Here is a technique that helps me engage students in thinking that deepens their understanding. I ask students to consider a strategy or idea that I say came from a student they don’t know, someone in another classroom or another year. Many times the student is fictitious. By using this strategy I can introduce an important concept or skill without suggesting that the ideas comes from me. Bringing up ideas in this way stimulates student thinking and discussion, so I frequently suggest that teachers do the same. It is sort of like asking a “what if” question, but making it personal, but non-threatening for the children in the classroom.

I was excited to read the cover story in the September 2016 issue of Teaching Children Mathematics, “Learning from the Unknown Student” (by Angela T. Barlow, Natasha E. Gerstenschlager, and Shannon E. Harmon).bit.ly/2d7HYZN The article illustrates three different types of situations for using this strategy and explains the value in each one. The article clearly presented three purposes for using promoting learning with the work of an “unknown student” effectively:

• To introduce strategies that students aren’t bringing up in class
• To help students gain comfort in critiquing the work of others
• To introduce unfamiliar processes and procedures in a way that engages thinking and comparing to other strategies

The authors explained how using this strategy in classrooms has teachers promote use of the Standards of Mathematical Practice and gave useful guidelines for using the strategy. Thank you to the authors for this helpful article!