mathkaveli

Why We Should Never Tell Students What They Can Tell Us A student-centered approach to deeper mathematical thinking There is a deceptively simple idea in teaching that can fundamentally reshape classroom practice: never say anything a student can say. This principle comes from Steve Reinhart’s article Never Say Anything a Kid Can Say! (2000), and it challenges teachers to resist the urge to explain, clarify, or summarize when students themselves are capable of doing that intellectual work. When we connect Reinhart’s insight with Robert Kaplinsky’s instructional reflection and Dan Finkel’s TEDx talk, Five Principles of Extraordinary Math Teaching , a coherent vision of student-centered learning emerges. In that vision, students are active sense-makers and communicators, and the teacher’s primary job is to design experiences that make student thinking visible. Lead with a question Dan Finkel argues that extraordinary math teaching begins with questions worth thinking about, not ...