Students supporting each other to persevere
The number one common core standard of math practice relates to students persevering with productive struggle. Studies have been done showing the direct relationship between how long a student is willing to work on a problem before quitting and their eventual academic success in mathematics. So how can not only the teacher support students to stick with problems and keep at it, but also students help each other to increase this trait?
Some options in no particular order:
Encouragement to notice everything they can about a problem. This can help students to see essential pieces of information they would not otherwise catch and can also help them make connections or think of it in a different way. This can be done collaboratively.
Encouragement to share with each other all the strategies and tools they have to solve a problem.
Opportunities for them to ask each other probing questions about their work and norms that support this to help them reflect on their own process and where they might have made a mistake or not pushed farther. They should try to provide detailed and logical answers to each other’s questions.
Opportunities for them to acknowledge each others efforts in a positive and genuine way.
Opportunities for students to share what they have done with a problem so far and what they are thinking of doing next and where they are stuck.
What other ways can students support each other to persevere?