ABSTRACT
The discourse that surrounds the disagreement allows students to organize their thoughts, formulate arguments, consider other students’ positions, and communicate their positions to their classmates. In recent years some teachers around the country have given students assignments to take on a “Nazi’s perspective” or to “consider the argument” for slavery. Deeply understanding the big ideas of mathematics is a career-long journey for every math teacher. Interactive read-alouds are one method to immerse students in a text before the Hands-Down Conversation. In terms of comprehension, Christy and Kelsey set their sights on some of the bigger ideas that were emerging during the conversation. At the heart of conversations that nurture disagreement is the idea that considering different perspectives and bringing a skeptical lens to an idea is a productive way of building understanding.
