Room 250


Mathematical Practices

QUESTIONS TO ASK THAT MOVE STUDENTS TO BECOME MATHEMATICALLY PROFICIENT:
 

   
Mathematical Practice How did the student demonstrate this practice?
1 Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.
  • How would you describe the problem in your own words?
  • What do you know that is not stated in the problem?
  • Could you try this with simpler numbers? Fewer numbers?
  • Would it help to create a diagram? Make a table? Draw a picture?
2 Reason abstractly and quantitatively.
  • What does it mean when…
3 Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.
  • What do you think about what ____ said?
  • Do you agree? Why/why not?
  • Can you explain what
  • ______ is saying?
  • Can you explain why his/her strategy works?
  • How is your strategy similar to ______’s?
  • Can you convince the rest of us that your answer makes sense?
4 Model with mathematics.
  • What number sentence represents your drawing/picture/representation?
  • How could we use symbols to represent what’s happening?
5 Use appropriate tools strategically.
  • How did using that tool help you solve the problem?
  • If we didn’t have access to that tool, what other one would you have chosen?
6 Attend to precision.
  • Can you tell me why that is true?
  • How did you reach your conclusion?
  • How does your answer connect to the question? Does it make sense?
  • Can you make a model to show that?
  • Can you convince the rest of us that your answer makes sense?
  • What new words did you use today? How did you use them?
7 Look for and make use of structure.
  • How do you know your rule/equation will always work?
8 Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.
  • Is there a shortcut / algorithm you could use?