Encouraging students with disabilities to think deeply about mathematics has always been one of the goals of this blog. But since the audience of this blog is mainly teachers, the goal is really to encourage teachers to encourage students with disabilities to think deeply about mathematics.
So here goes…Ask More Questions!
Duh! You’re thinking, “I asked 35 questions today! Numbers 1-35 on the multiplication fact fluency worksheet were math questions. This guy!”
But, the questions I’m referring to come after you ask those initial questions. Sure, you proposed a math problem to your students or even better they proposed one to you based on some mathematical situation you presented, but then what happened?
Andrew Stadel recently wrote about and collected questioning strategies from the MathTwitterBlogosphere. His focus was on strategies for asking questions before and after the launch of the day’s mathematical problem, task, lesson, activity, etc. My focus has been on post-launch questioning strategies. The stuck/unstuck questions and questions to explore student misconceptions. In an NCTM article, which discusses warning signs of instructional moves that generally lead to taking over student thinking, the alternative teacher moves are also focused on asking questions when a student is stuck or has a misconception.
andrewgael.com 