Don't Underestimate Your Students: Differentiate Successfully by Asking Richer Questions

By Marian Small
March 8, 2017

Teachers of mathematics all over North America struggle to reach students in their classroom who work below grade level at the same time as they try not to bore their strongest students and try to deliver curriculum constructed to support more typical students.

A teacher’s instinct for supporting struggling students might be to ask more directed and simpler questions involving less thinking. But we have discovered that the opposite is actually the way to go. Differentiating instruction in math is much more powerful when the tasks that are provided to ALL students are thoughtfully constructed to be accessible but to involve lots of thinking. Normally, these tasks would be open–ended to allow for easy access, but a high ceiling, and would focus on big ideas rather than narrow details.

This approach helps struggling students because their confidence as math thinkers grows. It helps strong students by putting them in the position of extending their learning and not just displaying what they already know. It also helps creative students who think “out of the box”, even in math.

During this session on differentiating instruction, teachers at all grade levels will meet many examples of open mathematical questions that focus on important mathematical ideas that are accessible to all, but which lead to rich conversations and benefit all students. As well, participants will learn about strategies for creating many more of their own.

Differentiating instruction in math is not about different tasks for different students; it is about the right task for all students. Here are just a few examples:

•  Which numbers do you think belong with 8, 18 and 82? Why?
     
•  The 10th number in a pattern is 25. What might the pattern be?
      
• A fraction is a tiny bit less than ½. What might it be?
     
• A rectangle has a perimeter triple its length. What might it be?
   
• The product of two integers is about 50 less than one of its factors. What might it be? 
  
  
• Label the axes of a graph so that a line with a big slope does not look steep.
     
• Give the equation of a function that grows REALLY fast.

Join in the conversation and start to enjoy the enthusiastic response to open questions you will see from your students.

Be sure not to miss this session at the 2017 NCTM Annual Meeting in San Antonio:

Don't Underestimate Your Students: Differentiate Successfully by Asking Richer Questions
April 6, 2017 | 12:30–1:30 p.m. in Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, Hemisfair 2
The questions that teachers ask make all the difference! Participants will explore mathematical question styles that not only provide entry points for all students, but also allow for high ceilings, ensuring that all students, strugglers to strong, are engaged in meaningful mathematical thinking.