Is it Enough?

I've been so busy that I haven't sat down to blog more about my trip to Singapore.  It's coming, I promise.  Another experience that had quite an impact on me was teacher response to student work.  In every class, we watched students work in happy, noisy groups.  It was rare we saw a student off-task.  (Honestly, I can't think of a time we saw someone goofing off, but there must have been one!!)

When students thought they completed their work and approached the teacher, we never heard them ask if the answer was correct.  Instead, the more common question was, "Is this enough?"  In one class, we watched a group of boys given a very challenging problem.  Three times they approached the teacher to ask, "Is this enough?"

Each time, the teacher looked at them and responded, "It it enough?"

After the third time, one of the boys looked at his partners and said, "If the teacher asks 'is it enough,' it isn't enough."

How can we get our students to focus on the process, not the product?  Isn't that what the NCTM Math Practices and CCSS are asking us to do?   Enjoy these examples of journals from Primary 2 (second grade) journals.  I think they show enough!