Leadership magazine May/June 2015 V 44 No 5 | Page 9

solutions are correct, saying, “From these
two examples, look at the math and the
strategies that were used. In your opinion,
were either efficient, and why or why not?
Talk to each other…”
The Silicon Valley Math Initiative calls
this approach a “re-engagement” lesson,
meant to revisit, clarify or deepen student
learning by “re-engaging students with the
mathematics of a complex problem differently than a lesson that might traditionally
only review or reteach a problem and its solution (Foster & Poppers, 2009).
Colleague Emily Shelburne, who uses this
approach with her calculus students, states,
“When our department scores student work
together, it guides our conversations about
their mathematical misconceptions. We talk
about providing more modeling and opportunities for students to explain their reasoning in our next lessons.”
Math consultant Jonathan Rhodea works
with district teams in the network, helping
them select rich tasks that reveal students’
application of math and conceptual thinking. By sharing templates and protocols that
help teachers diagnose student understanding, he is able to facilitate teams’ analysis, dialogue and next level of work with students.
Diving into a formative assessment process requires teachers to step out of their
comfort zones, as they analyze student work
for evidence of learning and discuss what to
do in their next lessons.
Rhodea describes the shift in his support
as “helping teachers move from just thinking about what to teach next, to reflecting
about how students’ work can drive my
next lesson or math talk to better reach all
students.” In this context, the formative assessment cycle enables teachers to take an
inquiry stance about student learning and
their own instruction.

n Academic conversations: Analyzing
student talk to improve teaching & learning
Planada Elementary fourth grade teacher
Jenny Fouch embeds structures in her lessons that build academic talk in her classroom. For Fouch, students’ oral output is not
enough. She uses taped transcriptions of student dialogue to examine student language
production and understanding of content.

Her school coach works with her grade
level as they examine student evidence of
thinking and use this information for lesson
design. She said, “We meet often to debrief
about how it went, to determine students’
needs, based on the conversations in our
classes that day, and to plan for future instruction. Our planning has changed. We

Jose Morales, a fifth grade teacher using the
tools says, “Our grade-level meetings look
different now because we aren’t just looking
at strategies to invite students to respond,
but how to support c