Thursday, March 3, 2011
Week 8 Post
So it's been awhile since we all met for this class, and I would like to pose a question to my group about 2 different activities that we've been doing compared to the readings that we did. I recently was able to do my student interview in class and found that the different levels of understanding addition and subtraction concepts really vary throughout my classroom. I used Fact Triangles for my interview and had my students use their addition and subtraction facts to hopefully realize how 3 different numbers will correlate back and forth between the properties. I interviewed 3 different students in the class and feel that only one was able to clearly grasp onto these concepts. I was wondering what lesson was done for each other members interview and how their results went. Was it something you expected? Did it surprise you in any way with how your students responded to your questions? The second activity that wasn't mandatory to do but something interesting was the toothpick activity. I got 3 different answers for it. Each student picked a different number and only one was correct. Were you able to do this activity with our students? What results did you get for it? I really found this activity interesting because of the results that Nic showed us in class were in direct relation to our year in school and a very low percentage were able to get the answer correct. I was almost embarrassed by the amount of people that got it wrong. We have not gotten into fractions completely in my class yet, but we have started to look at it through the use of time in my class. How are fractions brought up in your classes? Do your students enjoy them? I know I always liked using fractions because I was able to use them at home and help work with my dad on things. It was able to hit home for me and something I ultimately enjoyed doing. Some people completely hate them though. How do you feel about fractions? Now I know I asked a lot of questions during this post, but I think we don't always have enough time to know how each of us our doing in our classes if we don't sit at the same table. I think posing these question will also help me and hopefully help each other for our write-ups and help to see how we are all doing up to this point.
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My interview was very interesting as well. I asked my students to measure a line and a table with a ruler. I also asked them lots of theoretical questions about the ideas of measurement and conversion. One of my students did really well as I expected. The student who I believed to be middle of the line, did really poorly. I was surprised that this was the case because her literacy skills are high. I believe that this shows that there is too much concentration on literacy in the classroom and not enough assessment on other subjects. I understand that literacy is important, but is it the most important? She seemed to not even care about the questions. So yes Cory I do not believe that your situation was unique, I believe that there is an under diagnosed problem in our elementary schools when it comes to the correlation between literacy and overall school knowledge.
ReplyDeleteMy interview was also really interesting! I asked a student to write the number 26, I repeated it numerous times, and he said "well, I think there is an 8...?" He wrote 86. Then when I asked him to read the number back to me, he responded "96." I think that the sample of students I interviewed are all towards the lower end of the class. Two of them couldn't write basic numbers and counting was also off. In relation to Jennas post I find this especially interesting because my CT told me that all these students were in the middle of the class. I hope that these interviews are helpful to her to see that they are not where she thinks they are in the class.
ReplyDeleteI haven't had any experience with fractions in my class. I think that the students know what half and whole mean though. Now I am wondering when fractions start to be used in math. I guess I could check the GLCE's for that!