Ideas are important, right?

Whether we are professional adults trying to manage large projects or young children who are ready for lunch, our communication skills have a huge impact on our ability to provide for ourselves and the people we care about.

Learning this skill however is no easy task! The following are strategies that I have used over many years in education and the classroom to help children become better at expressing their ideas. These 9 strategies can be used at school and at home.

#1: Self-Talk

The adults describe their thought processes as they perform any task.  As an example, relevant to math class, the teacher may self-talk about putting 3 and 2 together. 

“I see a plus sign, so I know I have to put the three and two together.  I see 2 parts.  Three is a part and two is a part.  I’m going to put these together by counting.  I’m going to start with 3 and count on.  I might lose track of how many I have to count on, so I’m going to use my fingers.  I’ll start with 3.  Three….. four, five.  I counted up 2, so my whole is 5.  I think I should do that again to make sure I did it right.  Three……. Four, five.  I was right.  3 + 2 is 5.

>>This strategy is different from explaining to students.  Adults are sharing an inner dialogue, which many young students do not have.

>>Although this strategy is common in the younger grades, it works at any grade level.

>>The same strategy can be used at home. Children need to hear the words that go along with common tasks. This builds vocabulary and syntax.

#2: Restating

This strategy asks children to paraphrase what someone else just said.  A strategy for engaging children is to tell them, in advance, that this strategy will be used.   

“I’m going to answer this question (or give directions, or explain something) and then I’m going to ask you to repeat what I just said in your own words.”

In the classroom, this is particularly good for English Language Learners.

Families can use this strategy with their young learners.

#3: Expand & Extend

In this strategy, the adult asks the children to add on to what the adult said or add on to what another child said. 

Another use of Expand and Extend is to ask children to repeat what was just said only to use a specific vocabulary word.  “That was a great answer.  Can you repeat what you said but add the words part and whole in your answer?”  In this example, adults are asking children to expand what they just said using specified vocabulary. 

#4: Agreeing or Disagreeing

You can ask children to tell if the disagree or agree with either what an adult said or another child said. This can focus on facts (“Do you agree that 2 + 3 = 5?”) or opinions (“Do you agree that oranges are the best tasting fruit?”) This can be a good introduction to the difference between facts and opinions.

#5: Applying

In this strategy, the adult asks for an example:

“Aurora, your answer was really good. Can someone give me an example of what she meant?”

#6: Parallel Talk

So often our students can show, but struggle to explain (using words) what they are doing.  This strategy has the adult step in and talk about what the child is doing.  An example: “I saw Jason make a number bond with 5 as the whole, and 2 and 3 as the parts.  I saw that he put the 5 in the whole.  He put the 2 and 3 in the parts.  The trick here, is to be as simple as possible.  The teacher is describing what the child is doing – putting it into words!

At home, this strategy has the adult talking about what a child is doing. “I see Reggie making a train track. He’s adding a bridge! I wonder if the train will fit under the bridge.”

#7: Revoicing

This strategy recognizes that children’s discourse isn’t always clear.  An adult will ask a child to answer a question.  The answer may be correct, as heard from a loving adult, but no one else.  The adult revoices the child’s answer so that the answering child hears what they might have said, and other children listening can hear a good explanation.

#8: Sentence Starters

Give children sentence starters to help their thought processes.  “I’m going to ask a question. When you answer, use my sentence starter.”

“Sylvia, what would you like for lunch. For lunch I would like to have…” This helps young children hear how a more complete answer might sound.

#9: Waiting

This is not so much a strategy for helping articulation skills, but rather a recognition that some of us need time to think.  Some adults find a dangling question very uncomfortable and start to rephrase the question.  It may be better to just give children time to think.  Adults might say, “I’m going to give you time to think about your answer.” 

In the classroom, children might be more comfortable answering in front of others if they have tried out their answers with a peer.  “I just asked a question, turn and talk to your friend, and then I’ll ask you to answer to the whole group.”

Parents can practice social interactions before they happen.  “When it’s time to go, say, “Thank you for inviting us!”

Teachers always have reluctant responders.  One way to build up a reluctant responder is talk to the student during turn and talk.  “Jessica, that was a good answer!  I’m going to call on you when we talk whole group.  Would you like to practice your answer again?”

Learn more in We Didn't Learn Math This Way!

These are just a few of the strategies that we have used to engage our learners in the math class over the years. Whether you are an educator or a parent, these easy methods can help tremendously!

Curious to learn about more methods that educators are using to teach math today? CLICK HERE to check out our new book, We Didn't Learn Math This Way! A K-5 Guide for the Confused Adult. Published by Singapore Math, this essential math resource for parents and teachers includes a thorough review of these models and how teachers use them to teach many math topics in elementary school classrooms today.