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[Music] Welcome to Coach Talk:
Preparing for Problem Solving.

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McGill: My name is Jane McGill, and
I am a K-6 mathematics coach in the

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Papillion La Vista School District at 
Carriage Hill Elementary

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Inserra: And I am Danielle Inserra,
a K-6 math coach in the Papillion

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-La Vista School District at Patriot
 Elementary in Papillion Nebraska.

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Inserra: Problem solving is such an
important part of learning mathematics,

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teaching them to be able to
persevere through a problem,

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to be able to not give up, and if
their way of thinking isn't working,

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to be able to adjust to that
and to be able to self-reflect.

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Inserra: When selecting
problems for students to solve,

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it's important to carefully
select those problems

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because each problem
should have a purpose to it.

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It should be on the way
to reaching a goal.

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So you have a goal in mind, and
you carefully select those problems

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so that students are
able to reach that goal.

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McGill: Selecting the problem
needs to be very strategic.

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You want to be strategic
about those skills

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that you are trying to teach them.

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It's really important when you
are looking for suitable problems,

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look back at what students might already
know and what you want them to reach.

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So you need to look at skills that
they can bring to the problem.

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Inserra: It's critical to have a variety

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of problems-some routine,
some non-routine.

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If the problem is routine, you have
been practicing these strategies

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and this learning that's developed
and you want to be able to see

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if students are able to apply that
learning on their own and be able

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to solve problems in a similar fashion.

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Non-routine problems are also
important so that students are able

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to show their current
knowledge and maybe apply things

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that they haven't been
specifically taught.

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You can see their level of understanding
and their depth of understanding.

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McGill: As a coach, when I am
planning a lesson with a teacher,

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we do take into consideration their
experience as far as the context,

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the vocabulary knowledge, making sure
that teachers have the background:

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"Where have my students been?"

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"What are they bringing with them?"

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"What strategies have
I taught them to use?"

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and "Where is it going?"

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I think it's really important to
analyze the mathematic content

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that a problem has because you want to
make sure it reaches all your students.

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Just knowing your students really well,
and knowing their content knowledge,

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too, and also "Where are their gaps?"

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If you know your students well enough,

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you know where their
specific content gaps are.

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Inserra: We think about how we can make
that concept into a concrete concept

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if it's not currently, how can we bring
out those manipulatives to help create

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that vision of that concept.

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It seems that that's
where students struggle,

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is taking it to the abstract
too quickly or too fast

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and not really having
that understanding.

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And being able to represent
their thinking is important,

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because as teachers, it gives us that
insight into their thinking process.

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McGill: I think as we are planning with
teachers it's really important to talk

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about the kinds of questions and the
questioning that you are going to do

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with your students: "How are you
going to get your students involved?

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What is it you're going to say?

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What kind of talk moves can you use to
get those kids into the conversation?"

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Problem solving is having the
discourse and good conversation

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within the classroom: "Are
you going to re-voice?

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This would be a good time
to re-voice at this point."

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Or maybe you have got students
that have some misconceptions:

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"Maybe I need to have some other
students agree or disagree."

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Inserra: As I am planning with teachers,
if we don't have that discussion

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on questions, then sometimes you see a
discussion with very little questioning

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if they are not thinking ahead of that.

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So within your planning time,
planning those questions and deciding,

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"If I have a student who
is not understanding this,

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what kinds of questions am
I going to ask to get them

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to understand the concept?"

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Or "If I have a student who is
showing that they understand,

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what questions am I going
to ask to challenge them

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or to further their thinking?"

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But the part of planning the questions
is so critical, to have those thought

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of ahead of time so that when you are
in the moment, you don't have to stop

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and try thinking or you
lose your kids at that time.

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Inserra: You might want to begin with
looking at your current curriculum

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and then looking at other resources.

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McGill: A lot of our professional
magazines that we read have lots

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of good problem solving
in them, asking teachers

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if they have other problems
that would be suitable.

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Inserra: Different publishing companies
and educational websites offer lots

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of different problems that you could
adapt to fit the needs of your students.

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To learn more about Preparing
for Problem Solving,

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please explore the additional resources
on the Doing What Works website.

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[Music]