Who is Hiding in Your Math Class?

17 May Who is Hiding in Your Math Class?

I have been using the TRU dimension framework (Teaching For Robust Understanding) a lot lately in coaching situations as well as in demonstration lessons where I am observed.  

One of my favorite parts of this framework is the student version of the framework.

Specifically, the criteria that continue to hit home is within the Access & Equity category and the Agency, Ownership, and Identity category.

These descriptors really help me to frame how I want to interact with students during my lessons.  But, I think I might appreciate the student version of this chart even more for this category.

I wondered, how often our students could say YES to being able to hide or to be ignored?  How often can they go through an entire class period and never have to participate, use their voice, answer a question, etc?  Sure, they might fill in a worksheet, or even put an answer on a whiteboard, but I wonder if they’ve gotten so good at ‘hiding,’ that we aren’t noticing that they’ve abandoned their own thinking. We don’t know how they achieved what they are thinking and when we ask kids to turn and talk, the child never says a word; we ask for choral responses and the child just stares.

I often have teachers look for this behavior as we do demonstration lessons.  By no means do I have it mastered, where every child is fully engaged for the full math block, but it has become my personal mission to really LOOK for the kids who are hiding and bring them back into the conversation and learning.

I was in several classrooms last week in Washington state (shout out to the dedicated and fun teachers at  Mukilteo School District’s Lake Stickney!). Mostly, I was conducting demonstration lessons. I decided to really focus on any students who might be hiding.  During one particular lesson, I found myself sitting down with all of the students on the carpet and discussing questions with them. As I asked questions, I would have students turn and discuss with their identified math partners.  I first took the opportunity to observe and notice how the partners were interacting. Who was doing most of the talking? How much talking was happening? What was the body language saying about each partnership?

You won’t be surprised to learn that some partnerships were working and some weren’t.  I made a mental note to discuss some of these partnerships with the classroom teacher. Meanwhile, I stepped into partner conversations and became the eavesdropper. I’m a professional eavesdropper.  I tell my husband it’s my spiritual gift, lol. But man, oh man, can you learn a lot by listening in to conversations without interrupting!

In another classroom, one partnership had a low language speaker and a native speaker. (There were many English learners in these classrooms, but a few stuck out to me).  The native speaker did all the talking. When asked why he didn’t have his partner share (when it was her turn), his response was, “Oh, she’s new here. She can’t.”

You mean she’s hiding.  Whether it is intentional, unintentional or coerced, she was using the opportunity to hide.  

I proceeded to tell this student that his partner could do it, even if she was new, even if she didn’t have a lot of English language yet.  I turned to her and asked her a very specific question. She replied with one word, AND IT WAS RIGHT. She understood more than she was able to speak, but her voice was being drowned out.  She was hiding.  I coached her partner to aid her in complete sentences. And of course, she could repeat!  How else do we learn a language other than by using it?

After discussing in partners, I then asked my question again to the group. Many hands went up to respond.  But, I made a very deliberate effort to just observe and to notice who was hiding. I feel like I have a generally good feel for wait time and I really try not to call on the hands that fly up first (in fact, I kind of despise hand raising anyway– it’s distracting, anxiety producing, and somewhat obnoxious for many students). I  prefer for students to show me by a thumbs up close to their chest or to just speak out chorally, or to join me in hands down conversation. I have done these FOREVER, but I really love the recent work @kassiawedekind  has done in her recent book. Find out more here. More on that another time….

In these lessons, I asked my questions and gave deliberate observation time.  I wanted to notice who wasn’t raising their hands. What were they doing instead?  There was a lot of body language that I’d qualify as ‘hiding.’ Lack of eye contact, turned bodies, playing with things on the floor, etc.

They’re hiding.

Some students were looking at the students who did have their hands raised. I also had students who didn’t have raised hands and they were looking directly at me.  I tried to look directly at these students. I made eye contact, smiled, then called on them.

My goal isn’t to shame.  My goal isn’t to cause additional anxiety.  My goal is to take them out of hiding.

I see you.  

Your voice matters.

What you have to say is important.

I called on these individuals most of the lesson.  EVERY. TIME. I got a response that helped us move the lesson along. It wasn’t always a perfect response (thank goodness, that’s boring). It wasn’t always a clear or quick response.  There were a few times I called on students and the teacher observers almost audibly took in their breath; you could tell everyone was very nervous for that student and guess what— they did it!!

I got short answers.

“Did you hear what ____ said? How interesting. Who can add on?”

Removed the pressure, acknowledge the idea.  

I got a lack of confidence.  “I forgot what I was going to say.”  (Intentional hiding move).

“What you have to say is important, I’ll wait.”  And guess what, they remembered. With my smile, with my eye contact, and with a few sentence stems, they got there.

Stay with them, or release the class to discuss while you rehearse with them. BUT COME BACK TO THEM.

Each time I called on a student whom I could tell was hiding, it took them by surprise.  One child even said, “But I didn’t have my hand up.”

“I know.  But I can tell you have something to say about this.”

Please.  Come out of hiding.  You are an important part of our community.

When I say I want every voice, every day, I mean it.  I really do. I don’t call on just one student at a time very often as I have a  myriad of strategies to get every voice talking through very structured partners, choral responses, etc., but when I do call on just one student I want to start with the students who seem to have the weakest voices in our room and end with the strongest.  I don’t want them to get lost, or drowned out. I want them to know I see them and I need them to take ownership of their learning.

It is my responsibility to give them opportunities to own their learning.

I challenge you this week to ask questions and then just observe.  Who is hiding? This isn’t my chance to ‘get’ students or to shame them for behavior, lack of attention, etc.  Rather, I challenge you to take an empathetic role this week. Why are they hiding? Why aren’t they attending?  Have I sent the message their voice matters? Do they know I care about THEIR ideas not just when they are right?  

You give your whole hearts to these kids.  Take this week to be reflective and observant.  In light of the recent school shooting only 20 minutes from my home, where my friend’s children attend, I can’t help but wonder what would happen if we would have taken the shooters out of hiding sooner.  I know this is a highly complex problem and taking children out of hiding in the classroom isn’t going to fix such a huge problem, but what about the small changes we could make in the classroom to give students agency, identity, and ownership? How would that change the world we live in and the world our students live in?

I hope you feel empowered and inspired.  I’d love to keep the conversation going and would love to hear what you observe this week. Go continue to be great my friends!