I’ve been spending a lot of time in schools and classrooms these past two weeks using diagrams with students and teachers. As a result, I’ve been neglecting this blog but I’ve been learning so much. Hopefully, I’ll start making more time to write about what I’m doing. Here’s the latest problem I’ve been tackling with …
Using Diagrams to Make Sense of Fraction Word Problems Read More »
People sometimes feel compelled to tell me how much they hate math. When I ask when this started, many point to algebra (the rest say fractions, but we can talk about that another day). We know that many students struggle when they get to algebra. Researchers have been studying how to ease this transition through …
Using diagrams to ease the transition to algebra Read More »
I’ve been working with K-5 teachers on how to use tape diagrams to solve problems. During one of these workshops, a first grader peeked in and asked, “Teachers have to go to school too?” It got quite a laugh, but it’s true. We need time to sit with our peers and try new ways to …
Read the following problem and think about how a student might solve it. There are 250 students in the fifth grade. Three-fifths of them speak two languages. How many speak two languages? As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve been introducing tape diagrams, or bar models, to students and teachers recently as a way to solve word …
Recently, I have been receiving a lot of push back from parents and teaches who don’t think it is worthwhile to expose students to methods other than traditional algorithms. They tell me how they memorized the procedures in math class and they don’t understand why their students or children can’t do the same. They complain about all these diagrams I encourage …
“But I learned it that way”: The case for student-invented strategies Read More »
Recently, I was working with fourth-graders on the following word problem from the 2013 New York State test: Ms. Turner drove 825 miles in March. She drove 3 times as many miles in March as she did in January. She drove 4 times as many miles in February as she did in January. What was the …
They know the math but they can’t do word problems. They can do all the problems on the page correctly, but they skip the word problems at the end. It’s a reading comprehension problem. They don’t understand what they are reading. The dreaded word problem. In many classes I taught, students weren’t used to being …
Over the past two weeks, I’ve been working with both students and teachers on algebra tasks. One of the things we have been doing is writing rules for different geometric patterns. For me, identifying key questions that will guide students towards meeting the learning target for the day is one of the most important things …
Asking questions that help students think algebraically Read More »
The first step in thinking about how to provide students with frequent feedback is having students identify their learning targets. Not just the goals for the unit or year, but also the daily or weekly targets that are going to get them there. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m training for a half-marathon. The event is …
Happy New Year All! I hope this year brings you lots of laughter, learning and new adventures. My big adventure for the new year is to run a half-marathon. I started running in the fall and in that short time, I’ve learned a lot about myself. One thing is that I respond really well to …