Finally, my last area of proficiency was my ability to elicit multiple strategies from my students. For example, as seen in this video, I elicited three different strategies from three different students who all got the correct answer of ten for the problem 6 + 4. The first student, Kaylene, used direct modeling by counting with her fingers three times. The second student – Liam – also used his fingers. However, he used a counting strategy by counting on from the smaller number four. Finally, Mason used a number line to figure out the problem. By giving space to all these different strategies and not privileging one over the other, I was able to center the flexibility of mathematics and the many different ways that my students can enter into and solve a problem.
