5 Ways to Stop Thinking for Your Students
Too often math students lean on teachers to think for them, but there are some simple ways to guide them to think for themselves.
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Who is doing the thinking in your classroom? If you asked me that question a few years ago, I would have replied, 鈥淢y kids are doing the thinking, of course!鈥� But I was wrong. As I reflect back to my teaching style before I read by Peter Liljedahl (an era in my career I like to call 鈥減re-thinking classroom鈥�), I now see that I was encouraging my students .
My lessons followed a formula that I knew from my own school experience as a student and what I had learned in college as a pre-service teacher. It looked like this: Students faced me stationed at the board; I demonstrated a few problems while students copied what I wrote in their notes. I would throw out a few questions to the class to assess understanding. If a few kids answered correctly, I felt confident that the lesson had gone well. Some educators might call this 鈥�.鈥�
What鈥檚 wrong with this formula? When it was time for them to work independently, which usually meant a homework assignment because I used most of class time for direct instruction, the students would come back to class and say, 鈥淭he homework was so hard. I don鈥檛 get it. Can you go over questions 1鈥�20?鈥� Exhausted and frustrated, I would wonder, 鈥淏ut I taught it鈥攚hy didn鈥檛 they get it?鈥�
Now in the 鈥減eri-thinking classroom鈥� era of my career, my students are often working at the whiteboards in random groups as outlined in Liljedahl鈥檚 book. The pendulum has shifted from the teacher doing the thinking to the students doing the thinking. Do they still say, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 get it!鈥�? Yes, of course! But I use the following strategies to put the thinking back onto them.
5 Ways to Get Your Students to Think
1. Answer questions with a refocus on the students鈥� point of view. Liljedahl found in his research that students ask three types of questions: 鈥�(1) proximity questions鈥攁sked when the teacher is close; (2) stop thinking questions鈥攎ost often of the form 鈥榠s this right鈥� or 鈥榳ill this be on the test鈥�; and (3) keep thinking questions鈥攓uestions that students ask so they can get back to work.鈥� He suggests that teachers acknowledge 鈥減roximity鈥� and 鈥渟top thinking questions鈥� but not answer them.
Try these responses to questions that students ask to keep working:
- 鈥淲hat have you done so far?鈥�
- 鈥淲here did you get that number?鈥�
- 鈥淲hat information is given in the problem?鈥�
- 鈥淒oes that number seem reasonable in this situation?鈥�
2. Don鈥檛 carry a pencil or marker. This is a hard rule to follow; however, . Use verbal nudges and hints, but avoid writing out an explanation. If you need to refer to a visual, find a group that has worked out the problem, and point out their steps. Hearing and viewing other students鈥� work is more powerful.
3. We instead of I. When I assign a handful of problems for groups to work on at the whiteboards, they are tempted to divvy up the task. 鈥淵ou do #30, and I鈥檒l do #31.鈥� This becomes an issue when they get stuck. I inevitably hear, 鈥淐an you help me with #30? I forgot how to start.鈥�
I now require questions to use 鈥渨e鈥� instead of 鈥淚.鈥� This works wonders. As soon as they start to ask a question with 鈥淚,鈥� they pause and ask their group mates. Then they can legitimately say, 鈥�We tried #30, and we are stumped.鈥� But, in reality, once they loop in their group mates, the struggling student becomes unstuck, and everyone in the group has to engage with the problem.
4. Stall your answer. If I hear a basic computation question such as, 鈥淲hat is 3 divided by 5?鈥� I act like I am busy helping another student: 鈥淗old on, I need to help Marisela. I鈥檒l be right back.鈥� By the time I return to them, they are way past their question. They will ask a classmate, work it out, or look it up. If the teacher is not available to think for them, they learn to find alternative resources.
5. Set boundaries. As mentioned before, students ask 鈥減roximity鈥� questions because I am close to them. I might reply with 鈥淎re you asking me a thinking question? I鈥檓 glad to give you a hint or nudge, but I cannot take away your opportunity to think.鈥� This type of response acknowledges that you are there to help them but not to do their thinking for them.
When you set boundaries of what questions will be answered, the students begin to more carefully craft their questions. At this point of the year, I am starting to hear questions such as, 鈥淲e have tried solving this system by substitution, but we are getting an unreasonable solution. Can you look at our steps?鈥� Yes!
Shifting the focus to students doing the thinking not only enhances their learning but can also have the effect of less frustration and fatigue for the teacher. As the class becomes student-centered, the teacher role shifts to guide or facilitator and away from 鈥渟age on the stage.鈥�
As another added benefit, when you serve as guide or facilitator, the students are getting differentiated instruction and assessment. Maybe only a few students need assistance with adding fractions, while a few students need assistance on an entirely different concept. At first, you might feel like your head is spinning trying to address so many different requests; however, as you carefully sift through the types of questions you hear, you will soon be comfortable only answering the 鈥渒eep thinking鈥� questions.