We must be very careful when describing concepts to pupils during our teaching inputs.
Sometimes we need to expand how we speak to ensure understanding so, for example, when counting with younger pupils to help them to begin to develop a sense of place value we should say: ‘One of the ones is one. Two of the ones is called two. Three of the ones is three. Four of the ones is four. Five of the ones is five. Six of the ones is six. Seven of the ones is seven. Eight of the ones is eight. Nine of the ones is nine. Ten of the ones is called ten and means one of the tens. There are ten ones in one ten.’ This may seem long-winded but you wouldn’t do this every time you count. If we have not talked about ‘ones’ before we get to ‘ten’ then how will the pupils know that ten ones equals one ten. We cannot assume that pupils know that the name of six ones is six just as we don’t assume that the name of six tens is sixty, for example. The National Curriculum misses out the one times table but we do need to conceptually teach it to Year 1 pupils (not in the multiplication number sentence form, but as I have described above).
Another example would be how we read fractions to pupils. Describing the fraction 1/4 as ‘one of the quarters’ helps pupils to understand how to find fractions of amounts. This simple word ‘of’ can make such a difference to conceptual understanding.
Focussing on listening to ourselves when teaching can really help us to hone our skills of explanation. Ask yourself: ‘Is the way I am saying it clear?’; ‘Does this description help with conceptual understanding?’; ‘Am I ensuring that there is no potential for misconceptions?’.