What’s the power of student talk in the math classroom?

TeachFX Impact

Jan 20

"Using TeachFX has allowed me to look critically at my own classroom," develop a network of colleagues to have hard conversations with about the things we can improve on, and healthy celebrations, too.

Anthony Reid, M.Ed., is a Mathematics Instructor at Howard High School of Technology. He's also 2020 – 21 NCCVT Teacher of the Year and a Knowles Teaching Fellow.

Anthony Reid, M.Ed., is a Mathematics Instructor at Howard High School of Technology…and a happy TeachFXer

Focusing in on students’ autonomy in the math classroom

Anthony uses TeachFX to dig into the conversations, interactions, and whole-class discussions happening in his math classroom.

“This year, I've had this focus on increasing students’ autonomy in the classroom, giving them opportunities to be seen as experts within the math classroom, and really just assign competence within the class.”
“And using TeachFX to monitor what those classroom discussions look like has really given me the opportunity to not only see: am I giving my students opportunities and space in the classroom to have those types of discussions, but also: am I providing opportunities for all of my students to engage meaningfully with the mathematics.”

As Anthony reflects on his TeachFX reports, he asks himself two key questions:

Am I giving my students opportunities and space in the classroom to have those discussions?

Am I providing opportunities for all of my students to engage meaningfully with mathematics?

Reflecting on his teaching practice with these questions and his TeachFX class reports, he’s able to better assign competence, give his students opportunities for autonomy, and give kids opportunities to be seen as experts within the math classroom.

TeachFX is helping Anthony nurture a collaborative learning with his peers

Anthony and his colleagues record their same lessons, then compare data, to see how students react differently or similarly at similar moments in each teacher's approach to the material.

“Since I teach the same course, as well as my two colleagues right next to me, we have the opportunity to record the exact same lesson and then look at that data together and pinpoint:
“Hey, how did students react to that same question in my class as in your class?”
“I notice in your (TeachFX) data, students talk a lot more at that section. Let's look at the questions you asked that I didn't ask,”
“It really gives us all an opportunity to refine and improve our practice.”

That’s the power of TeachFX in the math classroom: superpowering teachers with data, reflection, and celebrations

“So, all in all using, TeachFX really allowed me to look critically at my own classrooms. But then also just allowed us to create this network of critical friends, amongst my colleagues, where we can look at our lessons together and have our hard conversations about things that we can improve on. But at the same time, healthy celebrations together. So thank you for that.”