went to her with a problem, she would listen and let you talk it through and, by the time you left, you had a solution – she, however, had hardly said a word. I began to notice that I did not give my students the same kind of time and space that my principal gave me to work through things, so I went on a mission to become skilled at Wait Time. It seems, though, that the hardest part of a mission is remembering that you are on a mission. What to do?
I decided to make myself a simple sign to remind me to use Wait Time – it simply said, in big block letters (all CAPS) on a piece of white copy paper, WAIT TIME! And that was the start of my teacher wall – where a single sign hung every year after that year. The sign was not the same, but the intent was: What do I want to do better this year?
WAIT TIME stayed on the wall for three years (!) until I finally felt like I had mastered the art of using it during instruction. For the fourth year of my Teacher Wall, I posted a sign that said, "ASK MORE THAN YOU TELL" which eventually gave way to the specific question of "HOW DO YOU KNOW?"
Signs have followed, but "How Do You Know?" has become somewhat of an anthem for me.
Last week I was visiting a first grade classroom where one of the activities during Math Workshop was to place numbered cards in the correct place on a 100s chart. As I watched the student placing cards and then rearranging cards that had already been (mis)placed, those words just fell out of my mouth, "How do you know that number goes there?"
Student: I just know.
Me: (Undaunted and always intrigued to discover more about students' thinking, I pressed on)
How do you know the 41 goes there and not in this pocket?" (I point to the spot where 42 would go).
Student: Because that isn't the right spot.
Me: How do you know it would not be the right spot?
(Long pause.Very long)
Student: Because it's a pattern.
(I had to work hard to contain my excitement as I was hopeful that a conversation about mathematical patterns was beginning to emerge ... patience, Dawn, patience ... use what you know about Wait Time!)
Me: (I remain silent)
Student: See... all of these numbers have a 1 (he points to the ones place of each number in the first column). The numbers in this row (column) will have a 2, so 41 can't go in that pocket - that would be 42.
Our conversation continues for a few more sentences - I can tell he is beginning to formulate new ideas in his mind about the patterns he explained to me and the ones he was not (yet) able to explain. The classroom timer goes off and my new 100s chart friend moves on to his next workshop station where he will be building numbers with base ten blocks that he rolls on a pair of dice.
I decided to make myself a simple sign to remind me to use Wait Time – it simply said, in big block letters (all CAPS) on a piece of white copy paper, WAIT TIME! And that was the start of my teacher wall – where a single sign hung every year after that year. The sign was not the same, but the intent was: What do I want to do better this year?
WAIT TIME stayed on the wall for three years (!) until I finally felt like I had mastered the art of using it during instruction. For the fourth year of my Teacher Wall, I posted a sign that said, "ASK MORE THAN YOU TELL" which eventually gave way to the specific question of "HOW DO YOU KNOW?"
Signs have followed, but "How Do You Know?" has become somewhat of an anthem for me.
Last week I was visiting a first grade classroom where one of the activities during Math Workshop was to place numbered cards in the correct place on a 100s chart. As I watched the student placing cards and then rearranging cards that had already been (mis)placed, those words just fell out of my mouth, "How do you know that number goes there?"
Student: I just know.
Me: (Undaunted and always intrigued to discover more about students' thinking, I pressed on)
How do you know the 41 goes there and not in this pocket?" (I point to the spot where 42 would go).
Student: Because that isn't the right spot.
Me: How do you know it would not be the right spot?
(Long pause.Very long)
Student: Because it's a pattern.
(I had to work hard to contain my excitement as I was hopeful that a conversation about mathematical patterns was beginning to emerge ... patience, Dawn, patience ... use what you know about Wait Time!)
Me: (I remain silent)
Student: See... all of these numbers have a 1 (he points to the ones place of each number in the first column). The numbers in this row (column) will have a 2, so 41 can't go in that pocket - that would be 42.
Our conversation continues for a few more sentences - I can tell he is beginning to formulate new ideas in his mind about the patterns he explained to me and the ones he was not (yet) able to explain. The classroom timer goes off and my new 100s chart friend moves on to his next workshop station where he will be building numbers with base ten blocks that he rolls on a pair of dice.
...
