Chapin,+O'Connor,+&+Anderson

=Textbook=

There are many references throughout the syllabus to //Classroom Discussions: Using Math Talk to Help Students Learn.// This is the only required textbook for the TE 801 seminars. This book, in part, is to help the students understand that it is possible and beneficial to have mathematical discussions with their elementary students. This work is divided into four parts: (1) Mathematics Learning with Classroom Talk, (2) The Mathematics: What Do We Talk About?, (3) Implementing Talk in the Classroom, and (4) Case Studies.

I personally own the 2nd edition, but many of the students purchased the first edition, so the references throughout the syllabus have both the first and second edition chapters given. This did cause some difficulty when we would discuss the readings in the course, but was not anything insurmountable. The text served as a foundation for lesson planning, mathematical discussions, learning how to hold discussions, and use of case studies in the preservice classroom. Chapters in the book usually offer steps that a teacher should take to implement the ideas being discussed followed by a vignette from a participating classroom from a study conducted by this group. Usually the vignettes offer long sections of quoted/transcribed dialogue from the classrooms with small explanations to move the story along. When vignettes are offered, connections to what NCTM standard is being addressed.

This is the only textbook the students are required for the course. During TE 402, the students were asked to purchase copies of several mathematical texts of how children view and learn different mathematical ideas. This book was used to support the development of classrooms where discussion practices are common. This book consists of four parts, containing: the overview of mathematical classroom talk, the mathematics that is being discussed, the processes of implementing classroom talk, and then several case studies to be used. The use of this text was supplemented with further readings, especially from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics’ Teaching Children Mathematics. This textbook offered structured moves of how to engage elementary aged students in discussions. Mathematical discussions are seen limitedly in the public classroom to date. Preservice teachers have seen how their own teachers have taught mathematics and how their current cooperating teacher is teaching mathematics. This book generates thoughts and discussions about the roles of mathematical discussion and the needs for such learning avenues.

The rhetoric of this book establishes certain skills that are meant to enhance the learning in the classroom. They state that as teachers “we need as large, diverse, and powerful a set of instructional tools as we can find” (p. 5). It is here that the rhetoric promotes the ideas that classroom talk is a The rhetoric of this book establishes certain skills that are meant to enhance the learning in the classroom. They state that as teachers “we need as large, diverse, and powerful a set of instructional tools as we can find” (p. 5). It is here that the rhetoric promotes the ideas that classroom talk is a tool that needs to be developed in the modern classroom. In discussions with the elementary team at Michigan State University, we decided that this tool receives limited recognition and that the preservice teachers might benefit from using such a text to help them recognize the potential for discussion in the classroom. Although there were some readings that were unified among the sections, I felt that it was appropriate to address much of the book, as will be seen during the schedule of course seminars later in the syllabus. I view discussion as a foundation of learning in the classroom and construct my seminars and courses to include discussion. I feel that mathematical discussion (in contrast to sole use of example and repetition that dominates mathematics classrooms today) promote mathematical learning and growth; I view that mathematics is not learned in isolation but instead among the community of scholars.