Mistakes....
Too many times I have corrected a student when they have made a
mistake. My superintendent sent out a weekly professional development
document about mistakes this week. Students can make mistakes. Adults
can make mistakes. It is how we learn. More than ever I have seen
students who have no problem solving skills. They have a helpless
attitude when it comes to solving any problems whether related to
math or just daily life. Yesterday I challenged myself to let my
students engage in more academic talk and let them talk through their
mistakes. One of my Title math fourth grade groups is working on long
division. Yesterday I put a long division problem up on the board.
The quotient, divisor and dividend were written on color specific
card stock paper. The differences, subtrahend and minuend were also
written on color specific card stock paper. We talked about why
certain numbers were written on the same color of paper and then I
asked students to solve a different long division problem, now
knowing how those numbers are related. I sat back and listened to my
students discuss the steps to solve the problems. My students worked
together and worked through their mistakes. It took them the full 20
minutes of our time together, but at the end of class, they had a
greater understanding of the process of long division and how the
numbers are related. It was amazing to see my students grow from this
activity. Have a great weekend! Go HAWKS and go CHIEFS!