ABSTRACT
When I first started teaching, I met a master teacher named Coco Aguirre. She was loud and funny and really smart. She worked with her kids in small groups and taught them all how to read, write, and do arithmetic. A big sign over the threshold of her door said, “If kids don’t learn the way you teach, then teach the way they learn.” Simple but true. And so that’s what I did. Fortunately, the school that I landed my first teaching job in had an early bird-late bird structure. Half our kids came early in the morning and left about two, and then the other half came about an hour later and stayed late. The idea was to work with children in small groups for reading and math. So I could say that this pathway of small guided math groups was laid out for me from the beginning. I believe that when you work with students in small groups, you reach them in a different way than in the whole group. You get to look straight in their eyes and listen carefully to each word that comes out of their mouths. You get to teach each one with a bit more intention than in the whole group. You get to invite each student to a front-row seat-as a participant, not a spectator. Students get to get in the game, play hard, and learn lots. They each get to talk, to show their thinking, to question others, to engage deeply in rich mathematical conversations. They get to get on friendly terms with numbers, to take risks and to go from triumph to triumph at that kidney-shaped table. Here, in a guided math group, we foster mathematical thinkers, one problem at a time, in these small spaces. Guided math is an opportunity for teachers to provide specific mathematical interventions. Let’s take a look now at one of those lessons in action.
