PART A: I contacted a grade 5/6 teacher from a semi private primary school and asked to conduct three mathematics lessons which focused on problem solving. The teacher was happy and grateful for my help, however I could only teach the students for thirty minutes of the hour of maths, as there were other tasks the teacher needed them to do. For this reason, my activities are based on this shorter time frame. I was told also that the students were working with addition and subtraction and in particular, algorithms. For this reason I made sure my activities were chosen to fit into what they were doing so they could continue to develop their understanding of these topics. PROBLEM # 1 (appendix): The first activity I chose to use was based on an activity from monograph B called Does it all add up? (appendix). After continuing to research different addition and subtraction problems, a similar task was found which was more relevant to the skill level of the students. Students had to use the digits 0-7, and place them in the template provided to find as many possible EVEN solutions. Once students had worked hard on finding these solutions, the question was extended and they were required to find as many possible ODD solutions. I chose to use this problem for a couple of different reasons. It is an open ended task, which allows students to come to different conclusions and still have the correct answers, and it allows students to use their own interpretations of the problem and their own mathematics experiences to solve. It also allowed for alterations if necessary, for example if students were finding it too easy i could have asked them to find as many possible solutions which are multiples of 5 or 6, and on the other hand, if... ... middle of paper ... ...e speeds of each animal. Once they found those numbers, they had to rank the animals from fasted to slowest and determine how many were faster then a man, and how many were slower then a man. Finally, the students had to try and combine some of the animals to create a new animal which could beat the cheetah in a race. The math and critical thinking was mainly done in the first question, when students had to make sense and order the different clues they were given. I chose this task firstly because it was relevant to what the students were doing in other subjects at school, so i knew this would be engaging and interesting to them. I expected students to use strategies such as breaking down the problem, and eliminating irrelevant clues to find the most important ones first and once again the activity coincided with the relevant curriculum. Activity reference: ()
Cable’s kindergarten class in a short time period. Mrs. Cable had an intriguing lesson; she did many things well and was willing to answer any questions I had. I was also able to relate this math lesson to First Year Seminar through her philosophy, professionalism and positive attitude. I believe all of these are important qualities a strong teacher should
It is an essential part of an educator’s ethics to make decisions that will best benefit their students. Homework is the resource that is used to support the learning and success of the students. For the same reason, it is vital for educators to be aware of the debate of whether assigning homework is the option that best fits their teaching methods. This article is worthy of recommendation because it provides some very valuable information, especially for students that are on their final semester in the teaching program, because that is the time where they have greater control of the classroom. At the same time, they still have guidance from their mentors and professors that allows them to ask question and also explore on their own to make their own teaching
In the article “Squares on a Checkerboard”, author Steven Schulman discusses how to incorporate worthwhile mathematical tasks into a classroom. Schulman begins the article by discussing the virtue of diligence and how he reminds each of his students to be diligent every day. Diligence is extremely important in a classroom setting because it teaches students how to pay more attention to the work that they are completing and to take pride in their work. Diligence is especially important when completing math problems because it is so easy to make simple mistakes while completing a problem with multiple steps involved. Back when I was in school, I struggled to be diligent when completing my work and often did poorly on math tests because I often
What number is represented now that there are students in the tens and ones column?
Planning learning activities based on the needs of your group and specific individual needs within the group.
For most people who have ridden the roller coaster of primary education, subtracting twenty-three from seventy is a piece of cake. In fact, we probably work it out so quickly in our heads that we don’t consciously recognize the procedures that we are using to solve the problem. For us, subtraction seems like something that has been ingrained in our thinking since the first day of elementary school. Not surprisingly, numbers and subtraction and “carry over” were new to us at some point, just like everything else that we know today. For Gretchen, a first-grader trying to solve 70-23, subtraction doesn’t seem like a piece of cake as she verbalizes her confusion, getting different answers using different methods. After watching Gretchen pry for a final solution and coming up uncertain, we can gain a much deeper understanding for how the concept of subtraction first develops and the discrepancies that can arise as a child searches for what is correct way and what is not.
For a second grade class, I will use a book entitled "Counting Crocodiles" written by Judy Sierra and Will Hillenbrand. The book is as simple as is sounds, a monkey counts crocodiles in the Sillabobble Sea to see if there are more crocodiles in the sea or monkeys on the island. At the beginning of the lesson, I will write the addition problem "1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9+10" on the board, and ask my students to solve it. If I 'm correct, they will not even know where to begin. Then, I will tell them that they can all do it if they use the right tools, and proceed to give each student base pieces (both units and longs). Hopefully, at this point, the kids are excited about solving such a large problem.
The third activity I thought about was a reader’s theater for the book. I would split my students into groups and assign each group a certain part of the book and have them recreate for the class their section. You could even tie in the music activity into this section as well by having them sing the song (or another group) in their section.
I did many fun and exciting things while I was working with these kids at County Elementary. The first day Mrs. Aiken introduced me. She said, " Boys and girls this is Taysha, and I was her teacher when she was your age." They were all in awe. They couldn't believe that I had her as a teacher. The first kid I helped was a black girl named Shontele. I helped her with her math work and reading. I taught her to group thins in Math when you are adding or subtracting. For example: Say you have ten subtract three. I told her to put ten into groups of five, then cross out three, and count how many there was left. She enjoyed that and thought it was now much easier to do her Math.
Next, I will have the students draw a ten and ones chart on their whiteboards and I will give them a problem to put in their chart to subtract with regrouping. We will discuss how to solve this problem while we use our base ten blocks to show why borrowing a ten from the tens place creates ten ones to help us regroup. Furthermore, I will give the students each a piece of scratch paper and tell them problems to write down and solve using their base ten blocks and showing a ten and ones chart. There will be four problems all together. The instructional materials used for this lesson are whiteboards and base ten blocks. The assessment to monitor student learning during the lesson is the use of the individual whiteboards while I observe what they do and write on their boards and a quick quiz with four questions that I will collect.][The identified area of struggle for the three focus students were to correctly identify the tens and ones place so they could correctly regroup a ten to the ones when subtracting two numbers. The strategies used in my re-engagement lesson were to review the place value and have them use a tens and ones chart when subtracting so they would remember the place values when subtracting with
Counting all is the base that serves as the foundation for the development of the other strategies. Count all introduces students in Kindergarten to the concept of creating a total by counting all the numbers once the two amounts have been represented by a drawing or fingers (Common Core Standards Writing Team, 2011). Simultaneously, the count on strategy draws from the knowledge acquire as the student progress on the count all method. For this approach, students learn to determine the total of the two addends by counting on from any of the addends. Lastly, students can use a recomposing strategy. The recomposing strategy encourages students to discover the sum by creating sets of numbers that equal the original digit, but are easier to manage. For instance, creating doubles or tens out of odd numbers.
Samantha is a 1st grader that is actively engaged and participates in class activities. Prior to receiving handouts on pattern, the instructor read a short story on pattern while the students predicted the next sequence of the pattern. Following the reading, the students were given handouts to create patterns. At the same time, individual students were invited to come to the SMART board and create patterns using different colored geometric shapes.
Breaking down tasks into smaller, easier steps can be an effective way to teach a classroom of students with a variety of skills and needs. In breaking down the learning process, it allows students to learn at equal pace. This technique can also act as a helpful method for the teacher to analyze and understand the varying needs of the students in the classroom. When teaching or introducing a new math lesson, a teacher might first use the most basic aspects of the lesson to begin the teaching process (i.e. teach stu...
I did not realize it would take as much time as it did. Our group really wanted to get it right and perfect it as much as possible. I also discovered that collaboration enhanced the lesson’s creativity and variety of activities. I had previous ideas about what I thought would be good for each 5E section. After meeting with my fellow classmates multiple times throughout the weeks, I see now how the lesson plan got better and better each time we planned. It became more creative and included variation with activities. With lesson planning, I realized that it has to be detailed in order for the teacher to be fully prepared and be through as if a substitute teacher or another colleague was going to perform this lesson plan. At first, the lesson plan seemed tedious and going to be large commitment. After completing the lesson plan, I learned that every step and component had a purpose
Lesson plans for these students should include charts, diagrams, and tables when possible since this type of student learns best through categorizing, classifying, and working with abstract patterns or relationships. Let them do experiments and show them how to use a calculator. Some games these learners might like to play include Uno, checkers, and chess.