Fostering Communication in the Math Classroom

Communication: A Vital Skill in Mathematics

Communication is a vital skill for mathematicians to develop. It involves not only talking about and sharing ideas, but also actively listening to the ideas of others. In my pursuit of joyful and equitable math education, I believe it's essential to teach and nurture both the listening and speaking aspects of communication explicitly. In this blog, I explore some strategies to develop communication in the math classroom. 

Building a Dialogic Classroom:

In line with a holistic approach, building a dialogic classroom that lays the foundation for numeracy understanding. Oral language plays a vital role in development, especially before children can represent their ideas visually. Strengthening oral language and math vocabulary empowers children to better represent and make sense of their mathematical ideas, as the year progresses.

Developing Listening Skills: 

Listening skills can be cultivated during math mini-lessons in the math workshop, including problem strings, number talks, and social-emotional learning math discussions (How partners work together, what to do when mathematicians get stuck, etc.).

Silent Communication- Encourage children to show an agreement symbol in sign language, as their peers share ideas or strategies. This approach promotes the sharing of more voices (though silently) and provides valuable insights into how children are thinking about math problems. To encourage diverse thinking, ask, "Who solved this problem in a similar way? Show me with your agree symbol.” This allows the children to connect with shared ideas and fosters a sense of belonging.

Scaffold Active Listening-Additionally, you can utilize a "turn and talk" strategy to encourage children to share and retell ideas, particularly as they become more familiar with agreeing and sharing similar thoughts. This use of the turn and talk will sound like “{name} just shared an interesting idea. Turn and talk to your elbow partner and share how {name} thought about this problem.” Using these strategies for both similar and different thoughts around problem solving and strategies used allows space for all ideas to come alive in the math classroom, while placing a value on listening to similarities and differences between ideas and strategies.

Teacher Tip: Going beyond the math block

Another effective way to develop listening skills, outside of the math classroom is through a game called 'Who Remembers.' This game, from Responsive Classrooms, can be played during morning meetings and serves as a foundation for building a community of active listeners. Start by sharing a prompt, such as "Tell us about your favorite after-school snack." After everyone has shared, ask the class, "Who remembers [name]'s favorite snack?" Pose this question for a few children, fostering the understanding that their voices matter, and their peers are actively listening. Revisit this game multiple times throughout the year to continue strengthening listening skills.

Getting the Conversation Flowing:

Do you ever encounter silence when posing a question to your learners? To address this challenge, consider implementing more turn-and-talk opportunities. And even more turn and talk. And even MORE!! These turn and talk moments are a powerful way to put our value of communication into action within the math classroom, as well as develop foundational oral language. In the early stages of building your math community, incorporate turn-and-talk opportunities frequently. For example, after almost every problem in a problem string. As the year progresses, you can gradually reduce the frequency of these activities. However, during the early community-building phase, getting children to articulate their ideas is a crucial cultural part of creating connections between and among mathematicians, while building language.

Another effective approach to effectively building communication is explicitly teaching talk moves. A valuable resource for this purpose is the book "Hands Down, Speak Out," which offers lessons for explicitly teaching turn and talk, active listening, and various communication strategies.

Building a Dialogic Classroom:

In summary, some moves you might consider are: 

• Develop silent communication symbols to create active and purposeful listening opportunities for your community
• Play Who Remembers frequently
• Use LOTS of turn and talk to build oral language
• Combine a turn and talk with a retell of someone’s shared strategy or thought

Teacher Tip: Building routines and structures that create space for active listening and speaking opportunities can be reinforced throughout the day in all subject areas. Try using the silent communication symbols in your morning meeting or during a read aloud. 

Together, we can transform the perception of math and build a community of confident and communicative mathematicians. What are some ways you build communication in your mathematicians?