6432 Elementary Math Methods, blog 2, E2, Professional Collaboration

E2 Exemplify collaboration within the school. Teacher candidate participates collaboratively and professionally in school activities and using appropriate and respectful verbal and written communication.

Last week in Elementary Math Methods class, the students participated in a peer teaching activity. Each peer was given 15 minutes to deliver his or her lesson. I chose to use the problem-solving format and used a Common Core State Standard based on counting and cardinality. The Math Practice used was helping students “recognize that a number represents a specific quantity” (source: Standards for Mathematical Practices Progression through Grade Levels, MP2).

The lesson was based on a primary elementary level and my peers could easily do the problems presented. Regardless, all of us were able to stay in character as the ‘Teacher’ and the ‘Students’. The overall pacing of the lesson went really well, and students helped by slowing down their work level and asking questions along the way. Peers were encouraged to work together and provide support for one another.

Our group discussed the learning target a number of times throughout the lesson. The learning targets were mentioned at least three times throughout the lesson. At the start and end of the lesson one of the peers read the learning target and at the end the peers were asked to reflect on how they did reaching that goal. Peers were also questioned about how they could put the learning target into their own words.

I received positive informative feedback from peers about my lesson and specifically about the reflection at the end of my lesson. One thing I would do differently is to give adequate time and encouragement to play with the manipulatives before the lesson. Letting students work with the manipulatives before the lesson accomplishes two things; first they get the ‘play time’ out of their system a bit and are more ready to listen and learn, second it gives them additional time working with them which may lead to increased comprehension and understanding of how a particular manipulative works.

This was also a great opportunity to watch and learn from my peers. I’ve known them almost a year now and it is always enjoyable to get to see their teacher persona. They each brought something different to their lesson. For example, one of my peers provided an additional resource by using an online book to demonstrate her concept. The other peer was great at displaying her work and explaining her thinking as she demonstrated the math concept to us. The time spent working through an actual lesson was valuable collaboration time as we worked to improve our presentations, transitions, and pacing.

The implications of having gone through this teaching experience are that I’m able to feel slightly more comfortable presenting in front of my peers. In my opinion it can be an awkward situation. This time however there was a comfort level there which made it easier for me to stick with my lesson and stay in my teacher persona.

The picture below is from the Common Core State Standards, Standards for Mathematical Practices Progression through Grade Level, Practice 2 Reason abstractly and quantitatively.   For my recent peer lesson I chose a 1^st grade Common Core State Standard and Math Practice.

References:

Common Core State Standards

Common Core State Standards Mathematical Practice Progression through Grade Levels.

 

 

6432 Elementary Math Methods, blog 1, O1

HOPE Principle – O1

Offer an organized curriculum aligned to standards and outcomes. Teacher candidates align instruction to the learning standards and outcomes so all students know the learning targets and their progress toward meeting them.

 

Chapter 6 of the textbook (Ernst & Ryan, 2012) includes an in-depth look at how we as teachers can work to help our students ‘think about their thinking’ (metacognition). Metacognition has been a buzzword for a while now and I think it’s a great way to help students really slow down and think about what they’re doing rather than just keep racing through the steps to get THE ANSWER. Instead, each step of a problem is broken down into chunks, and the teacher walks the students through examples of each step using modeling, demonstrations, questioning, thinking aloud strategies etc. Students gain confidence by understanding that they are on the right step, on the right track at the right time and hopefully some of the feelings of rushing through a problem begin to dissipate.

Although there are only 4 main steps in the routine taught by (Ernst & Ryan, 2014) each step breaks down into much more details. The 4 main steps include; understanding the problem, making a plan, solving the problem and checking and reflecting are the four main steps suggested by (Ernst & Ryan, 2014). One example the book provides is how teachers use questioning and linking of student’s comments to provide clear explanations, information, feedback and answers, to the work being done.

This process helps them learn the language not only of math but also of their thinking in general. Students are better able to put their own thinking into words to explain it to others and also to agree or disagree with others in productive and effective ways.

The math routine provided a clear-cut example that teachers could quickly and easily implement into their daily math practice with students to help them reach their daily goals and the learning targets. The use of a math routine also helps students work through the process of solving problems regardless if they’re done a specific problem before or not. An example would be students who are able to solve one digit addition problems being able to transfer what they know when they reach a two digit addition problem on an assessment. It not only helps the students metacognition, it helps provide a framework to teachers that is quick and easy and also helps with the teachers metacognition as well, helping teachers remember to touch on each of the steps. Most students respond favorably to a structured routine and to me, this is one that provides just the right amount of framework the general math curriculum.

The screenshot provided below is from the textbook and demonstrates a visual mapping of the 4-step routine suggested by Ernst and Ryan (2014). This page is the student friendly version that could be displayed in the classroom.

Reference:

Ernst, K. & Ryan, S. (2014). Success from the start: Your first years teaching elementary mathematics. Reston VA, NCTM