Conferring is built on learning what students are doing and how they are thinking. In the first stage of a math conference, the teachers looks, listens, and asks with the goal of building an interpretation of student thinking. (continue reading)
How does a conference work? What do teachers think about? What do they say? A conference is not simply a venue for students to report on their thinking. A conference is a shared opportunity for teachers and students to learn together in the moment. (continue reading)
Struggle is how we learn. Rich tasks provoke productive struggle, during which students actively struggle through a problem as they work to make sense of it. (continue reading)
Just as conferring is one part of the readers’ and writers’ workshop and could not be implemented in isolation, conferring in mathematics must take place on a broader instructional stage. But if tasks in the classroom don’t demand deep thinking, we’re left with thin conversations about answers. (continue reading)
In math, children are solving problems, and the journey to a solution is more valuable than the destination. Conferring in math asks, “Where are you?” and “Where could you go next?” rather than “Where should you be?” or “What would I do next?” (continue reading)
This wonderful book focuses upon one of the most important moments in teaching—the time when teachers and students talk together and there is an opportunity for students to learn. (continue reading)
