Abstract
The issue of responding to pupils in-the-moment is one of many complex issues which teachers face in the classroom. I followed a set of student teachers who were given particular activities designed to widen their repertoire of possible ways to respond to pupils’ contributions in the classroom. These activities were a mix of particular lessons to teach along with sessions given at university. There was a significant shift in awareness of different ways of responding which involved less explaining and more use of a variety of techniques such as waiting to allow other pupils to give their thoughts, using body language, asking questions, listening and allowing time for pupils to work things out for themselves. Quite sophisticated techniques were demonstrated by two of these students whose lessons were video recorded and a sense of personal clarity was shown which guided the way in which they responded to pupils in their classrooms. This clarity brought with it a sense of continued development of their teaching skills through a combination of learning from their pupils and their own developing set of beliefs.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Ainley, J., & Luntley, M. (2007). The role of attention in expert classroom practice. Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education. 10, 3–22.
Bauersfeld, H. (1988). ‘Interaction, construction, and knowledge: Alternative perspectives for mathematics education’. In D. A. Grouws & T. J. Cooney (Eds.), Perspectives on research on effective mathematics teaching (pp. 27–46). Reston, VA: NCTM.
Brown, L., & Coles, A. (2008). Hearing silence: Steps to teaching mathematics. Cambridge: Black Apollo Press.
Brown, L., & Waddingham, J. (1982). An addendum to Cockroft, Bristol: Resources for Learning Development Unit.
Calderhead, J. (1984). Teachers’ classroom decision-making. London: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Chazan, D., & Ball, D. (1999). Beyond being told not to tell. For the Learning of Mathematics, 19, 2–10.
Doerr, H. M. (2006). Teachers’ ways of listening and responding to students’ emerging mathematical models, ZDM, 38, 255–268.
Griffin, P. (1989). Teaching takes place in time, learning takes place over time. Mathematics Teaching, 126, 12–13.
Hewitt, D. (1994). The principle of economy in the teaching and learning of mathematics, Unpublished PhD dissertation, The Open University, Milton Keynes.
Hewitt, D. (1999). Arbitrary and necessary: Part 1 a way of viewing the mathematics curriculum. For the Learning of Mathematics, 19, 2–9.
Iannone, P., & Nardi, E. (2005). On the pedagogical insight of mathematicians: ‘Interaction’ and ‘transition from the concrete to the abstract’. Journal of Mathematical Behavior, 24, 191–215.
Kluger, N., & DeNisi, A. (1996). The effects of interventions on performance: a historical review, a meta-analysis, and a preliminary feedback intervention theory. Psychological Bulletin, 19, 254–284.
Mason, J. (1989). Mathematical abstraction as the result of a delicate shift of attention. For the Learning of Mathematics, 9, 2–8.
Mason, J. (1998). ‘Researching from the inside in mathematics education’. In A. Sierpinska & J. Kilpatrick (Eds.), Mathematics education as a research domain: a search for identity (Book 2, pp. 357–378.) Dordrecht, Netherlands: Kluwer.
Mason, J. (2002). Researching your own practice: The Discipline of Noticing. London: Routledge Falmer.
Mason, J., Burton, L., & Stacey, K. (1985). Thinking mathematically. Wokingham: Addison-Wesley.
Scherer, P., & Steinbring, H. (2006). Noticing children’s learning processes – teachers jointly reflect on their own classroom interaction for improving mathematics teaching. Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, 9, 157–185.
Shulman, L. (1986). Those who understand: Knowledge growth in teaching. Educational Researcher, 15, 4–14.
Smith, T. J. (2003). Connecting theory and reflective practice through the use of personal theories. In N. A. Pateman, B. J. Dougherty, & J. Zilliox (Eds.), Proceedings of the 2003 Joint meeting of the international group for the psychology of mathematics education (PME) and PME North America chapter (PME-NA) (Vol. 4, pp. 215–222). Honolulu, USA: College of Education, University of Hawai'i.
Tahta, D. (1981). Some thoughts arising from the new Nicolet films. Mathematics Teaching, 94, 25–29.
Voigt, J. (1995). Thematic patterns of interactions and sociomathematical norms. In P. Cobb & H. Bauersfeld (Eds.), Emergence of mathematical meaning: Interactions in classroom culture (pp. 163–201). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Wheeler, D. (1998). The commonsense of teaching. In Y. Pothier (Ed.), Proceedings of the 1998 annual meeting of the Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group (pp. 93–99). Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada: Mount Saint Vincent University Press.
Winne, P. H., & Marx, R. W. (1982). Students’ and teachers’ views of thinking processes for classroom learning. The Elementary School Journal, 92, 493–519.
Wood, T. (1998). Alternative patterns of communication in mathematics classes: Funneling or focusing. In H. Steinbring, A. Sierpinska, & M. G. Bartolini-Bussi (Eds.), Language and communication in the mathematics classroom (pp. 167–178). Reston, VA: NCTM.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2010 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Hewitt, D. (2010). Feedback: Expanding a Repertoire and Making Choices. In: Leikin, R., Zazkis, R. (eds) Learning Through Teaching Mathematics. Mathematics Teacher Education, vol 5. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3990-3_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3990-3_14
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-481-3989-7
Online ISBN: 978-90-481-3990-3
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawEducation (R0)