When I first started teaching third grade many years ago, I wanted to create a regular time slot each Friday afternoon during which students would choose their own activities. I had high hopes for this “Choice Time.” In my mind I had visions of students playing chess, undertaking construction projects, conducting science investigations, researching topics, and pursuing activities and endeavors that they didn’t have a chance to pursue during a typical school day. In short, I wanted the activities to have “learning value.” I would also use this time to hold students accountable if they didn’t turn in a complete homework packet that morning.

Introduction

Two weeks ago I shared that my colleagues and I have spent the past few years learning about the Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI) approach to the teaching and learning of mathematics. A huge emphasis of this philosophy is the need for students to understand math concepts on a deep level and use strategies that make sense to them. Encouraging students to use a wide variety of strategies to solve problems is a practice that stands in stark contrast to the traditional way that most of us were taught. When I was a student, I learned a series of algorithms that I was expected to follow, step-by-step, whenever I needed to add, subtract, multiply, or divide large numbers.