One was the way I could use praise to develop self esteem. The other thing was the way in which I was involved in my pupils' activities. I was also concerned that the girls were outnumbered by boys in the class and there was an underlying assumption that the boys were better than the girls, made particularly evident by a vocal group of boys. I consciously placed myself with different pupils in the classroom and moved to groups when asking or answering questions. Although I only had two weeks in which to implement these initiatives, I felt sufficiently positive about the change in quality of the students' responses to warrant continuing this approach.
Interactions are indeed the heartbeat of the mathematics classroom.
Mathematics is learned best when students are actively participating in that learning. One method of active participation is to interact with the teacher and peers about mathematics. I chose to work with a group of children about whom I felt I knew very little. I realised that these children could have ability which was not being shown, so I decided to make a more concentrated effort to provide a variety of experiences and activities, to allow some 'non-performing' children to demonstrate their skills. I also recognised the need to discourage a group of 'noisy' boys from putting down the girls and their contributions.