Chapter 4 and 8 Reflection

How does the information presented in chapters four or in chapter eight connect to what you have seen in your practicum placement or how does it compare to what you have experienced in the past?

In chapter 8, it talks about measurements. As you can see by the pictures I have posted from my practicum placement, my students have been learning about measuring length in their classroom as well. They just did a very similar activity to activity 8.4 "How long is the teacher?" In the book it tells the students to write a note to the principal explaining how tall their teacher is and how they decided. And then explain that it may be easier if they lay down and students measure how long they are instead of how tall. They are to go around and measure each other using ONE material choice.

The way my teacher did it was she had me trace her body on Monday after the students had left and cut her body out of paper enough for the students to get in four groups. Then on Wednesday for the lesson, she told the groups that they each had to measure her length with the materials they had. The students did pretty well with this, however some were confused by what length was. So Mrs. Bennett had the groups that were struggling walk around and look at the other groups and how they performed their activity and then come back and re-do theirs. It was a really neat activity to watch them do. Afterwards, they came together and discussed what length meant and how they each came up with their answers and how many of each books, pencils, rulers, and pencil boxes it took to measure Mrs. Bennett.

Chapters 11 and 12 Reflection

1. How does the task presented in class (examining fair tests) compare to the content covered in chapter 11?

-In chapter 11, it talks about data collection, classification, and organization. The task that was presented in class on examining fair tests compares to this content in the book in the way that we had to collect data on finding the circumference of our wrist. The book tells us that there are several different ways to collect data, and in our test, there was a tape measure, string, ruler, etc. Also, there were different units of measure, such as inches and centimeters. Chapter 11 also tells u that classification is the first step in the organization of data. What are you going to be using to measure? What units of measure will you use? What part of the wrist will you measure? Which wrist will you measure? Etc.

2. What are you seeing related to data analysis and probability in your own classroom settings?

-In my first grade classroom, they saw more on data analysis in September than I do now because they did a unit on teaching about data. However, data is still collected daily in the classroom. Data is collected is many subjects, not just math. I remember one activity they did in learning how to make a bar graph, they went around to different tables and filled in data about themselves. There would be different questions such as, "which food do you like better, hamburger or hotdog?" and they would have to put an X under the one they like more. Another was "which type of shoe do you have on today? Tennis shoe, boot, or other?" In groups, they had to get together and make bar graphs using their data. Data is collected for language arts too in making webs or charts. The students have to use the information from the story to collect data and fill out the web on the Promethean board with the teacher. I don't see much probability used in my classroom setting.

3. Examining the SC early childhood content standards (K-3) for data analysis and probability. How do the state standards compare to chapters 11 and 12?

-Kindergardeners are emerging in their sense of organizing and interpreting data. The books gives us ways to help meet the children where they are at their level of understanding. For kindergardeners and younger ages, it talks about using graphs to sort data and lay it out for visually for students to see. For the older students such as third graders, the standard states that the students will demonstrate through mathematical processes their understanding about data and the basic concepts of probability. In the book, it talks about teaching probability using manipulatives and charts for these students who have mastered the earlier concepts about data collection.

Chapter 3 Reflection

Key ideas presented in chapter 3:

-Addition and subtraction are related. Addition is used to name the whole when the parts of the whole are known. And subtraction is used to name a part when the whole and the remaining part are known.

-Multiplication and division are connected. Multiplication should be taught the students start writing repeated-addition equations to represent what they did as an equation. Division should be introduced shortly after that.

-There are properties for addition/subtraction and multiplication/division to help remember and learn how to add/subtract and multiply/divide.

-Models can be used to help visualize a problem. This helps children better understand math sometimes because it helps them see it worked out and to give meaning to a number sentence.

How do these ideas inform your understanding of teaching and numbers?

These ideas help inform my understanding of teaching and numbers because it made it a lot clearer on the importance of how multiplication and division are related and why they should be taught together. It also talked about models and how they are good tools for teachers to use to help visualize math problems for students. I will definitely use models in my classroom because I believe that all students learn differently and some students will need models to help understand the meaning. There are also different properties to follow that I will teach my students because some students learn better through memorizing these properties and applying them.

Chapter 2 Reflection

One thing I noticed in the reading was when it talked about the spatial relationships and how children should be able to recognize objects in patterned arrangements and however many objects there are without counting them. This stood out to me because in one of the videos, the children were deciphering which set of dots were easier to identify the number of, depending on the pattern they were in.

I really liked Activity 2.8 called, "Learning Patterns." This activity allows the children to get practice in recognizing patterns to count 'dots' or objects instead of actually counting them out. In the activity, the teacher holds a dot plate out for about 3 seconds and then the children make the pattern that they saw using their own dots on the counter or mat. This seems like a neat activity as well because it also helps children to remember what they see better (recognition and memory skills).

Challenge 5

The Role of Mathematical Tools

"Concrete Materials and Teaching for Mathematical Understanding" by Patrick W. Thompson

This article stressed the importance of the question as a teacher, what do I want my students to understand, instead of what do I want my students to do? This article argues for the use of concrete materials in a more judicious and reflective manner. Because although the use of concrete materials has always been appealing, just using them is not always enough to guarantee success. One thing the article mentioned that stood out to me was the part about the 3/5 circles chart. It talked about all the different ways that at student could look at that chart, or that concrete material, and interpret it. We as teachers, tend to want to encourage them to interpret it in a particular way, or in a few different ways, but there are so many ways that he/she can interpret it and we need to be open to that. The article says, "Mathematics, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder--and the eye sees what the mind conceives" (pg 52).

"And the Answer is... Symbolic" by Mary Lou Witherspoon

This article talks a lot about the misconceptions that happen in math. One misconception that happens a lot is with the equal sign. Many children think that it can only mean, "and the answer is...." The article goes on to talk about then how to foster the communicative role of mathematical symbols in an elementary school. The way to do this is by communication! When students are communicating, they are talking about how they solved that math problem, using different manipulatives, such as their fingers, the chalkboard, etc.

"Using Math Manipulatives to Aid Learning" by Dottie Oberholzer

The main goal of this article was to create students who were flexible problem solvers who could apply math ideas to all kinds of situations! It talks about when teaching a new math concept, you should always start with a concrete stage (math manipulative), then progress to a semi-concrete stage, then to an abstract stage. This teaching helps the students be active participants in learning.

Challenge 4

A few weeks after the teaching of the unit, the first graders were interviewed again about their understandings of number concepts and of addition and subtraction involving sums less than 20. What shifts or changes do you see in the students’ thinking from the initial interviews?

Derek: After a few weeks of instruction on addition and subtraction, you can definitely see a change in Derek's attitude towards the subject. He keeps saying to the teacher stuff like, "that's too easy" and talking very confident-like. His ability to solve the higher number concepts has definitely gotten a lot better, because without the instruction before, he was not able to do that.

Elizabeth: Elizabeth definitely learned and grew so much after her time of instruction with addition and subtraction. She was adding and subtracting bigger numbers in her head and a little bit on her fingers as well. Before, she could only add and subtract very small numbers and now she can add/subtract much bigger numbers and you can definitely tell that her understanding of the number concepts has definitely grown.

Jim: Jim also got a lot better at adding and subtracting after a few weeks of instruction on the unit. Before, he would add/subtract numbers and give an answer that sometimes would be right and sometimes would be wrong and sometimes he could explain how he came up with his answers and sometimes he couldn't explain it at all and it or it wouldn't make any sense at all. I definitely saw that Jim is starting to understand the number concepts a lot better now. He was just a little bit of a slower learner than maybe some of the others.

Lauren: Lauren was very good at adding/subtracting before the instruction unit on it. However, she did learn a new technique to use and did memorize her doubles well. She was able to explain how she got her answers really well using the new technique she learned. She seems to have gained a little bit better understanding of the larger number concepts.

All of the students, during the instructional unit, seemed to have been taught their doubles in addition/subtraction. They knew them very well. They also knew how to add/subtract by multiples of 5 and 10 really well and whenever they got into the larger number concepts, that is what pretty much all four of them would do. They would round to the closest multiple of either 5 or 10 and then go from there how they knew best. It was interesting to see and a really neat way to watch how they had gone from their own individual strategies before the instructional unit to the new technique they had learned afterwards.

Challenge 3

At the beginning of first grade, several students in the class were interviewed about their understandings of number concepts and addition and subtraction of numbers up to 20 prior to the teaching of these concepts. What are your impressions of each student? What do they understand about number concepts and addition and subtraction of numbers up to 20?

Derek: Derek seemed to understand pretty well the concept of addition and subtraction. I was surprised at how well he could add and subtract the harder numbers. He counted on his fingers and used an interesting strategy that it seemed he came up with himself and I was very impressed with that, such as when he subtracted down from 11 to 7 and got 4.

Elizabeth: Elizabeth could add and subtract the really easy numbers such as 3 plus 3 and 5 minus 2. But the numbers that got a little more difficult, she would mix up a bit. The strategy she used was all counting in her head. She didn't use her hands at all, she just tried doing all the math in her head.

Jim: Jim could solve the really easy addition and subtraction. He didn't necessarily have a strategy it seemed. He just kept saying that he thought about it in his head. Some of his thought processes when he would give his answers wouldn't make sense at all, if the answer wasn't close, so I could tell that he definitely didn't grasp addition/subtraction in the higher numbers. But he did understand the number concepts between about numbers 1-6.

Lauren: Lauren definitely understood number concepts. She was very quick to answer addition and subtraction problems, a lot quicker than the others, even the bigger problems. The easier problems she did in her head and the harder ones, she counted out loud or on her hands. I was very impressed with how good she was at math.