Which One Doesn't Belong?

I received Danielson's shapes book Which One Doesn't Belong (WODB) with anticipation. I had been noticing Twitter activity on the math twitter blogosphere around the hashtag #wodb, and I was curious. The picture book includes a teachers' guide, which I found valuable, especially the chapter on how to use the book in the classroom. It also explains the progression of a student's geometry thinking, gives tips and examples of how to guide conversations, and defines some geometry terms to give rigor to my own knowledge. I referred back to the teachers' guide many times when using the book in classroom settings. Danielson writes, I made this book to spark conversations, thinking and wonder (p. 36). He has definitely succeeded. I enjoyed using this book to facilitate conversations with first and fourth graders. Students were engaged and were eager to communicate their ideas and listen to others. I noticed improvement in their ability to craft mathematical arguments in support of their choices. In the end, the fourth graders composed their own set of shapes to challenge others with which one doesn't belong. I also shared the book with colleagues and even brought it out at a family party. This bold-color shapes book is, as the author had hoped, a resource that can make a meaningful contribution to geometry instruction (p. 16) but can also reside in an elementary school library. It allows for meaningful conversations, unanswered questions, and deep dives into the subtle and complex similarities and differences between shapes. --Laurel Pollard, Hanover Street School, Lebanon, New Hampshire. Which One Doesn't Belong? is a brilliant new math book from Stenhouse. A MUST-HAVE if you teach math at any age I think. The book is a picture book to use with kids along with a Teacher's Guide that is really a professional book by Christopher Danielson (whose website is also brilliantly amazing and one you'll want to visit often if you are a math teacher.) Which One Doesn't Belong? is a book of conversation starters around geometry. Each page of the picture book gives readers 4 shapes and asks the questions, Which One Doesn't Belong? I know this opener and love it and have used lots of the resources on the websiteWhich One Doesn't Belong? and other resources and I've always found the routine to be a good one for math learning and supporting conversations around math. But there was so much I didn't know! This teacher guide--which is not so long but long enough to have depth and lots of new learning--helped me to understand how much more powerful this routine could be if I were more intentional as a teacher. The focus on geometry is interesting to me because it is an area of math teaching that I need to learn more about. The book has an entire chapter called How Children Become Geometers. This chapter helped me see the big jump kids do from elementary school to high school geometry and how much better we can do to help them build understanding by understanding the levels of understanding kids have and build around geometry. The book is not a teacher's manual. Instead it is a way for teachers to use this routine in ways that empower students. Christopher Danielson shares language he uses when he introduces Which One Doesn't Belong. He shares examples from classrooms and he helps us better understand how children make sense of geometry through inquiry. He also puts the teacher in the decision-making chair as he invites us to make our own decisions about which pages to introduce to children when. He also has tips for creating your own WODB set. I love the answer key in this book. The thing about this WODB sets is that they are designed so every answer could be the correct answer. So the answer key shares insights kids may notice about each shape and how they might respond. It is a great resource and a great place to understand how to create your own sets (and help kids create their own.) I love so much about this set of books. We had a conversation around the first page of the picture book last week and it was incredible. I introduced it as Danielson suggests in the book and we could have gone on for a very long time with ideas and thinking around these 4 shapes. I am excited to see where the conversation goes over the next several months. This was a great way for me to take a routine I know and really deepen my understanding of it which will help my students. Not only that but it helped me understand geometry in general and I now see the connection between this and several of Danielson's blog posts. I can't recommend this book enough. If you are interested in inquiry based thinking and routines that empower kids AND if you want to learn more about quality talk in the math classroom, you need this book immediately! A Year of Reading Franki Sibberson Stenhouse just released Christopher Danielson's book, Which One Doesn't Belong? It's a must-have if you're a parent or a teacher with any interest in helping your children or students learn to speak mathematically. There are few tasks that offer so much mathematical value yet require so few instructions as Which One Doesn't Belong? You see four mathematical objects. You ask kids, Which one doesn't belong? You help them negotiate their overlapping and conflicting answers, developing vocabulary and the capacity for argument and abstraction along the way. That's it. You can find loads of great WODB prompts online but you can't find Christopher's unique presentation, narrative, and teacher's guide, which is its own kind of graduate-level course in pedagogy. Highly recommended. Dan Meyer August 31, 2016 Which One Doesn't Belong?is a brilliant new math book from Stenhouse. A MUST-HAVE if you teach math at any age I think. The book is a picture book to use with kids along with a Teacher's Guide that is really a professional book by Christopher Danielson (whosewebsiteis also brilliantly amazing and one you'll want to visit often if you are a math teacher.) Which One Doesn't Belong? is a book of conversation starters around geometry. Each page of the picture book gives readers 4 shapes and asks the questions, Which One Doesn't Belong? I know this opener and love it and have used lots of the resources on the websiteWhich One Doesn't Belong?and other resources and I've always found the routine to be a good one for math learning and supporting conversations around math. But there was so much I didn't know! This teacher guide--which is not so long but long enough to have depth and lots of new learning--helped me to understand how much more powerful this routine could be if I were more intentional as a teacher. The focus on geometry is interesting to me because it is an area of math teaching that I need to learn more about. The book has an entire chapter called How Children Become Geometers. This chapter helped me see the big jump kids do from elementary school to high school geometry and how much better we can do to help them build understanding by understanding the levels of understanding kids have and build around geometry. The book is not a teacher's manual. Instead it is a way for teachers to use this routine in ways that empower students. Christopher Danielson shares language he uses when he introduces Which One Doesn't Belong. He shares examples from classrooms and he helps us better understand how children make sense of geometry through inquiry. He also puts the teacher in the decision-making chair as he invites us to make our own decisions about which pages to introduce to children when. He also has tips for creating your own WODB set. I love the answer key in this book. The thing about this WODB sets is that they are designed so every answer could be the correct answer. So the answer key shares insights kids may notice about each shape and how they might respond. It is a great resource and a great place to understand how to create your own sets (and help kids create their own.) I love so much about this set of books. We had a conversation around the first page of the picture book last week and it was incredible. I introduced it as Danielson suggests in the book and we could have gone on for a very long time with ideas and thinking around these 4 shapes. I am excited to see where the conversation goes over the next several months. This was a great way for me to take a routine I know and really deepen my understanding of it which will help my students. Not only that but it helped me understand geometry in general and I now see the connection between this and several of Danielson's blog posts. I can't recommend this book enough. If you are interested in inquiry based thinking and routines that empower kids AND if you want to learn more about quality talk in the math classroom, you need this book immediately! A Year of Reading Franki Sibberson Stenhouse just released Christopher Danielson s book, Which One Doesn t Belong? It s a must-have if you re a parent or a teacher with any interest in helping your children or students learn to speak mathematically. There are few tasks that offer so much mathematical value yet require so few instructions as Which One Doesn t Belong? You see four mathematical objects. You ask kids, Which one doesn t belong? You help them negotiate their overlapping and conflicting answers, developing vocabulary and the capacity for argument and abstraction along the way. That s it. You can find loads ofgreat WODB prompts onlinebut you can t find Christopher s unique presentation, narrative, and teacher s guide, which is its own kind of graduate-level course in pedagogy. Highly recommended. Dan Meyer August 31, 2016