"Communication Speaks"

This article was written by a fourth grade teacher who changed the way she taught math to align with the NCTM communication standard. She began the change by simply starting to ask the students to explain their thinking- which began to make the class more interesting and engaging for both the students and the teacher. However, the students needed an opportunity to verbalize their answers and they needed prompts from the teacher. Some examples given of the types of questions asked were: Why is this so? Explain your thinking. Show me. How do you know? The next area of communication she worked on was listening, which is essential to communication. She started to stand back and allow the students to share with one another and determine different ways to solve problems. This forced the students to listen to each other, make connections, and think creatively. The next area of communication addressed was writing. She had her students create posters and their peers evaluated them. This demonstrated not only the importance of words but examples, the sequence of the way things are written, and the preciseness of vocabulary. After adding communication into the curriculum she asked herself , "So what are my students gaining from this added communication in math?" She could tell her students were gaining knowledge and benefiting from the discussion and sharing of thinking. As asking questions became a daily part of class, not only was the teacher asking questions but the students began to ask questions as well and wanted explanations. She saw her students take ownership and became invested in learning. As the article concluded, Robin stated that by asking one small question it can have a huge impact on teaching and learning. The students must be taught how to speak, listen, question, and write, this all takes time- time well spent according to Robin.

I enjoyed this article and thought it gave great ideas of how to incorporate communication into a math classroom. I liked that it was written by a teacher who has tried these methods and saw success with them. I would like to take these ideas into my own classroom because they are not only found to be effective but simple to incorporate. This strategies are beneficial in any subject, not only math. I think by adding communication to all subjects would be extremely beneficial to the students.
 I know after reading this article and reflecting on my own math experiences, I do not remember using communication within the math classroom. I think it would have benefited me especially to answer and ask questions such as "why" and "how". I think by communicating in math, more students will like math and understand it better.

Kinman, R. L. (2010). Communication speaks. Teaching children mathematics 17 (1), 22-30.