Today I learned a valuable lesson regarding curriculum. Sometimes it is better to accommodate the curriculums way of doing something and try a different approach when your students are struggling. This is not to say that anytime a student is struggling you should just give up on that approach. It is important to realize why the students are struggling and then evaluate if there is a better way since the tool/manipulative/activity is wrong for the desired goal. For today’s math lesson, we realized that the 10,000 chart was confusing the students more than helping them. We also realized that using manipulatives to explore place value visually might be a better alternative and that this was a better way to get at our learning goals.
It seems to me that students will have a better understanding of place value after using the place value blocks because they can easily see how ten 10’s make a hundred and how ten 100’s equal a thousand…and so on. Also, if they can understand how to use the place value blocks, when it is WASL time they can use them during the test and already be comfortable with them. I am excited to see how they do when we give them another assessment on place value after using the blocks. Especially since they did not do so well on the assessment on place value Friday.
What went well today? The kids were really well behaved today. The jumped right into the activity and stayed involved the most of the time. They seemed excited to use a manipulative and many students were solid on the idea that ‘10 of these makes 1 of these’. Next, it will be important for them to see that 100 of these can make 1 of these and so forth. I was also really focused on getting students to ask each other instead of asking me. I tried to focus on partnership responsibilities so I realized today that some of my conferring was more environment than content or behavior. I made sure to state my teaching point (place value) more than once and referred back to it numerous times. Overall, I think most of the students that I conferred with were still a little shaky but on the verge of having the light bulb click on.
What would I do different next time: During the intro I would have done the whole idea/relationship between 100 of these makes 1 of these and so forth in order to expand their thinking. A quick wrap up would have been nice so that students could share the way they used the manipulative and how it helped them solve the worksheet.
Questions/ponderings: I am really glad that we switched out the 10,000 charts for the place value blocks. It will be interesting to see if their understanding improves. Some questions I have are: How will we assess them in regards to what they were doing wrong on the charts though? The idea that the first row in each section does not have a hundred in it? Or do we even need to assess that specifically. Maybe the tool was confusing and we will see their understanding by using a different approach. I am thinking it will be the latter. I am really excited to see how the accommodations work out.
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Hey Christine ~
Nice reflection. I agree about your thinking that they really understand more about place value than they showed with the chart and that it is the chart that was the issue. Time will tell though. Sounds like you are clearer with stating your learning goals/expectations. Very insightful about the content of your conferring. We need to hold them and the math accountable for being the expert and not us. How are we (I really mean you) going to introduce the role of facilitator? And... Did you remember that Wed is an assembly from 9:15 - 9:45. How will that impact your plan? I hope you are feeling better. Carole
Hi Carole - I have been resting and drinking lots of cold care tea...and I even took a nap!
The assembly....so am i correct in thinking that we have 15 minutes before and 15 minutes after and then a brief period of time (? min) before we send them home? Since it will be a carry over lesson from Tuesdays focus on addition and subtraction with large numbers would having them work on a strategies poser be beneficial? I could do the post assessment during the time we have at the end of the day? Or have the assessment in the morning and poster focus in the afternoon....what do you think? Let me know the schedule and I can rethink if necessary.
Facilitator - Since wed. is so busy, i am thinking that when we head into the second investigation on thursday that I could then introduce that role in the morning. Or if we decide to extend wed. lesson because we will not have enough time, I could introduce it wed. during one of the 15 minute slots or just before they leave....thoughts???
Thanks so much! have a great night
~~Christine
Hi Christine ~
So Wed. is also early release so we don't get them back at all that day. I'd say pretty much it's a math lesson wash and I save the assessment for Thursday. I'd suggest introducing the facilitator and then going with your idea of creating a poster in partnerships based on solving a problem together. They can continue after the assembly. That way one of them in the partnership could be the facilitator and one could be the resource monitor. I'd tell them upfront that they only have about 20 minutes so they would have to decide right away which strategy they want to put on their poster. So you will need to think through which pieces you want them to put on the poster. Are you going to have it a similar format to the mult/div posters? Will they have enough time to be successful with that format? How will they share their posters without taking away even more time? Could they share on Thursday before the assessment? That's all my thinking for tonight. I'm glad to hear you're taking good care of yourself. How's your boyfriend? What did he find out? Rest easy, Carole
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