Something that I found really interesting was on page 19 of our CGI book. This chapter discusses addition and subtraction and the page that I am talking about is a chart that talks about various counting strategies. As a future teacher I found this really helpful. I do not remember how I learned simple addition and subtraction but this chart gives 6 different strategies that students may use or that teachers may want to teach to students. I had no idea that there were so many different ways and I think this will be extremely helpful because we all know that students all have different ways of learning and any one of these strategies may help them. I also think that learning addition and subtraction and mastering these skills is essential in learning math which is why these strategies are very important.
As for my field placement, I am unfortunately not observing much math because my CT only teaches literacy and some social studies while math and science are taught in Chinese. I have however reviewed their math book which gave me some insight into what type of things they are learning. It looks to me like they are focusing a lot on finding and making patterns but they will soon be starting very simple addition and subtraction problems (I am in a kindergarten classroom). However, I have seen a little math instruction in my classroom when my CT talks about the calendar/weather in the morning. The students show their counting skills by saying the various dates during the month and they also have a chart where they have the number of days they have been in school. My CT uses this to show counting, patterns and sequences. The students really seem to understand how the numbers on that chart work and are constantly answering the teachers questions correctly (like what do these numbers have in common? (10, 20, 30, 40....). However, since I do not see much math I'm curious if you two do in your placements and what exactly you are observing/what grade level?
I agree, I think it's really interesting to begin viewing concepts from the "teacher" perspective and realizing the many possible strategies students may use. I think it's very important for teachers to not only be aware of these strategies, but realize the implications and progressions related to particular strategies as to understand "where a student is" in their concept mastery.
ReplyDeleteAs for my field placement, I am fortunate enough to view a lot of math. I am in a kindergarten placement, and while Chelsea is in an immersion classroom at my school, I am in a classroom in which Chinese is only taught as a foreign language for 30 mins per day. Thus, most of my placement time is literacy and math as well as Chinese. Right now the class as a whole is focusing on "less or more" in which they are playing games with one another (similar to the card game "War") in which both students flip over a card, and they are to ask "Who has more?" Whoever has the higher card is to keep the card. The cards have pictures on them as a guide. While working with students during this game I was fascinated by how many answers I received when asking the simple question, "How do you know?" Answers varied among students as follows:
10 and 8 "I know because 10 is bigger than 8"
4 and 8 "Well b/c to make 8 you need two 4's so 8 is bigger" (using addition!)
5 and 7 "There's more pictures" (looking at visual aid)
3&8 (student used fingers to show) "Well b/c (fingers) 1-2-3 and 4-5-6-7-8
0 and 9 "0 has none (pictures) and 9 has many"
So basically, every student I asked had a different way of explaining "how they knew" a card was more. It's really amazing how much students can vary!
I definitely agree that the "teacher perspective" discussed in the CGI book was something that I hadn't previously given a lot of thought to. It's easy for someone who has been doing basic addition and subtraction problems to brush them off as simple and not think critically about how the math might be carried out in students' minds. After reading about the different strategies that children use (both for addition & subtraction and for all other types of math problems), it is much more apparent that these concepts are anything but simple in a young learner's mind.
ReplyDeleteThe school where I have my placement focuses solely on literacy and math, so during the 4 hours I spend there each week, I am able to see a lot of math instruction. The program that the school uses in called Envision, which consists of a new lesson every day that builds off of the previous day's. The class starts their day by watching an interactive video that reviews old topics and introduces new ideas. There are several breaks throughout the video, in which my MT asks for volunteers to answer questions and clarify meanings. Following this, the kids do individual work to review what they just learned. Later in the day, they do another worksheet that serves as a type of quiz to see if they are grasping the concepts. Sadly, there isn't much follow up or clarification on the things that are still confusing students.