**First I have to share this adorable picture of my little Sophia:)
OOOOOk... Ch. 2: Tools. Best quote from ch. 2: We can teach students to think, and we must. Just like in reading, comprehension is the ultimate goal of mathematics. (Maggie Siena) Ch. 2 explained the tools that we need to use to teach students what math comprehension means- what it feels like to really understand math. The three tools this chapter outlines are Common Core mathematical practices, Twenty-First Century skills and thinking strategies. I wanted to touch specifically on the mathematical practices.
Common Core mathematical practices: Students should be exposed to all eight practices.
1) Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them. This goes back to my earlier post where I talked about how I have trouble just letting my students work and make mistakes. I have to learn to step back and let them try different strategies and learn from their mistakes. ALSO >> I have to teach the strategies for dissecting text, representing problems, and solving them.
2) Reason abstractly and quantitatively. I need to continue to give my math lessons a purpose and model my logic and reasoning. Model how and explain why I got the answer I did.
3) Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others. One of my title groups needed some help with learning how to work TOGETHER in a group. I modeled this by working with a student on a story problem. We asked each other questions and formed our answer together. After I modeled this I had the other students give us one thing we could work on and one thing we did well. I had the pairs of students watch each other work together and critique one another in a positive and respectful way.
4) Model with mathematics. This standard has been tricky for me as I was taught procedure, procedure, procedure in elementary school. Making 10, making 100, compensation and other mental math models are extremely important when developing those early number concept skills. I've had to teach myself these methods and use explicit instruction with my students.
5) Use appropriate tools strategically. Offer tasks that invite use of a variety of tools. I do this very often because in title math my students need some sort of manipulative for a concrete model. However, when is it okay to take away those concrete models? I still struggle with this sometimes because students are supposed to go from learning in the most concrete way to the most abstract way where they are writing and solving equations.
6) Attend to precision. Value accuracy over speed. Instead of giving a timed test over all problems, reflect on factors that detract from precision. Strategize around common errors and the means to avoid those.
7) Look for and make use of structure. Model how to find patterns- number patterns. Practice decomposing numbers, equations, and expressions into their composite parts. Decomposing has become one of my favorite topics to teach. There are so many unique and purposeful activities to use while teaching decomposition. You can check out a few of them on my Teachers link!
8) Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning. I need to do a better job of offering in depth tasks that invite learners to monitor the reasonableness of their solutions. Sometimes I ask them, does that make sense and they can read my face and automatically change their answer to something else, but they don't know why. Repeated reasoning can help my learners to solve problems.
~ Have a great rest of the week:)
Stephanie
