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Week 3: September 8th, 2021

Due September 22nd, please submit links to the following in a comment. Be sure to add me as a collaborator so that I can comment on your work.

SUBMIT: TASK TWO 

SUBMIT: TASK THREE

SUBMIT: A 300-word description of one of the students in your placement or a student in your life (or an imaginary student). 

SUBMIT: A word problem for the student to solve. You can use this worksheet to help you organize your ideas. Be sure to include the type of word problem that it is and why you choose this type of problem for the student.


26 Comments

    • Gabriela, for task 2, you did a great job classifying the word problems and writing equations. You also introduce some thoughtful strategies for solving the problems. Some next steps can be to think about how you might push students thinking by introducing models and alternative equations (such as 15 + — = 19 for compare problem number 2).
      I found your description of a student very interesting. It can be difficult for new teachers to recognize when students “act up” because they are bored by the activity and/or feel that they are not an integral part of the class. I wonder what you could do to ensure that the student that you described feels more included in the class and therefore, more invested in his classwork.
      For your word problem, it might be interesting to introduce a concept that is new to students or to ask the student to solve the problem without the traditional algorithm. Or, if you would like to keep working with addition and subtraction, perhaps a more challenging type, such as a compare problem, or a join problem in which the initial amount is unknown would be a better match for this student (since he feels that he is not challenged in school).

  1. Students description: Female x, or girl x she is in 5th grade, she has brown hair, brown eyes and small nose. Her height is around 5ft, 3 inches, Asian light skin. Her weight is around 70 pounds and she was wearing pink shirt, black pants and a headband. She likes and enjoys working in groups, she is always willing to help her classmates if they need help, she asks lots of questions and likes to be involved in a classroom discussion/ participation. It’s hard for her to sit still in her chair, and if she sit you will notice her sitting sideways or half of her body sitting on the chair. Girl x enjoys arts and craft or any kind she is so creative. She is polite she listen to others while speaking in addition to using eye contact when talking to others. Girl x is organized …. when it comes to organization she like to put her things where they need to be. Girl x needs help getting started with a task, but once she is settled down and concentrating she will do just fine. Girl x enjoys doing classroom chores.

    SUBMIT: A word problem for the student to solve. You can use this worksheet to help you organize your ideas. Be sure to include the type of word problem that it is and why you choose this type of problem for the student.

    A store has 123 apples. 67 apples are sold. How many apples does the store have left ?

    Answer : 123- 67
    I know that 67= 60+7
    123-60=63
    63-7=56
    So, 123-67=56
    The store has 56 apples left. I used this easy math problem to teach students that good math thinkers look for patterns or relationship in math to help them solve problems. It wasn’t hard they have to think smart when they are working with math.

    They broke apart 67 to solve 123-67.

    • Vivian, your description painted a very clear painting of the student that you chose. The only thing that isn’t clear is which grade is this student in? Also, I am wondering why you chose this word problem for the student. The strategy that you presented is a wonderful way for students to develop the computation required to solve this problem. Further, what manipulatives you could provide to the student so that she can be successful? Nice job.

  2. My students name is Evan, I chose to write about him because he is one of those children that you are drawn to but he has a mischievous side to him. He can be very sweet but also not even the slightest bit of thinking before speaking, the first day of school he looked at me and said “why are you here you aren’t my teacher, what’s the point of you being here?” that question kind of hurt even though he is a child, it was the very first period of the very first day at a brand new school. I told him why I am in the classroom and immediately his attitude changed towards me, asking me a bunch of questions about college and just life in general. Over the next few days I noticed that he has moments where he very to himself, loves reading (to the point where he rushes through his work to read) but has moments where he wants the spotlight to be on him. Even though at times he doesn’t want to do his work I know he is capable of it because out of the thirty students in the class he is one of 3 who scored perfectly on a mini math and English test. Even though this test was not hard, many students struggled with it, he however was not one of them he wrote it out so quickly I thought he guessed on them but he in fact did not. I think sometimes he may misbehave out of boredom because he definitely is academically more advanced than the rest of the students.

    A word problem I would give for my kids is:
    Michelle made 42 chocolate chip cookies. She wants to give them out to 7 of her friends. How many cookies do each of her friends get?
    This is a division problem, group size unknown.

    • Natalia, this is a wonderful description of a student. You seem to really understand Evan and seem to be looking for opportunities to create a relationship with him. What grade is Evan in? Why did you choose this word problem for him? What strategies do you anticipate him using? What manipulatives might you provide to him in order for him to be successful?

  3. Task Two- https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VN71AAyYpJPI83uvkctWeUhHj1Wxll7bFtXMeNi6X-8/edit?usp=sharing
    TaskThree- https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zLj3nOXHbNBDxRZosCZmdMMhHdHFLSH2NyD8Vn51Qf0/edit?usp=sharing

    Journal-
    My student’s name is Josue. Josue was born in Ecuador and he is ten years old. He came to The United States five months ago. He is trying to learn the English language. Josue went to school in Ecuador and knows the numbers in Spanish. He needs someone to translate the word problems for him. Josue is going to be placed in third grade.He also does not know how to multiply two number problems. When asked to solve a problem he gets distracted because he does not understand it. When the educator translates the problem he is able to figure out how to do some parts of the problem. Josue likes to use manipulatives to learn. With the manipulatives such as counting sticks or counters he’s able to count and solve addition and multiplication problems. Josue has trouble with his multiplication tables. His parents do not know English so they do their best to help. Josue closes himself off when he does not understand. He likes to use technology as well when learning. The teacher uses a program called Iready with different math problems ranging from fractions to long division and multiplication. Josue participates when he has an understanding. Other times the teacher has the students put up a finger to the answer that they think is correct. When Josue does not understand he just mimics what the other students are doing and copies the response. The teacher also has Josue use the computer to practice how to do multiplication with interactive games. Josue enjoys this very much because these games are based on his level. As he gets the answers right the level of difficulty increases. These games are beneficial for Josue because he is learning but at the same time enjoying himself. He likes to solve problems that are about animals because he likes animals. His favorite animals are birds and bears.

    A word Problem for the student to solve: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1riJo9WMUdez-SMl48-0ANQmCpzY1QCJceA9Lcqk_N7Q/edit?usp=sharing

    • Maria, your description of Josue is comprehensive and thoughtful. You really show an understanding of what this student is going through. Throughout this semester, we will continue to develop strategies for helping emergent bilingual students learn math. I am glad that you are noticing some ways that the teacher helps Josue, such as manipulatives and computer games based on skill level. I hope that he becomes more successful in school over the course of the year.

      (The rest of my comments are on the tasks.)

    • Helen, very nice work. I commented on tasks two and three on your documents. For the student description and word problem, I think that choosing a student who is struggling to find his place in the class is an important choice. I wonder why he is so withdrawn. I look forward to hearing more about him. You show great intuition to introduce part-part-whole to the student while he is learning about different number forms. I wonder if you could get to know the student a little bit more and incorporate his interests into a similar word problem. I also wonder whether there is an opportunity to incorporate SEL into math instruction. I will think about this more as the semester progresses.

    • Gabriela, your description of your student is wonderful. I can tell that you have a close relationship with him. It is so interesting that remote school was helpful for him. It makes me think about what other students might have similar experiences.
      For task 2, you do a great job of classifying the problems and writing equations. Now, I would like for you to think about what manipulatives or models you can introduce to students to help them develop an understanding of the different operations.
      The word problems that you wrote were wonderful. I did not expect for you to write an example for each one. I hope you got a lot out of the exercise. When you work with your student for the student interview, you can choose one of the problems that you wrote and think about what manipulatives or models you would introduce to your students.

  4. Task Two: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uudBd7f6SnCoJdPj130MU5qyWuBHGiQFKoyaAt9dx5g/edit?usp=sharing
    Task Three: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dIORF4zbGa-7_hFyXfgt-oRWLVJrGeoAAqMh-TRrodc/edit?usp=sharing

    Jordan is a 8 year old boy in the 3rd grade class that I am student teaching in. Based on my first impression I would say he is very friendly to all his classmates including me. His birthday is August 13th and he was born in New York. He has 4 sisters and he is the middle child, but both of his parents immigrated from Ecuador. Him and his sisters were the only ones who spoke English, so growing up they relied mostly on each other when doing homework and other things. He mentioned how sometimes he would have to translate for his mom and dad when he had parent teacher night. He also explained to me it was very hard doing some assignments because he did not have the proper help at home. His favorite thing to do is play sports such as basketball, soccer, and handball. He doesn’t really like school because he believes the teachers assign too much homework. If he had to choose, gym and recess is probably his favorite part of the day (made me laugh). However, due to COVID he feels like there’s no reason for him to come to school anymore because they can’t even have gym nor recess. While conducting my own observations on Jordan I realized that he is very talkative, which causes him to fall behind during tasks. Compared to the other students in the class who aren’t actually performing any better on the assessments, I notice that Jordan has an awful hard time following directions even when the teacher literally writes everything out for the whole class. The teacher has to constantly keep reminding him of what is expected from him as a student and how it’s not fair to distract other students when they are trying to learn.

    Word Problem: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dMIgNQr6VdMOP7GUhXyXmVo-HDAMkajyfLqaRDO4EuI/edit?usp=sharing

  5. Task 2: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rYdcr4YG4B0XhYFkU7FRXatXKns9pEXvvzw7tHfg12c/edit?usp=sharing
    Task 3: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xtNONcGzdDyzcMNYBhroNDQtAwlwmMB28sD4qLDTjGs/edit?usp=sharing

    Journal: I have really been enjoying my student teaching placement and all of the students in my class, for this journal activity I focused on one boy in particular, lets call him E. He is a third grader who from day one was eager to be back in school and learning new things. He said he has 3 other siblings at home so he is now able to focus more at school vs remotely and I can his excitement for learning. He is engaged in all class discussions, a very bright boy but his only issue is the lack of motivation. He gets distracted easily, gives up quickly and loses his momentum and motivation. This was best seen when the class took a math placement test last week and he got to about half way through the test until he lost motivation and desire to complete the test. He sat for the remainder of the period zoned out so my Co-teacher gave him extra time later in the day along with other students to complete the test. Even in this separate time he was not interested in finishing, complaining that the questions were too hard and doing everything but completing the test. I am curious to see if we can help him over come this issue and become more motivated.

    Word Problem: Thomas worked at a local bakery. He earned $93 on Monday, $80 on Tuesday, $42 on Wednesday and $107 on Thursday. He took a day off on Friday. How much money did he earn that week?
    ( Part- Part- Whole/ the Whole is unknown)
    I chose this word problem for my student because I knew he was capable of doing multistep addition and a with three digit numbers.

    • Julia, very nice work. I commented on task 2 in the assignment. Your student description is very interesting. I wonder if the strategy of giving a student like E a math placement test is the best use of time spent with him. It sounds like he has low confidence with mathematics. Therefore, introducing a traditional test so early in the year may only serve to further marginalize him. You should use this opportunity to think about how you might learn about students’ strengths and weaknesses through problem-solving and what some of the benefits might be for alternative assessments.
      The word problem that you chose shows that you believe that he can handle a challenge. I would be interested to know what manipulatives and/or models you plan to introduce to your students as they develop their operational fluency.

  6. Task 2: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gSnDt0a9e11X1hA1a21T2CxSGdo5scA5WzLUPtZwkBE/edit#
    Task 3: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-BibQO0V1C2EAf7Rf6w_ScWeA19rdTH0ZMyUXIwxEKY/edit#

    Journal:When I actually interacted with students, I felt that it was different from what I imagined. I imagined that 3rd-year-old students would be very naughty and they would ask a lot of questions. When I contacted them for the first day on 9/13, I found that they are very cute and very obedient. Although some students may not follow the rules, they will correct them in time when the teacher points out their mistakes. In the morning, they stand at the door of the classroom to greet the students. They will greet the teachers enthusiastically. On the first day, some students will feel uneasy because they can’t find their classrooms and teachers, but every teacher will be very patient to help them find a classroom. As a teacher, there are two ways to communicate with children: verbal and nonverbal. Often a smile, a nod, a touch, a hug, and a look in the teacher’s eyes give the child great encouragement and confidence. Use a sincere heart to communicate with children, give them equal respect, give great enthusiasm and patience to students’ speech or behavior, and encourage children to listen and watch. In the classroom, I found that teachers need to praise students to encourage their work and get them recognized. Teachers’ words of encouragement can often be heard in the classroom. The class I imagined is serious, but the class I follow is joyful. The teacher will create a lot of interesting things for the students to do, and the students are very happy to complete their tasks. What I learned more is to encourage students. Appropriate encouragement when students complete tasks can increase their self-confidence and sense of accomplishment.

    A word problem for the student to solve:Krystal has 36 candies. She wants to share of them to her 6 friends. How many candies will each friend receive?
    Group Size unknown
    It’s can be check student’s MULTIPLICATION AND DIVISION.

    • Thank you for taking me inside your cooperating school, Kexin. It sounds like a lovely school and classroom and I think you will learn a lot there.

      Your word problem is very clear and is appropriate for third graders later in the year. What are some strategies that students could use for solving this problem? What manipulatives would you offer so that students can work through these relationships?

      (I will comment on your tasks on the google doc.)

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