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Lesson

Elementary School: Using Tools in Support of Mathematical Thinking

Clip 7/12: Day 3: Re-introducing students to dot talk routine and use of counters

Overview

Presenting and Selecting Tools: Mia continues to focus on introducing tools so that students can make good choices about their use. Mia follows up a few days after the beginning of school with a second dot talk, in which she encourages her students to match a tool to the task itself. She sets out the dots before distributing the task, challenging her students to think about the configuration of dots and then replicate it in front of them.

text book

These videos are discussed in the Inside Mathematics guide"Using Tools in Support of Thinking, Mia Buljan, 2nd grade," one of 10 practice-focused guides on building classroom climates for mathematical learning.

The videos document key mathematical practices observed in teacher Mia Buljan's 2nd-grade classroom over the course of a school year. In the guide (available as a PDF or an iBook download), you can explore extended narratives and questions for reflection around "using tools in support of thinking."

Consider:

How do you give the cognitive demand of tool selection over to the students?

Materials & Artifacts