Never Say Anything a Kid Can Say!

What did I learn?
I learned several good teaching strategies in my math class last week after reading, Never Say Anything a Kid Can Say! article.   One of the most important messages of the article was to let students talk!  The author, Steven Reinhart, mentioned that whenever he's tempted to tell his students something, he asks a question instead.   This gets the students actively participating in their learning.  Facilitating these group discussions, however, to maximize the learning (and thus the participation) sounds somewhat daunting to me.  As a future teacher, I know I'll need to refrain from my judgmental responses of "good point" or "absolutely".  The author points out that by affirming the answers of some of your students, you may  actually be discouraging the participation of others. I'll need to learn how to give more nonjudgmental responses to the comments or answers that are offered by my students.  Another strategy that I hope to remember to impliment is allowing "wait time" of at least 5 seconds after asking questions to ensure that all my students have an opportunity to think about the answer.    


What do I have questions about?
I understand the importance of letting students work in groups but how do I, as a teacher, ensure that all the members in these groups are actively participating in solving the problem?  In other words, how do I avoid one student dominating a group, while others "sit back"?   


What are the implications for classroom practice?

When working on the Sneaky Snake problem last Wednesday, I learned that there are many different ways to approach a math problem and it will be important to listen carefully to my future students to work with "their way" of solving a problem and not just "my way".  I need to relate to my students so I can find the most effective way to teach them.  Technology seems to be a way to reach out to them which will be challenging for me.  I have much to learn.