On the primary day of college, Ms. Armstrong of TikTok’s @that.huffle.trainer break up her college students into teams, gave them a single whiteboard marker, and despatched them to vertical whiteboards to unravel a math drawback. For those who’re pondering that doesn’t sound like a typical first-day exercise, you and Ms. Armstrong’s college students would have the same opinion.
However what the kiddos didn’t notice is that their trainer was introducing them to routines impressed by among the foremost analysis on arithmetic instruction—and starting a journey that might change their identification as math college students. Inquisitive about how a whiteboard command hooked up to the wall and a single marker could possibly be so transformational? I’ll let Ms. Armstrong clarify.
Did any of the methods in there ring bells? Perhaps you’ve heard about “vertical nonpermanent surfaces.” Or maybe you’ve heard the title Peter Liljedahl or the title “Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics” tossed round in a division assembly. For those who’re not conversant in Liljedahl’s work, you most likely have some questions after watching this video. Let’s take a more in-depth have a look at among the principal methods Ms. Armstrong highlighted, and discover why it’s so helpful to scholar studying.
Technique: Cling whiteboards on the partitions
It may appear uncommon that the whiteboards had been affixed to the partitions, however there’s a superb motive for it. Liljedahl and his crew intensely researched the most effective work surfaces for selling scholar engagement. They discovered vertical whiteboards outperformed horizontal whiteboards, vertical paper, horizontal paper, and particular person notebooks in a mess of metrics. These included time to process initiation, quantity of debate and participation of and between group members, and plenty of others. By hanging her whiteboards, Ms. Armstrong immediately set her college students up for engagement past what they might expertise sitting at their desks.
Inquisitive about why the shift from a horizontal to vertical work floor is such a recreation changer? For one factor, there are a lot fewer methods for college students to disengage when standing clustered round a whiteboard. By getting college students up and out of their chairs, the distraction of reaching into one’s desk or backpack is diminished. It’s additionally tougher to “zone out” in a standing place. Moreover, it’s a lot simpler for a trainer to have eyes on their college students once they aren’t hidden behind a desk, making college students much less comfy to have interaction in off-task behaviors.
As for the whiteboard versus paper, Liljedahl’s analysis uncovered that the erasability is essential in scholar’s tutorial risk-taking. When college students really feel there isn’t any everlasting report of their errors, they’re way more prepared to start testing completely different methods to unravel an issue. It’s price noting this works with ANY vertical erasable floor, together with chalkboards, home windows, or bathe board, therefore the broad-brush time period “vertical nonpermanent surfaces.”
Why just one marker per whiteboard group?
Initially, it appears counterintuitive that Ms. Armstrong may promote engagement by limiting teams to a single whiteboard marker. Wouldn’t extra markers give every scholar a possibility to doc their pondering? Within the 40+ school rooms Liljedahl studied, this isn’t what he discovered. In truth, he describes a situation the place “the group quickly dissolves into three individuals working in parallel rather than collaborating.” Any trainer who has tried to implement group work of their classroom has undoubtedly seen this unfold.
For those who’re frightened that one scholar will dominate the group, contemplate requiring college students to maneuver the marker between group members at common intervals. College students who don’t really feel comfy documenting their very own pondering can report others’ concepts. It is a precious apply to construct communication abilities by requiring college students to hear to 1 one other and clearly specific their concepts.
What are college students truly doing on the whiteboards?
Ms. Armstrong shared that she gave her college students a “non-curricular thinking task” on their first day of college. It might be a protracted phrase, however I promise there’s extra to it than simply the most recent edu-babble. A non-curricular pondering process is a process that requires mathematical pondering, however doesn’t map clearly to an meant curricular final result (assume: mind teaser). A well-constructed NCTT blends approachability with problem. All college students have an entry level to have interaction with the duty, however they want to attract on their group’s shared data to make continuous progress. The character of those duties is very participating, since all college students have a method to take part of their teams.
Liljedhal recommends starting the 12 months with NCTT to apply routines and construct engagement earlier than utilizing pondering classroom methods to deal with math curriculum. A preferred one is “Four Fours,” which can be utilized with quite a lot of grade ranges. The duty asks college students, “Can you find every number between 1 and 20 using only four 4’s and any operation?” I discovered the problem of this drawback addictive as soon as I began, and plenty of academics have reported their college students do as effectively!
Inside Ms. Armstrong’s Pondering Classroom
You possibly can learn all of the analysis on this planet, however nothing is extra convincing than a trainer’s testimonial. Ms. Armstrong’s description of her classroom because of pondering classroom methods is really transferring: “If you are on the fence about exploring a thinking classroom, I would 100% say go for it. The excitement in my classroom is something that brings joy to me every day. And it’s just really amazing to see all types of learners willing to take risks and participate in mathematical discussions.”