It took until April, but it finally happened. A student in class volunteered to answer a question and when I called on her, she not only gave her answer but added, “I know that because…” at the end of her response. I praised her for including her reasons with her response and internally beamed at hearing a student respond in such a way without my prompting.
All year, when a student answers a question right or wrong, I tend to follow his/her response with, “How do you know?” encouraging the kids to justify their answers. I’ve found this method helps kids to not only think through their response, but also to articulate a justification, which can often be more difficult than knowing the answer in the first place.
I was reading an article posted by Jennifer Gonzalez yesterday on cultofpedagogy.com. The article referred me to a blog by Colin Seale on Mistake Analysis. The article really resonated with me as I try to continually navigate ways to improve student thinking and conversations. I am a fourth grade teacher providing only math instruction to our school this year, but I believe my job as an educator is to help create involved citizens of our world. To me, this means helping these ten year olds start to learn how to disagree with kindness; how to explain their own beliefs and ideas in an open, honest way that promotes dialogue not division. I don’t believe I am preparing my students to eventually exist in our world, I believe they already do and that these skills are not just desirable, they are necessary if we are to unite as people.
In Colin’s article on Mistake Analysis, he reminds me of more methods for teaching and encouraging students to use these verbal and critical thinking skills. I was particularly struck by his suggestion to help students see which answer is “more right” than which answer is necessarily just plain wrong. As Colin states, “Asking which wrong is more “right” helps learners shift from asking “what” and “how to” to asking “why” and “what if” – a necessary shift for giving students the tools to not just analyze the world as it is, but imagine it as it ought to be.”
As I continue to grow as an educator, I hope to continue to find ways to model how to respond with my opinion or ideas in ways that promote dialogue, community and discussion. I hope to provide extensive opportunities for students to practice these methods and to begin to internalize their worth. As much as it lit me up to hear a student provide rationale to a math answer, I know I have much more work to be done to have a student find joy in working through a mistake; to value the experience of learning through error.
Mistake Analysis isn’t just a valuable tool to help my students, but it’s also a valuable tool to help myself. When I can think critically about a lesson, a conversation with a student or an incident – when I can truly process my contribution in an objective light, I may learn from my own errors and find value in that growth process.
May we all encounter mistakes today that help us grow.
Teaching at 3am 