• What are some things in this chapter that immediately feel correct? 

• What are some ways we may be communicating that mimics what we want students to do— even if that is not what we want? 

Ashley

The exact issue stated in the article is one that we face in our school and it is a TREMENDOUS challenge!! There is so much pressure for test-prep, hitting all the standards for "core content" for ILEARN, such wide academic gaps to close, increasing behavior issues, more and more added to our plates with MTSS, SEL, and so much to squeeze in, that there is literally only 10 minutes to just TALK AT the students about social sciences. When we're told to "integrate", that's great in theory, but then we're told to follow curriculum with fidelity and the two instructions are contradictory to each other. We already have so much "tweaking" of the curriculum that we do to meet the multitude of other expectations. Then because of this, my personal cognitive load becomes quickly spent and I have nothing left in me for creative thinking/problem solving to meet yet another expectation. This is one of the many times I feel like elementary teachers have to be the "jack of all trades, master of none", and it is exhausting!

I LOVE social sciences and understand the benefits and importance of teaching it! However, how exactly do we do that when we quite literally don't have the time? HALP! (-:

-Wheeler

Personally, I have always previewed those difficult words without realizing that I was taking away that opportunity. Also, I feel like dictionary, glossary, and thesaurus skills are weak. Hey Siri, what does ________ mean?

-Nathan Frazer

Teaching Content & Reading Simultaneously is strong evidence to be doing more science & social studies.

Kevin Fleming

Timothy Shanahan, from the 2nd article, believes that we should be teaching students how to determine what words mean using the context. He did something that really stood out to me. Instead of asking specifically what "uprooted means", he would ask students "what caused the animals to lose their food source?" This would force the students to activate background knowledge and see if they really comprehend the sentence. From this response, teachers can see if they need to take a step back and provide more scaffolding.

He also stated "we need to give students a chance to deal with these words in real reading situations." This is something that I am sure a lot of us struggle with, finding the balance of support and productive struggle.

-Allison

-Brittany

In this section of the chapter and podcast Peter shared that in my classrooms he notices that teachers were planning their instruction on the assumption that students either couldn't or wouldn't think of how to solve the problem or get to the answer. He then goes on to share why this is a common problem seen in my classrooms, in many grade levels. My biggest takeaway is giving students the opportunity to problem solve. Give them that opportunity to think and grow. I have noticed that in doing random grouping with some activities is that they can lean on one another.

I really would like to incorporate some of these "thinking" task at the beginning or end of math to challenge the kids. I plan to explore many types of task to meet the needs of all my students. The book said all students want to think deeply,I couldn't agree more!

Sara L

I also liked the idea of using a Word Wizard Box from the first article, “Vocabulary Development with ELLs.” This instructional strategy has students writing down words they heard on TV, home, in their community, etc. and putting them in a Word Wizard Box. At the end of each day, the teacher pulls out a word and the student that wrote the word shares where they heard the word and how the word was used. Students then practice using these words in discussions and in their writing. This instructional strategy builds student agency by encouraging students to pick what words they would like to learn more about, while also developing MLLs (all students) productive and receptive language knowledge.

-Jessica

The following thinking task provides an easy context for students to talk about math and to realize how this type of discussion should look, feel, and sound.

It's called the 100# task - modeling group work.

This is a task that involves each group member. Students are numbered (student 1, student 2, student 3). Student 1 finds the number 1 on a 100 board (numbers are placed randomly). Student 2 finds 2 and so forth, finding as many numbers in order as possible in 3 minutes. Meanwhile, the teacher takes pictures of the group working together. After 3 minutes, students discuss the task and view pictures of what group work looks like. Students are challenged to do the same task again and use a new strategy to find their numbers quicker.

This seems like an easy, low stress but high participation type activity that can help encourage future math thinking-task work.

~Susan

Something that also sounded right to me is that good problem solving should have a low floor to start (meaning any and all learners can find a point of entry), but they evolve in complexity allowing kids to talk and to collaborate.

I've noticed some of my students mimicking during Math even in Kindergarten. I loved when they discussed teaching and showing students what thinking is/how it helps us grow. I think the earlier we can start teaching them that it's okay to make mistakes while they are thinking and problem-solving, the more likely they are to build upon their thinking skills and create a really solid foundation.