Promoting Productive Struggle

in the mathematics classroom

Jennifer Wilson Jill Gough

Black Mountain, NC Trinity School, Atlanta, GA
@jwilson828 @jgough
http://easingthehurrysyndrome.wordpress.com http://jplgough.wordpress.com

#SlowMath http://bit.ly/NCSM-SlowMathProductiveStruggle
Productive Struggle 3-2-1 Bridge

3 words/thoughts/ideas
Who’s in the Room?

● The usual (name, location, course(s))

● How many years teaching?
● One word/thought/idea you have about
productive struggle
 The principle of
productive struggle
[is] that students who confront and
fail a challenging problem and are
then provided further clarifying
instruction outperform traditionally
taught students.

John Hattie, Doug Fisher, Nancy Frey

Hattie, J. (2017). Visible learning for mathematics, grades K-12: what works best to optimize student learning. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin,
a SAGE Company. (page 113)
Learning Intentions

● How might we provide #SlowMath opportunities for

all students to notice and question?
● How do activities that provide for visualization and
conceptual development of mathematics help
students think deeply about mathematical ideas and
relationships?
● How does TI technology promote productive struggle?
 Mathematics Teaching Practices

1. Establish mathematics goals to focus learning.

2. Implement tasks that promote reasoning and problem solving.
3. Use and connect mathematical representations.
4. Facilitate meaningful mathematical discourse.
5. Pose purposeful questions.
6. Build procedural fluency from conceptual understanding.
7. Support productive struggle in learning math.
8. Elicit and use evidence of student thinking.

Leinwand, Steve. Principles to Actions: Ensuring Mathematical Success for All. Reston, VA.: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics,
2014. (p. 10) Print.
 Support Productive Struggle
in Learning Mathematics
Principles to Actions

Gough, Jill, and Jennifer Wilson. “I can support productive struggle in learning mathematics #NCTMP2A #LL2LU.” Experiments
in Learning by Doing, 27 Mar. 2018, https://jplgough.blog/ll2lu-learning-progressions-smp/ll2lu-learning-progressions-nctmp2a/
 Effective teaching of mathematics
consistently provides students,
individually and collectively, with
opportunities and supports to
engage in productive struggle as
they grapple with mathematical
ideas and relationships.
Principles to Actions

Leinwand, Steve. Principles to Actions: Ensuring Mathematical Success for All. Reston, VA.: National Council of Teachers of
Mathematics, 2014. (p. 30) Print.
It is a cultural revolution against the notion
that faster is always better. The Slow
philosophy is not about doing everything at
a snail’s pace. It’s about seeking to do
everything at the right speed. Savoring the
hours and minutes rather than just counting
them. Doing everything as well as possible,
instead of as fast as possible. It’s about
quality over quantity in everything from
work to food to parenting.

In Praise of Slowness, Carl Honoré

#SlowMath http://bit.ly/SlowMathMovement

#SlowMath
Norms
 SMP 1: I can make sense of problems tasks
and persevere in solving them.

Gough, Jill, and Jennifer Wilson. "#LL2LU Learning Progressions: SMP." Experiments in Learning by Doing or Easing the Hurry Syndrome.
WordPress, 04 Aug. 2014. Web. 11 Mar. 2017. Used with written permission
 Norm: I can apply mathematical flexibility to
show what I know more than one way.

Gough, Jill, and Jennifer Wilson. "#LL2LU Learning Progressions: SMP." Experiments in Learning by Doing or Easing the Hurry Syndrome.
WordPress, 04 Aug. 2014. Web. 11 Mar. 2017. Used with written permission
 All students need time to think
before responding to a teacher’s
question, talking with a partner, or
following a classmate’s strategy
presented to the whole group.
Grace Kelemanik, Amy Lucenta,
Susan Janssen Creighton

Kelemanik, Grace, Amy Lucenta, Susan Janssen. Creighton, and Magdalene Lampert.Routines for
Reasoning: Fostering the Mathematical Practices in All Students. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2016. Print.
Let’s Do Some Math

Task
Jim and Jesse each had the same amount of money. Jim
spent $58 to fill the car up with gas for a road-trip. Jesse
spent $37 buying snacks for the trip. Afterward, the ratio
of Jim’s money to Jesse’s money is 1:4. How much money
did each have at first?

Illustrative Mathematics (2016). Jim and Jesse’s Money. Retrieved from

https://www.illustrativemathematics.org/content-standards/tasks/498
Ways to Antici[ate

Illustrative Mathematics (2016). Jim and Jesse’s Money. Retrieved from

https://www.illustrativemathematics.org/content-standards/tasks/498
Building Conceptual
Understanding

Texas Instruments (2015). Building a Table of Ratios. Retrieved from

https://education.ti.com/en/building-concepts/activities/ratios/sequence1/building-a-table-of-ratios
Building Conceptual
Understanding

Texas Instruments (2015). Ratio Tables. Retrieved from

https://education.ti.com/en/building-concepts/activities/ratios/sequence1/ratio-tables
Building Conceptual
Understanding

Texas Instruments (2015). Ratio Tables. Retrieved from

https://education.ti.com/en/building-concepts/activities/ratios/sequence1/ratio-tables
 Assessing Questions Advancing Questions
● Based closely on the work the ● Use what students have produced
students have produced as a basis for making progress
● Clarify what the students have toward the target goal of the lesson
done and what they understand ● Move students beyond their current
about what they have done thinking by pressing them to extend
● Provide information to the teacher what they know to a new situation
● Press students to think about
about what the students
something they are not currently
understand
thinking about

Teacher STAYS to hear the answer to Teacher WALKS AWAY, leaving

the question. students to figure out how to proceed.
Smith, Margaret Schwan., et al. Taking Action: Implementing Effective Mathematics Teaching Practices in Grades 9-12. The
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, 2017.
Productive
ProductiveStruggle
Struggle 3-2-1 Bridge
3-2-1 Bridge

22questions
questions
 One reason some of them struggle
later on is that they learned to put their
brains on autopilot when the math was
easier for them. They focused on
getting answers rather than making
meaningful math connections.
Mike Flynn

Flynn, Michael, and Deborah Schifter. Beyond Answers: Exploring Mathematical Practices with Young
Children. Portland, ME: Stenhouse, 2017. Print.
 “If my math IS correct…”
@MikeFlynn55

Flynn, Michael. "If My Math Is Correct…." Math Leadership Programs. Mount Holyoke College, n.d. Web. 26 May 2017.
Norm: I can make sense of tasks and
persevere in solving them.

Gough, Jill, and Jennifer Wilson. "#LL2LU Learning Progressions: SMP." Experiments in Learning by Doing or Easing the Hurry Syndrome. WordPress,
04 Aug. 2014. Web. 11 Mar. 2017. Used with written permission.
 “If my math IS correct…”
@MikeFlynn55

Additional
Footage
Flynn, Michael. "If My Math Is Correct…." Math Leadership Programs. Mount Holyoke College, n.d. Web. 26 May 2017.
Ways to Antici[ate
 Number String

Imm, Kara Louise., Catherine Twomey. Fosnot, and Willem Uittenbogaard. Minilessons for Operations with Fractions, Decimals, and Percents: A
Yearlong Resource. Portsmouth, NH: Firsthand/Heinemann, 2007. Print.
 Number String

Imm, Kara Louise., Catherine Twomey. Fosnot, and Willem Uittenbogaard. Minilessons for Operations with Fractions, Decimals, and Percents: A
Yearlong Resource. Portsmouth, NH: Firsthand/Heinemann, 2007. Print.
 Number String

Imm, Kara Louise., Catherine Twomey. Fosnot, and Willem Uittenbogaard. Minilessons for Operations with Fractions, Decimals, and Percents: A
Yearlong Resource. Portsmouth, NH: Firsthand/Heinemann, 2007. Print.
 Number String

Imm, Kara Louise., Catherine Twomey. Fosnot, and Willem Uittenbogaard. Minilessons for Operations with Fractions, Decimals, and Percents: A
Yearlong Resource. Portsmouth, NH: Firsthand/Heinemann, 2007. Print.
 Number String

Imm, Kara Louise., Catherine Twomey. Fosnot, and Willem Uittenbogaard. Minilessons for Operations with Fractions, Decimals, and Percents: A
Yearlong Resource. Portsmouth, NH: Firsthand/Heinemann, 2007. Print.
Ways to Antici[ate
Building Conceptual
Understanding

Texas Instruments (2015). Equivalent Fractions. Retrieved from

https://education.ti.com/en/building-concepts/activities/fractions/sequence-1/equivalent-fractions
 Let’s Do Some Math

10 apples and 5 bananas cost $10.05.

1 apple and 1 banana cost $1.10.
What is the cost of an apple?

this p r oblem in as
Solve
y w a y s a s p os sible.
man
w h at y ou k n ow for
Show
each method.
Jackson, Robyn R. (2010-07-27). How to Support Struggling Students (Mastering the Principles of Great Teaching series)
(Pages 18-19). Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development. Kindle Edition.
Productive Struggle 3-2-1 Bridge

1 metaphor/analogy
Learning Mode Poster

Northwest Rankin High School Math Department Learning Mode Poster

Reflection I used to think …
I know now …
My next steps are ...
Promoting Productive Struggle
in the mathematics classroom

Jennifer Wilson Jill Gough

Black Mountain, NC Trinity School, Atlanta, GA
@jwilson828 @jgough
http://easingthehurrysyndrome.wordpress.com http://jplgough.wordpress.com

#SlowMath http://bit.ly/NCSM-SlowMathProductiveStruggle