Five Practices for Orchestrating Productive Mathematical Discussion

The same five practices teachers know and love for planning and managing powerful conversations in mathematics classrooms, updated with current research and new insights on anticipating, lesson planning, and lessons learned from teachers, coaches, and school leaders. This framework for orchestrating mathematically productive discussions is rooted in student thinking to launch meaningful discussions in which important mathematical ideas are brought to the surface, contradictions are exposed, and understandings are developed or consolidated.

Learn the 5 practices for facilitating effective inquiry-oriented classrooms:

Anticipating what students will do and what strategies they will use in solving a problem Monitoring their work as they approach the problem in class Selecting students whose strategies are worth discussing in class Sequencing those students’ presentations to maximize their potential to increase students’ learning Connecting the strategies and ideas in a way that helps students understand the mathematics learned