Math Debriefs

A great question was raised by my teacher candidate, "how do you know what to discuss in a math debrief?"  This led to a great conversation. I talked about purposeful planning and teaching even in an inquiry-based classroom. Math investigations come from student questions, thinking and findings. That day students were working on a problem that involved place value. I was looking for them to show their thinking using various representations or tools. As I circulated I noticed the use of cusinnaire rods, place value charts and Base 10 blocks. I talked with students about their work and flagged those students who had used different representations. During the debrief we highlighted the different representations and talked about how we communicate our mathematical thinking and understanding. A great question led to a great discussion as well as reflection as a teacher. Sometimes we do things naturally in our classrooms but as a mentor teacher you need to openly share and 'think aloud' to pass along learning.