When Two Heads Are Better Than OneJamie Walker, posted April 24, 2017 —Hearing students whine about math being hard isakin to hearing nails on a chalkboard. Because it drove me crazy, I decided tohead it off. At the beginning of the school year, we have alittle conversation about how math is hard. I start by acknowledging mystudents’ feelings. “Math is hard. Iget it. I found math to be challenging in school.” I can see the confusion ontheir faces as they realize that their teacher just said that math waschallenging for her. However, I follow it up with an explanation. “It was thatchallenge that made it so great. You know that feeling when you finally getsomething that was hard, that wonderful aha! moment? I love that feeling, and that is why I fell in love with math. I lovea good challenge, but I also know that I can’t always do it alone. In here whenthings get hard, we work together to find answers, and we help each otherlearn.” In a society that values the individual, this can be a difficultconcept to get across to students. It is my job to help my students learn toCollaboration is extremelybeneficial. Through collaboration, students are introduced to another valuableresource: their friends. Together, students can learn from one another anddeepen their understanding. Collaborative learning values a good argument. Itallows students to test their theories, validate their conclusions, andcritique the reasoning of others. However, collaboration is a skillthat must be learned. In this post, I will discuss some strategies forencouraging productive collaboration. How is your classroom set up? If you wish topromote discussions and collaborative learning, your classroom set up shouldlend itself to this. Think about what type of collaboration you would like topromote. If you prefer whole-class discussions, perhaps it would be best toshape the classroom into a giant U. This gives all students an equal seat atthe table. If you use such partnering strategies as “think, pair, share,”pushing desks into groups of two will facilitate partner discussions. Mixed-ability pairing is also a useful strategy. Research shows that both high-achieving and low-achieving students benefit frompeer tutoring, but only if the abilities are not too far apart. If the gapbetween students is too large, it can result in frustration for one or both. Itcan also result in one student just giving the other the answer. This situationrequires closely monitoring students; step in to help guide discussions whennecessary. Remind them not to simply answer for the other student, but to helpthe other student find the answer. Model this behavior, and have them try it. Collaboration can truly challenge yourstudents. If the activity is just a little beyond their skill set, the studentswill need the assistance of their group to complete the task. This sets thestage for valuable discussions. Inevitably, one group will be uncomfortablewith this format and seek out guidance from me. Rather than doing amini-lecture, I ask guided questions to help students formulate a theory. Oncethey have a theory, let the group critique the theory or further justify it. When working with groups,it helps to give the students well-defined roles within the grouping to promoteaccountability and equality. I usually place one student in charge who isresponsible for making sure that everyone is working at the same pace and that no one is fallingbehind. It is also useful to have one person make sure that everyone has beengiven a chance to speak. This will facilitate more balanced discussions andIn my posts, I have discussed the value of agood argument in a math class. To have a proper discussion, there must becollaboration. Although a little competition can be a good thing, I prefer aclassroom in which students are working together to overcome a challenge. Anythingworth achieving in life will be challenging. I want my students to not only buildresources so that they become resilient when faced with a challenge but also activelyseek out challenges in school and in life. Jamie Walker, firstname.lastname@example.org, is a mathematics teacher atProvidence Catholic High School in New Lenox, Illinois, where she teaches algebra1 and geometry in a 1:1 environment. She shares literacy strategies on herwebpage http://mathematicsplusreading.weebly.com/ and tweets from @walkerjamielynn. Walker has a passion for increasing literacy in mathematics and works tocollaborate and share on the Twittersphere.