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Showing posts from February, 2018

Listening & Learning/ Marcy's Dots

The Marcy's Dot article discussed ways in which students answered a question entailing the Dots.  Students are given the same problem we were in class- 2 dots, 6 dots, and 12 dots.  Students were asked to solve for the 20th step and the article discussed the reasoning students provided.  If students simply state their answer, it does not make sense.  However, if they write each step or a formula to show how they got the answer to the 20th step, it is more understandable as to how they got the answer.  The next NAEP problem given to students was about soldiers on the bus.  The answer ended up being 32, and no answers with fractions or decimals were accepted because you can not have part of a bus.  The researchers were concerned about the low percentage of students who answered the question correctly because students at the age of 13 should be able to round to the next whole number to fit people on the bus.  This article focused a lot on tasks given and how students justify their ans

StWorkPT2 Reflection

  Our strengths included finding questions to ask students and creating an objective.   I also think one of our strengths came with providing meaningful feedback to the students to reach the objective we created.   Part of this was finding questions to ask students but also redirecting them to a deeper understanding of what the question is asking and what they are expected to find. Our weaknesses of this project included identifying next steps for instruction for the whole class based on the focus students and being unsure of what was expected for some parts of the project. We discussed what steps we needed to take for the focus students, but struggled when it came to making the implications apply to the entire class when only some needed redirection of the topic.   It was also a challenge to decide how to explain that each child had a different size pizza without directly telling them, so we had the students focus on what the question was asking and what information

Interpreting Multiplication & Division

The teacher began the lesson on the rug and they did some examples together.   Then, they each got a chance to discuss their thinking and how they did their work and she got three examples from students.    Students asked questions to the teachers and she explained what the student did if they had questions.  She did this and allowed students to think; she did not give them precisely how to get the answer. During the discussion, the teacher asked questions such as "How could you solve the problem without writing anything down?".  Something she did to focus on understanding was asking one student what she did first, then asked students if they agreed.  Then she asked the same student what she did next and to tell her about why she did what she did.  Then the teacher explained what the student said.  She asked students questions to allow them to discuss the answer and how they got the answer rather than telling them exactly how to get to t

NAEP Reflection

When we were finding examples and creating the presentation, I learned a lot. I learned that there are different criterion for meeting a specific classification and students can be given partial credit for a moderately incorrect answer.  I also learned how the answers relate to one another in each problem subset.  Students range anywhere from incorrect answers to extended and working from the incorrect answers and up builds off one another.  Minimal answers provide the smallest amount of description possible and as requirements for each classification increase, so do the quality of the answers.  I learned that there can be similar questions asked for different students with answers in different classifications such as "what do we know about the problem?" and "can you explain what you have done so far?" if they need to build on what they wrote to achieve an extended score. When I was presenting, I learned that it is important to ask students what they put for the a

Select-Sequence Student & Answer Questions

When the Answer is the Question by Vanessa M. Battreal, Vanessa Brewster, and Juli K. Dixon Both articles discuss the importance of using tasks to motivate the learning of our students. Students are expected to be engaged in a productive struggle and learn from what their mistakes are. They should be encouraged to keep working by being asked questions that get them to think about other ways to solve a problem than just the ones they are considering. This is something I will use in my classroom because in order for students to learn a subject, they need to be challenged to some degree. Selecting & Sequencing Students' Solution Strategies by Erin Meikle Students approach questions differently. Whole-class discussions allow students to share their responses and thoughts about questions with one another. In this whole class discussion, there are Five Practices to guide discussions to focus on understanding. The first is anticipating. Students can have a wide variety of solution

NCTM Journal: Supporting Students' Contributions to Class Discussions

Supporting Students' Contributions to Class Discussions Jennifer Collett, Maryl Gearhart, & Nicole Levielle Buchanan This article compared two teachers' styles of classroom discussion. Harris was more inclined to allow students to contribute more detailed pieces to conversation, but that did not allow many students to contribute. Bachman allowed more students during discussion time to talk because they contributed less information and less detail. In my future classroom, I will most likely use Bachman's style of teaching. Although it is important as a teacher to know the level of understanding students are at, it is more important they contribute and participate in classroom discussion in order to get a chance to contribute to deepen understanding. The article emphasized whole-class discussion and SMP 3- contributing viable arguments and critique reasoning of others. It said you should give students as many possible opportunities to talk and contribute partial or co

Applets & Apps

Objectives, content, and relationships In "Hopping on the Number Line" for 3-5 grade students, students will see the number line model to find sums.  They will also use the commutative property of addition and solve and create puzzles using their own words on a number line.  On how many more for K-2 students, the objective is to find differences in sets by comparing them.  They will also review the words addend and difference, as well as exploring effects of subtracting 0 and all numbers from the first number.  Students will be able to record differences in pictures, words, and symbols by the end of the lesson. How the Applet operates For the "Hopping on the Number Line" for grades 3-5, students will use the number line model to create sums with two given numbers.  The model of the number line shows the aspect of addition and is a representation of numbers.  They start with the first addend and add the second one onto that.  Or, in the case of subtraction, they

Orchestrating Mathematical Discourse

Article: Orchestrating Mathematical Discourse to Enhance Student Learning By: Gladis Kersaint, Ph.D Orchestrating discourse in the classroom is crucial to student learning.  Instead of telling students what they need to know about a certain topic, teachers should ask students what they know about it and allow them to build off one another (Kersaint, 2015).  Lessons should be structured to encourage student interaction and address any missing pieces in the students' understanding.  Kersaint stated that the classroom should be a welcoming environment for student involvement (2015).  Discourse should not be dominated by one student; each student should have a fair opportunity to contribute to conversation.  Students should be given multiple opportunities to use mathematical vocabulary in their communication.  Specific things they should be discussing is the vocabulary whether it is common or specialized, symbols, syntax, and semantics.  Syntax and semantics are important because be