Field Visit 4

Once again, we observed instruction during the morning math and problem solving lesson. This week we focused on student participation, specifically charting each student's participation throughout the lesson.

The class began with a "Multiplication madness" challenge, where the teacher gave each student a different problem and asked them to solve it using multiple methods. This was to test their understanding of how multiplication works, since many students seemed to be going through the steps blindly without really understanding how they reached the answer. The algorithm the teacher wanted them to understand looks like this:

Problem: 64 x 7 = ?
Solution: 60 x 7 + 4 x 7 = 420 + 28 = 448

The students also used estimation to check their answers using estimation (multiplying 60 x 7, which is 420, and understanding that the actual answer must be bigger, since we rounded down when estimating).

In the process of helping students attain an understanding of these concepts, the teacher used practice problems and examples with the whole class, asking such questions as, "Tell me what you did. Walk me through the steps." This forces the students to use metacognition and become more aware of their own thinking processes. The following diagram shows the frequency of participation of each student, by seating arrangement:


The participation was fairly well distributed, with most students contributing 2-3 responses or comments during the 1-hour math block. One student only participated once; he seemed to be struggling with understanding the concepts and was looking down at his own worksheet rather than attending to group instruction. Another student participated four times, he also seemed to be struggling but was more willing to talk through his thought processes and be corrected and guided in front of the whole class. This may be due to a difference in learning styles or personalities, some students are more willing make mistakes in front of their classmates, while others feel that learning is a more independent endeavor. The teacher did well in recognizing and differentiating to these different learning profiles, she does not push any student to participate beyond what they are comfortable with, and she also offers extra help or individual tutoring sessions to students who need one-on-one work. I felt these options were appropriate and effective for the class and the group of students she was teaching.