Card
Math Interview
This math strategy encourages students to deepen their math understanding. Students conduct an interview with a partner to help them ask meaningful questions, have productive discourse, use academic language, and reflect metacognitively.
Math Interview
Summary
Students are paired with a partner and provided with discussion prompts. The prompts guide the conversation, promote the use of academic language, and help students reflect on their mathematical thought processes. In the beginning, the conversation will seem robotic, but the more they engage with the math interview the more they internalize the questioning process. After a few interviews, they become better at having a productive conversation centered around math.
Procedure
Group students into pairs, Partner A and Partner B.
Assign each partner a different math task, Task A and Task B.
For the first 5-7 minutes, have students work on the problem independently with no help. Encourage students to write something or everything they know about the problem. They do not have to have a correct answer to conduct the interview.
Instruct students to write their partner’s name on their interview paper.
Partner A interviews Partner B first.
If Partner B does not finish the task after the 5-7 minutes of independent work time, Partner A can help Partner B, but only after Partner A completes interviewing Partner B.
Once that interview is finished and the problem is correct and complete, the process starts again with Partner B interviewing Partner A.
If Partner B does not finish their task, then Partner B can help Partner A if needed but only after the interview is complete.
(Optional) Consider watching A Simple Strategy to Get Students Talking About Math video for an example on how to incorporate this strategy into your class.
Edutopia. (2022, February 4). A simple strategy to get students talking about math. Edutopia. Retrieved May 4, 2023, from https://www.edutopia.org/video/simple-strategy-get-students-talking-about-math
Publisher
Downloads
Placement In Lesson
- Evaluate/Assessment
- Explain/Closing
- Extend/Additional Learning Activity
Intention/Purpose
- Active Engagement
- Collaborate
- Conversation Starter
- Critical Thinking
- Elaborate
- Evaluate
- Problem Solving
- Reason
- Reflection
- Review
- Self-assessment
- Speak & Listen
- Writing Across Curriculum
Related Resources
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