Cognitively Guided Instruction = Engaging Students

As I was reading Steve Wyckoff's blog about creating students who are passionate, inspired, and remarkable, I thought, wow, Steve should have been tagging along with me the past couple of weeks.

I have been visiting kindergarten through third grade math classrooms.  Yes, I said math classrooms.  You may be wondering what planet I've been visiting.  These are classrooms where the primary focus is on problem solving using the Cognitively Guided Instruction approach.  CGI is a constructivist research-based strategy, which allows young children the opportunity to explore and discover how numbers work together to develop true number sense. 


Just look at the base-ten understanding this young first grader exhibits in this problem-solving situation.  Not only could she solve it one-way, which she understood completely, she could solve it in several ways.

Yes, this was a first grader.  This child was not alone.  The class was buzzing with students using different math tools to solve this problem.  One child was using base ten blocks, another a hundreds chart, and yet another using a number line.  The students were comfortable choosing their best learning tool, which is a strong characteristic of Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI) classrooms.  Students were excited to share their way of thinking about the problem with other students, to the teacher, and even to the visitor in the room.  To see a math classroom buzzing with engagement and passion stirred my heart.  This is why I do what I do!

If you have other examples of engaging math lessons, please share.  I love having my heart stirred.