The doctor's appointment

As we head into winter here in Melbourne, the days are getting shorter, the weather colder and there is a spike in the number of viruses going around! ❄️

It is certainly not my favourite time of the year! 

This week we had the first 'winter bug' enter our house. At one point 4/6 of the family had kindly shared the virus with each other, and while we all had relatively mild symptoms, it certainly slowed us all down.

This week's experience reminded me again of the many similarities between us as teachers, and doctors.

When you go to visit a doctor, one of the first things you might hear is "tell me what's going on". This is an invitation for you, as the patient, to begin describing your symptoms and sharing some context and background around your ailment. 

When I visit the doctor, one of two things seems to happen. Firstly, I seem to miraculously feel better sitting in the waiting room and start to doubt the need to actually attend the appointment. Interestingly this also happens just before I visit the hairdresser. After days of looking at my hair thinking, 'it needs a good cut'... suddenly I look in the mirror on the day of the appointment and it doesn't look too bad! I am always amazed by the tricks the mind plays!

The other phenomenon that plays out in a doctor's waiting room is I start running through what I am going to say and ask the doctor. What do they need to hear? What don't they need to hear? What information is wasting their time? What symptoms may be important to share? What examples will I use to illustrate how I am feeling?

I find knowing what to say to doctors very difficult! Despite my many years of experience as a teacher explaining things in simple terms, when it comes to explaining my symptoms, I am very imprecise and often end up not saying much at all!

I imagine that this makes the job of the doctor much more challenging! They have to listen carefully to what I am saying (or not saying), wade through the unimportant information, ask probing questions, and then use their knowledge of the body and medicine to make a diagnosis and plan for improvement (all in the space of a few minutes).

These interactions lead the doctor to make decisions about whether medicine is required, or whether it is a case of leaving the body to heal itself, if further testing is required or a referral to a specialist is the next best step.

There are many parallels between a doctor's role and the role we play as teachers.

Many of the reasons/causes for visiting the doctor are invisible to the naked eye. In most cases the doctor can't actually 'see' what is happening inside our body. While a blood pressure monitor or a stethoscope may help, the GP is generally relying on their experience and knowledge to diagnose our problems.

As maths teachers, we do the same thing. We cannot 'see' inside the mind of a child. We can't know exactly where the gaps are in their knowledge. Similar to a doctor, we need find out this information by listening, assessing and questioning.

There are several ways we can do this:

1. Take time (often only 1-2 minutes is required) to really listen to students explain their thinking. We cannot accurately diagnose gaps, misconceptions or understand what a student is thinking unless they share this information with us. When we ask a student 'can you explain your thinking?', it is so we can come to better understand the process they are using to tackle a problem. If a student says nothing, or very little, it is almost impossible for us to make an informed diagnosis.

Just like if we go into a doctor's consulting room and say very little, their ability to accurately diagnose our problems and remedy a fix is diminished. We need to push and probe students with our questioning. Keep asking questions until you are satisfied you know (or suspect) where the problem lies. Don't let them get away with saying 'I don't know'- ask another question to find to something they do know, and work from there.

2. Come up with an impromptu mini assessment to gather more information about the student. I liken this to a doctor conducting further testing to help make an accurate diagnosis. The doctor will listen to your symptoms, but may use a blood test or other quantitative measures to gather another piece of evidence to solve the riddle that is your ailment. The accuracy of these measures relies on the quality of the testing, the relevance of the testing (if your blood tests results are all clear, it doesn't mean you are imagining the problem- it just means that particular test is not providing the doctor with the information they require). This is the same in a classroom. An extended assessment may not provide you the information you need to accurately diagnose a student's problem. The items may be too hard, too easy or just not provide the information we require. Often just a few simple questions, further unpacking the task the student is working on, may provide you enough information. For example, if you are counting by 7s starting at 9 and a student has written 9,16,22. You may ask:

'What is the next decade number after 16?' Answer: 20

'How far is 16 from 20?' Answer: ummm (counts by ones) 4

'4 and what is 7?' Answer: ummm, (counts by ones) 3...

This immediately tells you the child is struggling with their part-part-whole relationships for 6 and 7. Just from this simple interaction, you can 'prescribe' an intervention that can target this issue and move the student forward.

When we are questioning and assessing our students we are essentially creating 'case notes' to help us make informed decisions on their cause of their issue. The accurate diagnosis of this is critical, as the next step is to remedy this through administering 'medicine'. The 'medicine' that we need to administer is heavily reliant on our correct diagnosis, and also reliant on our pedagogical content knowledge.

One piece of advice I would share is to not be afraid to refer one of your 'patients' to a 'specialist'. A General Practitioner (GP) is the first port of call for sick patients, their job is not to be experts on everything, but know when to refer a patient onto someone with more experience in particular area.

In the classroom context, we are like GP's. We are not expected to know everything about every part of learning and teaching. So don't be afraid to ask for help from a more experienced colleague. This might involve talking to a teacher who has previously taught the student, or asking your maths leader or a maths intervention specialist for advice on where to next. Collaboration is key here!

This week I encourage you to choose 2 students to spend some extra time with (even an extra minute). Make your interactions with them really purposeful and targeted. Push them to explain their mathematical thinking. Question them like you are a doctor, trying to find the cause of their issues. It is through this dialogue that you will come to a much deeper understanding of their level of understanding, refine your own practice and have the information you require to make a more informed decision about the next best steps for the student.

Have a great week!

Ange🎓🎲  

 PS: Next week I am having a mid-year intake into my Numeracy Teachers Academy. You can find out more about the NTA, and join the waitlist to be first to know when enrolments open here.

P.P.S. P.S. You can download the PDF version of this blog to print or share with colleagues here.