Instructional Minute
October 11, 2022
Free PD Opportunity for Social Studies Teachers at MSU
Jack Miller Center is a civic education nonprofit organization focused on promoting the teaching of America’s founding principles and history on campuses and in classrooms across the country.
The Jack Miller Center will be holding a primary source-focused professional development program for K-12 social studies educators in East Lansing with our partners at Michigan State’s James Madison College on July 9 – 11. This is a great opportunity for teachers to dive into content and gain summer PD hours.
The theme for the program will be “Great Debates in American Politics” and it will cover key political debates from the Founding Era, the Antebellum and Civil War Eras, and the twentieth century. The program will include primary source discussions led by MSU faculty as well as an application session led by, Emilee McHorney, on strategies for teaching the primary sources discussed to K-12 students.
There is no fee to attend and teachers will receive a $300 stipend for completion of the program.
The link to register can be found here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeBaPtOAjWBKvGWWrrk_n6tOBX6zmJ_GkYRnQqZdvrxdZBdMw/viewform
Using Student Mistakes to Deepen Mathematical Understanding
Over the past few weeks, we’ve explored how celebrating student mistakes can unlock deeper understanding in math classrooms. Research supports this practice: students learn more from their mistakes than their successes (Boaler, 2016). In fact, making mathematical mistakes is an authentic and essential part of doing mathematics (NCTM, 2014; Smith & Stein, 1998).
This week, we’re highlighting how to use student mistakes within a Mathematical Language Routine (MLR) to support daily instruction. MLRs are structured, flexible routines designed to amplify, assess, and develop students’ mathematical language—both academic and everyday. These routines can be adapted across lessons wherever there’s an opportunity to help students improve how they communicate mathematically.
Out of the 8 Mathematical Language Routines, we’re focusing this week on Routine #3: Critique, Correct, and Clarify.
What is “Critique, Correct, and Clarify”?
This routine encourages students to analyze and reflect on a piece of mathematical writing—that is not their own. The writing may contain errors, be incomplete, or use ambiguous language. Students work to identify issues, correct misunderstandings, and clarify the reasoning.
It’s powerful because:
- Students engage in constructive critique.
- It promotes meta-awareness about how math is communicated.
- You can model respectful critique using think-alouds and pressing for clarity.
Example: Critique a Partial or Flawed Response
Try this structure with your class:
- Present: Share a partial or flawed response (it could include a common error or vague terminology). You can even present it as your own and ask the class to help improve it.
- Prompt: Ask students to identify errors or unclear thinking. They can analyze the work on their own first, then discuss with a partner.
- Share: Invite pairs to share their revised responses with the class.
- Refine: Give students time to reflect and revise their drafts based on the discussion.
If you give this Mathematical Language Routine a try, we’d love to hear how it goes! Your experiences help us all grow together.
SAT, PSAT 8/9, PSAT 10 Educator Question Bank
Create custom targeted question sets to improve instruction. This resource has thousands of real test questions, allows the user to filter questions, and then export into a PDF if needed. Follow the link below for access!
