Last week I spent the week in math training – second grade teachers are supposed to be experts in teaching everything! I picked up some of information about our new learning progressions, assessments for individualizing goals for students, and problem solving.
I was most excited about the problem solving without numbers they showed us. In the past we were told to cover the numbers of the problem and have discussion about solving the problem. It was OK but my students really just waited for the numbers to appear and did what they always do – add or subtract (sometimes appropriately). Even after discussion with partners and the class, some students didn’t correctly solve the problem. And a two step problem? Forget about it!
The method shown this week was different. They covered everything but the question at the end of the problem. Discussion starts with, “What do you notice? What do you wonder?” Then reveal parts of the information, a little bit at a time. I am curious to try this with my class. I wonder if this will change the way they approach a problem. It may really help them understand how to write their own problems. I notice that many students write a word problem with the data but don’t ask a question at the end. I hope this will change their thinking,
The second method was what Graham Fletcher calls 3-Act Lessons. Students watch a video and then discuss, “What do you notice? What do you wonder?” Teacher gives question to solve – or guides students to question from their wonderings – and then gives students information to solve the problem if they ask for it. They determine what information is needed. Finally, they watch a solution video. There are some videos to use on Graham’s site and some links to other sites with more 3-Act Lesson videos. This will be fun to use in class. I think students will be very motivated.
As I click on links to different blogs from Graham Fletcher’s page, I go down the rabbit hole of ideas and things to try. Of course I ended up on Marilyn Burns math blog site. All roads lead to Marilyn. Her work is amazing and I don’t know why I haven’t looked for her blog before. Her math menus ideas are going to be very helpful in our work this year on personalizing the learning.