About 2 years ago I watched this Ignite talk given by Annie Fetter on using the Noticing and Wondering Strategy. This quick 4 minute video has transformed how I think about teaching ALL subjects, not just math. I have watched this clip no less than 50 times and every time I take something more away from it.
It took me about 8 of my 20 years of teaching to understand that the key to motivating students it to peak a student's curiosity. Kids are born curious but over time they stop asking questions because we, as educators give them the questions that they have to answer instead of involving them in the process. We know this about reading instruction, why don't we use this in math, social studies, and science?
So, how does noticing and wondering work?
In math Annie suggests giving the kids a stem of a problem (a word problem minus the question). This could also be a graph, infographic, or anything that is a stimulus for doing some math. Here is an example from the NCTM publication Teaching Children Mathematics from the Math by the Month section.
I took off the question (what could you buy?) and presented it to students just as you see the problem above. I told students to take 2 minutes and on their own jot down things they "noticed" and "wondered" about this problem. I think it is really important to give kids at least a few minutes to think, without talking, on their own (everyone needs processing time). Then I have them in small groups or pairs just share out what they NOTICE (not WONDER at this point).
After kids have had time to think on their own then we do some whole group sharing and I record on a google doc that they can all see or chart paper. This process levels the playing field. Just like with reading you activate prior knowledge and help kids start to make connections with things they already know and helps some students be exposed to things that they themselves missed. This is also a good assessment tool for teachers to see what they already know and what they do not know. For accelerated students I believe this makes them slow down and process more - they often jump in and start crunching numbers without things about all of the details.
I will tell you at this point I have them start sharing their "wonderings" with the whole group. Every time I've done this problem kids have come up with the question that was with the original problem, on their own, and ones that are much harder. I had a group of 2nd graders come up with these questions:
- What could you buy with this money?
- What is the least number of pieces of candy that you could buy with this money?
- What is the most number of pieces of candy that you could buy with this money?
- Could you buy just 1 chocolate coin for 10 cents instead of 5 for 50 cents? (Great question for grade 2)?
Some of the questions they ask are more "clarifying" type questions and we as a class or I as the teacher, answer those so we are on the same page. This is true of the question about buying 1 chocolate coin for 10 cents above. In one of the classes I was in I had a large range of students with several very high level students so I told them if they wanted to do this, they could but they had to show me the math to prove that they have the correct cost of one item.
Next we agree on a central question, from their list, to focus on. I always tell students if they get the class question done they are free to explore other questions as well. I have been known, after kids have noticed and wondered for a while, to let students choose their own question and not have a central class question.
Then we set off and work on the problem - you will find that kids are VERY motivated because this is their problem - they came up with the question and they are motivated to solve it. Also, you won't find that you have kids just sitting their stuck because everyone has some information about the problem - even your lowest level students will have at least one way to start thinking and solving the problem.
My job as a teacher is now to question students. I ask questions like,
- tell me how you started to solve the problem?
- what does this calculation refer to, can you label it so that everyone know what you were calculating?
- are their other things you could buy with your money?
- how can you organize your thinking so that anyone who picks up your work can understand what you are purchasing and how you justified your work?
As a teacher you need to come up with questions to help students who get stuck or seem to have a wrong answer INSTEAD of giving hints. Resist the urge to give hints - no one give hints in the real world - we want them to be independent thinkers. Read Annie Fetter's post, One Example of a Bad Hint, if you don't believe me.
Then at the end of the time we have, I have students first share with a partner. Sometimes I give students a simple rubric and they evaluate each other based on things like how they communicated their thinking or precision (practice 6). Sometimes I evaluate them using a rubric and sometimes we put this work in their portfolio and then later on they choose the problems they want to be evaluated. I always like to have some students share out with the whole group as well.
Goodness - I could go on and on about this. I love this strategy and use it in ALL subjects, not just math. In Washington County MANY of our elementary teacher use this strategy and can give you testimonials about it. We use this strategy from our Cubs (age 3) all the way through our elementary grades. I will tell you if you have read my post about 3 Act lessons you will see that this is always the basis for my 3 act lessons as well.
If you are interested in what I have gathered and created for Noticing and Wondering go to my google folder here. I'm always happy to do a teacher workshop on this topic - contact me if you are interested!
While this phenomenon started as a high school structure, I embrace this as also a very powerful instructional tool at the elementary level (even down to the Pre-K level). I have borrowed and adapted some elementary ideas from Graham Fletcher (out of GA) as well as written many of my own. If you are interested in checking this out, check out my 3-act lesson website: