This week’s session was really an effective modeling of what
it means to persevere in problem solving! I enjoyed hearing the many comments
that “these problems are hard!” It makes me think that it is almost a rare
occasion for us to work on challenging problems or we have stopped providing
problems that require us to think deeply about the situation or context.
For us as teachers, it is important that we become familiar
with the variety of representations and models that are articulated in the
frameworks. What impressed me this week was how, when one of us needed
clarification, another one of us had a way of organizing the data in the
problem in a way that, not only helped us, but will allow us to use those models
in our classrooms. Recall Helen’s graphic organizer where she labeled part,
part, whole which helped us determine if we were comparing boys to girls or
boys to total students. I think the advantage of these courses is this
opportunity to share various strategies for making sense of the problems for
ourselves and also to discover effective ways in which we can help our
students.
Anne
I agree with the notion that most of the homework examples were a bit too difficult. I think that if I had more time, I may have gone back to a few and figured them out. This has been the case with our other homework. I have had to return to them and begin a fresh page/start over. I think having a time constraint also makes me more frustrated and nervous. When working through them, I had so much trouble just focusing, knowing that I had only one night. This made me realize how frustrating homework may be for our students, especially those who struggle. This experience, more than anything we went over, was a learning experience for me.
ReplyDeleteI always appreciate how willing everyone in class is to share and explain their work. I’ve learned a lot from everyone and I continue to be amazed by the variety of thinking strategies. I do have to admit that at times, some of the thinking is over my head and I struggle to understand it while it is explained. But, with repetition and practice, I can eventually get it-like with the graphs. Again, time constraints in regard to the presentation of material are another problem. When we were shown the graphing examples that first time, I had no idea what was going on because I was trying to understand what Anne was doing in step two and she was on step five. Then, when I tried to start following again, the next thing was lost in translation because I had missed almost everything leading up to it. Again, this helped me to see what may happen during a lesson of newly presented material. It’s super frustrating and I can understand how it may be tempting to just shut down and tune out once you get so far behind. I just wish that there wasn’t so much piled onto the curriculum every year so that there were more opportunities given for kids to actually master and continue to practice all concepts presented. But, the nature has been to complete the unit, test, and move onto the next. Then, you won’t see that other material at all or see it very infrequently. The kids don’t remember it and when asked to build on it in the future at the “next level” they’re clueless. I have no idea how to combat this issue because I feel like I have no control over it. But, as a parent of a third grader who has struggled with some math units, I think a lot of it can be reviewed and practiced at home. Unfortunately, I know that this doesn’t happen much and I need to be careful myself to not overwhelm my child.
Anyway, this class has given me a new perspective on a lot of things that I thought I understood, but now I actually have experienced first-hand. My, what a difference!
Andrea
Andrea--I am re-learning the importance of effort. My effort has required me to print about 2 edited copies of the homework questions: 1 question per page (sometimes printed onto graph paper) allows me to do a (1) "free-write" as my colleague, Katie, instructs her students to complete. Then, I (2) attempt using the tape diagrams and the other models, etc. What I bring to class is a clean, legible draft as my handwriting is very, very messy. My messiness has forced me to appreciate the worthiness of graphic organizers and diagrams. --Helen
ReplyDeleteI learn so much in these classes. As I listen to how people solved the problems I am always struck by how differently people think. Most of the time I am thinking...wow I would never have thought of that! I found the homework challenging and had to use the math first a couple of times. I liked using the graphs and have used them in class a couple of times while working with ratio's and percents.
ReplyDeleteI think it is interesting, Anne, that you said how you enjoyed hearing people struggle with a problem. In most cases we are not challenged enough. Thinking back to my high school and college education, I was probably challenged more in high school than I was in college. Perseverence in solving a problem is something that has been lost in education in many ways, or has been lost by many educators. It is great to go into a class where the students are actively struggling through a problem. With the makeup of my class, students do seem to struggle with many different problems. The most effective day I feel that I have had teaching is a day I gave a group quiz to my students. The students grouped themselves and the "like begets like" notion was evident in the class. The best part for me was that the group of high acheiving students had a major dispute about what some of the solutions were on the test. This dispute got so far that they wanted to pass in individual tests and not one as a group. I tried to guide them towards ways to check their work and really provide evidence for why their way of thinking was correct. It was great to see these students who usually do very well struggle though a problem.
ReplyDeleteHelen, I agree in that I have to use a graphic organizer to make my work make sense to me. Before outlines were ever introduced to me I always made one anyways. I would like to learn more about some of the methods you use in solving. Since I did not go to school for education, I sometimes feel like I am lost in how to present topics to the kids.
Looking forward to the MOS!
Rich
It looks like I missed out on some interesting discussions. The use of models seems to make concepts a bit more concrete. However how do we get our students to start thinking that way at the middle school level. Granted the students I teach have known challenges. But my frustration comes from the fact that they don't even want to try. "It's too hard", "I need help" are the words I here day in and day out. I tried to assign modified versions of the work we do in class. They don't even know where to start. I am very discouraged this year by the lack of effort on the part of my students. The shift has to happen before the kids get to middle school.
ReplyDeleteHello, looking forward to our museum adventure tomorrow. I have enjoyed participating in our class discussions and sharing ideas and strategies that I can utilize in my own classroom. Although many of the assignments have been challenging, they also have been enlightening. Even though I'm not i always find the correct solution to a problem its great to see everyone contributing and disclosing their strategies.Many of my students have struggled with the math problems.Some are using the double number lines for solving ratio and unit rate problems and are beginning to have a better understanding of the concept. Although many of my students are having difficulty, some are successful. i appreciate my students perseverance and determination in working out the problems. To struggle and persevere is a reward in itself. I have enrolled all my students on Khan academy and am pleased with the positive feedback I have received. Several students have found success and has helped them become more confident. Hoping that this years MCAS results will be positive.
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