Facilitating Discussion

Facilitating discussion in a mathematics classroom can be challenging. Many students have never been in a classroom where legitimate discussion about mathematical topics has occurred, thus developing such discussions can be awkward and seemingly impossible. Over the last five years, I have been facilitating daily discussions in my Geometry classes using a variety of curricula. In this presentation, I will share what I have learned, from the mindsets I adopted to facilitate discussion, to how I help students develop their own sense of certainty when mathematical concepts are not necessarily known or given, to how students model good "mathematician behavior" for each other, to encouraging risk and failure amongst their peers, and more.