What do we make of it? How do we really flag certain things that may help the group process and think about something? And those were also done constantly across the times we’ve spent in these classrooms, in the way teachers would really point to something that may help us as a group later. It's not about me and you as the teacher, but it's about the us. Hala: The other norm, when it comes to the social aspects of the norm, was really this explicit work on the sense of the collective as an intellectual community. The idea of saying, “Remember, we want to listen now to Hala share her thinking because we want to think how we make sense of it, what Hala is helping us think about.” So, those were the typical expressions or things that teachers would say in building these norms in the classroom. And even with the use of representations, resources, those were all really in the service of helping someone make their thinking explicit so that someone else is going to understand it or use it or build on it. And we've seen examples from teachers where often, as they're asking students to get ready to go into their small groups, they would always say, “Remember, it's important to show our thinking and our work because we want to help someone else learn it.” You want to help the class understand this idea better. Hala: My learning as the teacher, others learning in the classroom. And it's important to share it, not just because I'm the teacher and I asked you to do it, but because it's going to contribute to everyone else's learning. So, the way that is typically continuously communicated by the teacher, in the sense that it's important to share our thinking. The idea that first as an individual in class, that I'm a contributor to everyone's understanding. So, some of the things that we've seen is, first of all, centered on children's thinking. One in relation to what we would call “norms related to what's conceptual,” or what call more like the disciplinary aspects of norms. In the research that we've done, we've seen it happening at two levels.
So, when I think about the norms, I think often of them as embedded within the fabric of what's happening in kindergarten. When I think of math in kindergarten, it very much exists within the learning altogether that happens in kindergarten whether it's social-emotional skills, whether they're learning about other subject areas. And I just want to situate a little bit some of the things that I have been studying and thinking about. I mean, perhaps what it looks like to support them in kindergarten. And I'm wondering if you could talk just a bit about the norms that you think are important. This feels so important because the norms and the culture that we set in kindergarten, from my perspective, those might be some of the first messages students receive about what's valued in a mathematics classroom. Mike: You started to hint at the first thing that I hope to talk about. Hala: (laughs) I can imagine the magic of kindergarten just because it's a time where people think that they know what to expect, but literally you don't know what to expect with children in kindergarten.
I spent eight of my 17 years teaching kindergarten, so I've been dreaming about a podcast like this for a long time. I love this topic, and the chance to really talk about this with you is great. Hala Ghousseini: Thank you very much for having me. We're really excited to have you on the podcast today talking about math talk in kindergarten. Hala Ghousseini, a professor at the University of Wisconsin, about building a solid foundation for math talk in kindergarten and beyond. It's also a time when educators can develop a set of productive norms and routines around discourse that can have long-lasting effects on students. Mike Wallus: Kindergarten is a joyful, exciting and challenging grade level to teach. Supporting Understanding Using RepresentationsĮxploring Mathematics through Play In the Early Childhood Classroom TRANSCRIPT Supporting Mathematics Talk in Kindergarten It’s also a time when educators can develop a set of productive norms and routines around discourse that can have a long-lasting effect on students. Kindergarten is a joyful, exciting and challenging grade level to teach.
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