I am nearing the completion of my Master of Arts in Teaching Mathematics and in the midst of my action research project. My problem/purpose/question is to determine if a focus on reasoning and sense making tasks in the classroom will help my students become independent learners. Since my classes range from 3 to 20 students, I fear that my students' access to me has created a culture of learned helplessness. For example, if a student has a question, I am able to respond immediately and the student has little time to problem solve independently. I have been working on giving better responses (more questions) to questions and stalling a bit before I acknowledge the raised hand. I plan to use my Algebra and Geometry classes as the research subjects during the third quarter, but I have been practicing my questioning strategies with my 7th, 8th, Applied Math, and PreCalc students. I have discovered that it is becoming more natural for me to ask a question in response to a question. Some of my favorites include:
- Why?
- How can you start?
- What have you tried?
- Does it (the solution) make sense?
- Is there another solution?
- Walk me through what you did.
- Try drawing a picture.
While the questions themselves are not particularly profound, they have lead to a dialogue between my student and myself. These dialogues have enriched my practice and I believe are helping my students understand and retain the concepts rather than just getting through a task or an assignment.
