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MATH PERSPECTIVES INSTRUCTOR/CONSULTANT BLOGS
Cathy Young

Name:
Cathy Young

Location:
Bellingham, WA

Cathy Young, a master classroom teacher for over 20 years, works to improve math education for children in and out of her classroom. She and her students are featured in the book, Mathematical Power: Lessons from a Classroom by Ruth Parker. She currently teaches grades 3-5 math in a collaborative specialist model and also serves as the math coach at a local elementary school in Bellingham, Washington.

News from Cathy:

Below is an excerpt from an article Cathy wrote to help intermediate teachers with Self-Directed Exploration in their classrooms at the beginning of each year. The full article is available in the Math Perspectives Professional Development Reference and Reading Materials booklet given to participants at most Math Perspectives workshops.

SELF-DIRECTED EXPLORATION FOR THE INTERMEDIATE CLASSROOM

Self-directed exploration (SDE) provides a simple format within which to create a community of learners with a focus on developing self-directed learners.
Besides focusing on problem solving, classroom routines, and expectations it provides the stage on which we can send the message that the student is responsible for making sure they are always learning. SDE gives students an opportunity to express and further develop their natural inclination to create, question, investigate, practice, predict, make decisions, and solve problems.

SDE is effective if given enough time. You need to work on this 2-3 times a week for 5-6 weeks to prepare your community of learners to understand what it means to work thoughtfully, purposefully, cooperatively, and independently.

In addition to SDE you can have other components of your math program getting started: Number talks, math games, groups of 4 tasks, whole class work and investigations. Station time begins gradually as an outgrowth of SDE as you see students able to operate independently.

Materials: Include any of the materials you may be using in your math program. In addition to the regular manipulatives (pattern blocks, Cuisenaire Rods, color tiles etc.) consider making available: measuring tools, sorting boxes, tangrams etc. (Save games for an activity time).

Questions to ask during SDE:

• Tell me about what you've made.
• What do you know about… i.e. color tiles, pattern blocks etc.?
• How is this _____ related to this _______? How do you know?
• What do you know about _______ that will help you complete your project?
• I see something interesting happening. Tell me about it.
• How did you get the idea? How did you start?
• Why's that working?
• What do you have in mind to do next?
• Are there any patterns in your design/structure?
• What patterns do you see?
• How did you create that pattern?
• If you did it differently (i.e. add one more tile) what would happen?
• Did you have a plan when you started? Tell me about it. What do you plan to do next?
• What did you learn about how these pieces can be used together?
• How are these pieces related? (talk about the meaning of “relationship”)
• How did this information help you build this structure?
• Make a prediction and then test it. Do you think it will work? Why or why not? Where do you think it might break down? What have you done to make it successful?
• What have you learned from this experience?
• Does it always happen?
• How would you describe _________ (show one of the blocks). What do you know about it?

Questions to ask after SDE:

What did you notice?
What materials did you use? Why?
Did you choose to work alone or with others? Why?
What did you learn or discover?
What questions came up? What did you wonder about?
What decisions did you have to make?
Did you have any problems? How did you solve them?
Did you make any predictions? Was your prediction correct? Why or why not?
What do you plan to do tomorrow?
Who tried something new today? What did you learn?
What do you know about….pattern blocks, color tiles, snap cubes etc.?
What did you accomplish today? How does that feel?