Building Thinking Classrooms: Ch 10 - Consolidating a Lesson

Consolidation = pulling a wide variety of student work together while keeping thinking as a central focus.

Leveling to the top,

Which is something I have done in the past!

Is too big of a cognitive jump for students to take.  

Students can't learn by being told how to do it.

So if leveling to the top doesn't work,

What about it's opposite?

Leveling to the bottom?

Gallery walks,

With a specific sequence of what to review of student work,

You can work through the different challenging levels, 

And essentially spend less time focusing on the processes at each level.

What this does is to allow more students to stay with the discussion longer, 

as the teacher is going over aspects of the tasks that more students were able to do.

When discussion work,

ask other members of the class to try to explain what the group was thinking whose work we were discussion.

This approach changes consolidation from telling to thinking,

From passively receiving knowledge to actively thinking about the work at hand.

Hints:

Teacher has a red marker.

Draws boxes around work not wanting to be erased.

Number boards with the order of the sequence.

OK to add notation in red marker to student work, but don't ever erase their work!

Question 1:

What are some of the things in this chapter that immediately feel correct?

I love the gallery walk. 

I love the teacher sequencing the consolidation process.

I love having other students do the explaining.

Question 2:

In this chapter you learned about consolidation as moving through the flow levels of a task or sequence of tasks.  And while doing so, to start slow and go faster as you go. This means that the most nuanced and sophisticated solutions will get the least attention, How do you feel about this?

I'm actually okay with this, because I have fallen in the trap of levelling up and can tell you from experience that IT DOESN'T WORK! By building the base, we can then attend to the fluency piece.

Question 3:

In the FAQ, it was mentioned that taking pictures is a very good idea. But you were cautioned against having the students sit while showing these pictures. So, what are pictures good for, and can you think of ways to use these pictures ina. thinking classroom without allowing them to take away opportunities to think?

I can use my TV as a vertical surface to project any pictures I take.  Pictures from other classes can also be shared this way to continue to move thinking.

Question 4: 

Planning and preparing for consolidation while trying to maintain flow can be daunting. What are some things you can do ahead of time so that it will become less daunting?

Work the problems out to understand the math behind the lesson. 

Anticipate the misconceptions.

Question 5: 

In Chapter 6 you were presented with results that showed that we need to get the students thinking about a task within the first five minutes of class. This removes from our practice the ability to teach at the beginning of the lesson. This chapter, on consolidation, offers us a place where that teaching can now occur. How do you feel about consolidation -- at the end of the lesson -- as teaching?

I love this piece.  This is how I've operated for a while now.  I love to get the students involved in the task and see where it goes...bringing it all together at the end.

My only issue is figuring out where to put our Test Trainer which is a crucial part of our new curriculum.  Placing it at the beginning will deviate from this research.

Placing it at the end will mean I will be watching the clock to assure the 7-10 minutes can be attained.

Question 6: 

What are some of the challenges you anticipate you will experience in implementing the strategies suggested in this chapter? What are some of the ways to overcome these?

Mainly just the where-to-put-Test-Trainer aspect.