Kelley Haskins UNCC ELED Blog

Selecting and Creating Mathematical Tasks By Margaret Smith

kelley haskins — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:11:08 +0000

I was also thinking of the task sorting activity we did in class as I read this article. I agree we should always start with a cognitively higher level task. If we don’t immediately engage our students, we may never get their attention throughout the rest of the task. As the article said “the nature of the tasks to which students are exposed to determines what students learn”. Ultimately our goal isn’t to teach children to memorize but the ability to think, problem solve, and reason, and apply these skills to in real world. I agreed with the sections “knowing a good task when you see one”, as Dr. Piel said “let them talk”. We have to figure out their prior knowledge, where they are, what interests they have, and the morns before we implement tasks. I’m excited to teach the four categories of cognitive demands. I hope we get more experience with determining which one to use at which times. I especially enjoyed reading the “reflection” sections. It was a nice way of summing up the material.

Making Connections through Math-Related Book Pairs

kelley haskins — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:10:04 +0000

I can really relate to your comments about the description of a project or lesson on the understanding that a fraction is more than a piece of the pie. Their projects demonstrate an understanding that a fraction is a subset of the whole set; a part of the whole. Why is traditional math always referring to pieces of a pie and every math work sheet is a pie relationship to fractions? We have learned so much from the first math CAMMP class, I can’t wait to apply some of those strategies in my own classroom.

The comparison between the two books in this article was an interesting perspective on integrating math and literacy together. Sometimes, I think this is easier said than done. Of course we all want o do our best as teachers and may stick closely to the teacher’s manual. If we listen to the students and their topic of conversation, we can use or build on what they are already interested in. each time I start to get stressed out, I remember what usually happens with my own children. They just want talk and surprisingly, they also enjoy listening. This article was really building on the other article I read and posted on “posing Problems from Literature”. I think the key is to be open on where our teachable moments may come from.

Understanding the development of Students’ Thinking about Length

kelley haskins — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:08:16 +0000

I thought one of the major challenges of teaching mathematics was having enough tricks in your bag to find different strategies that eventually everybody “gets”. Now we have to first review the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) because the real challenges are the definitions used to describe length also describe time. Both topics are difficult enough for young students to comprehend without having double meaning.

In the beginning they offer suggestions to guide and teach length. I think those suggestion could be adapted into everyday instructions. They were to include prior discussions, adapting instruction to students’ needs, reasoning, assessing, and remediating learning difficulties.

I thought it was also interesting that there is much confusion about students reasoning about length. There is nonmeasurement reasoning not involving the use of numbers but instead using visual judgments and measurement reasoning which involves determining the number of unit lengths. Again, offering many things for students to get confused about.

In order for students to achieve mastery in the tasks associated with measurement and length it’s important for teachers to understand what level of thinking their students are processing the lesson at. They refer to levels of “framework” as levels of thinking or conceptual thinking. It’s an important component necessary in order to truly be prepared to begin instruction.

Fostering Communication about Measuring Area in a Traditional Language Class

kelley haskins — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:31:12 +0000

The first few lines reminded me of Dr. Piel saying “listen to your students”. Trying to plan instruction to develop conceptual understanding and encouraging students to emphasize verbally and describe their findings with mathematically based justifications rather than deemphasizing procedural knowledge is all based on “listening to your students”. This article was written because of the obstacles a teacher had implementing these goals in an LEP (Limited English Proficient) classroom. Even though these ideas were generated for an LEP environment, they could definitely be used in a traditional classroom.

I was interested to read the strategies implemented by the workshop leaders for the four lessons. In reality will we always have an expert, an assistant, and the classroom teacher available to help? Probably not. Still, some great ideas to keep in the mind for the future.

I especially liked the lesson on four square. This activity utilized manuplities (a geoboard) and was helpful in visually explaining square units. We could use the “unpack the important information” in any task in the classroom. This could be part of a word wall or centers description. First, list characteristics for polygon. Next, discuses ideas of an area. Then, discuss strategy. Then, explore the ideas individually and finally, share results and reflect. The article did not share the length of time spent on this lesson. Is this pace really practical? If we were able to take this amount of time on each lesson I’m sure we would also be able to claim “that students developed a more sophisticated understanding of measuring area and they actively participated in communication mathematical ideas” more efficiently than prior to this teaching strategy.

I like the ideas and truly think they would be helpful in a traditional classroom. Having the students communicate more mathematically would definitely strengthen their math vocabulary, and reasoning and problem solving skills.

Internet Safety

kelley haskins — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:23:54 +0000

ELED 5100

Internet Safety

CopyRight Quiz

http://www.csus.edu/indiv/p/peachj/edte230/copyright/quizc.htm

This website offers some school technology related test questions to test your knowledge on acceptable copyright actions. After completing the 20 question survey I was given a review of my answers. This is a very informative and free website.

Acceptable Internet and Copyright Actions

A movie rental store donates a free video to a school and shown in the multipurpose room.
Taping a NBC news report on a specific news or history topic in your own home and using it in the classroom on a regular basis for instruction.
Using a photo found online in a school project, giving credit to the site from which it was copied.
Using well-known popular music clips in a student made video yearbook, fully listing songs and giving full credit.
Using a legal copy of the program Webwhacker, your technology specialist downloads and caches educational and non-educational Web pages for school Internet trainings.
A teacher chooses to tape an education program every week in case they need to use it in class.

Unacceptable Internet and Copyright Actions

A student doing a multimedia report discovers how to copy the QuickTime movie from a CD-ROM encyclopedia. He presents the report to his classmates, then posts it on the school LAN.
A school purchases only one copy of a program like Kid Pix and downloads it on every classroom computer. Every student has access to it all day.
A science teacher asks the school librarian to record a great episode of
Bill Nye the Science Guy on its original broadcast in September 1998. He figures on using it for years. This is permissible.
Copyrighted material used in multimedia projects remains in the student’s portfolio forever.
A teacher copies an expensive software program for every student in his class and another copy for students to use at home.

Personal Experience while working in a 1^st grade classroom

Some of the issues that have surprised me this year in 1st grade are that most students know how to navigate very well through and in and out of different sites. They are also more confident to try to search on their own without asking questions. Sometimes they have used family or home passwords to get into sites that are not appropriate for school.

Although their knowledge of computer use is savvy, their ability to surf safely is lacking. For a 1st grade student to unknowingly use the internet inappropriately at school it’s looked at as forgivable. But if the student were in 5th grade and did the same thing, they would probably suffer consequences for intentionally using the internet inappropriately.

I guess just like so many other things, teach them early and often. I know that the Kindergarten students use the technology lab computers more than the ones in their classroom, and they have more restrictions set up. Maybe the first grade class I was in this year wasn’t so naive, I was! Lesson learned.

Teaching Fractions

kelley haskins — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 00:41:18 +0000

I never truly understood fractions until I was introduced to C-rods this summer. While reading this article on teaching fractions I kept thinking that some kids truly learn differently and much slower. Sometime we just have to give them time….they’ll get it.

I loved the Math CAMMP class and I’m sure the teachers who taught it were trained specifically the Piel/Green way. I truly agree with teaching a class that is modeled around students written and verbal explanations. Remember the examples Dr. Piel gave in class. I’m sure we all hear kids say” I know what I’m trying to say but I can’t say it”.

Although this is a great idea, I’m concerned that teachers are once again being stretched too thin. How much more can a school district ask us to do? Planning, meetings, committees, trainings, conferences, oh yeah and teach! We seem to have less and less time to just teach. It seems we should just slow down!

Sorry, didn’t mean to sound negative…I must be tired!

Ten is the Magic Number!

kelley haskins — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 22:52:07 +0000

Ten is the Magic Number

Mental Math? We have all discussed that for some of us, math is not our strongest subject. Mental math never entered my mind….until this past summer in math CAMMP class, unlike this second grader Bernard. How do we produce students like that?

This article really focused on the benefits a second grade teacher had with expanding her math curriculum to extend instruction time on the composition and decomposition of ten and its applications it allowed her students to become more efficient at computation and developing deeper number sense and efficient computation strategies, rather than just understanding addition and to develop the ability to quickly recall basic addition facts.

The all too famous lines we heard all summer are read loud and clear here too. Common criticisms of the U.S. mathematics curriculum are “a mile wide and an inch deep”, and “the old approach of skill-drill fashion”. It was interesting to read that this teacher’s extra efforts did provide her students with the feelings of greater efficiency and confidence with number relations. This in-depth approach also provided the students with a more solid foundation for third grade. Imagine if each teacher had that kind of confidence, energy, and support?

I have been subbing in an EC classroom for the past week and my main job has been teaching math to 9 autistic boys in 4^th and 5^th grade. I am totally amazed at how the teacher’s manual has walked me through step by step the best possible way to instruct these boys. Even these boys know the basic number sense of building on factors of 10. Almost every problem we work on, the book recommends we use the array method to solve for. My favorite line from this reading is “teachers must see mathematics as a set of conceptual relationships between numbers and number symbols rather that as numbers that are manipulated by rules”. I’ll probably put that in my e-portfolio.

Thanks for reading!

Posing Problems from Literature

kelley haskins — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 18:38:05 +0000

I absolutely loved this article! It spoke directly to me and addressed many of my fears of teaching mathematics. I’m glad I print these articles and highlight them. I loved the review and suggestions of integrating math and literature with the three books discussed. I especially liked the third grade teacher who used the book “Cook-a-Doodle-Doo”. I enjoy cooking and reading about combining capacity measurement with a preschool style rice/sand table jumped out at me. We just read all the books relating to “If you Give a Mouse a Cookie” in the first grade class I’m in. I never even thought of integrating the idea presented in the article. It wouldn’t have taken much to incorporate a math lesson along with the literature. I’m sure part of the purposed of reading these article is to be more familiar with reviewing others’ work but the more I read the more I have my own ideas. I have started taking notes in the margins of the articles. I think of additional ideas to further the lesson.

As we have been taught in all of our classes, the point of discussing a topic before, during, and after a lesson or unit is further driven in here. I liked the bullet points under each heading. It’s a great reference article to look back at later when we’re teaching.

My fears of teaching mathematics was eased a bit when I read that learning to pose mathematical problems for some teachers isn’t a natural process. All teachers must be alert in order to capitalize on rich, real-world teachable opportunities. We need to remember to keep our eyes open and listen to our students talk. They will guide us, if we are listening. We need to bring our past experience and incorporate appropriate problem-solving activities that are relevant and meaningful to our students. Having meaningful connections in our mathematics will only help motivate the students to learn and the teacher to teach.

Thanks for reading my thoughts!

Teacher as Architect of Mathematical Tasks

kelley haskins — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 18:28:26 +0000

Boy, the opening statement puts no pressure on us as future teachers, ha ha! “No other decision that teachers make has greater Impact on students’ opportunity…….than the selection or creation of the tasks with which the teacher engages the students in”. It nerves me a bit but also consoles me in that I know this where I want to be. Of the three articles we have read thus far, Dr. Polly has sifted through and chosen very relevant and informative articles to share with us. As we continue to build our teaching philosophy and perspective from our previous summer classes, we should add, “Choose and use worthwhile mathematical tasks, embedding curriculum in worthwhile mathematical tasks increases the likelihood of success and enjoyment for both students and teachers”. Who would ever forget all the rocket ship, and spacemen, dogs and dog houses, or running around a track analogies?
I enjoyed reading under “What Are Good Mathematical tasks” the instance when the teacher assistant was talking about her fourteen month old baby. She posed additional questions to the class and created a “teachable moment”. I really see the benefits of actively engaging students in learning activities. As a teacher I hope to have this wonderful magical carpet bag full of tricks and analogies to capture each student. I know it will take time just like the article said under “Where Are Good Mathematical Tasks Found?” The most beneficial tasks are found from your students and their situations. Didn’t Dr. Piel say “listen to your students”? With the proper preparation and “think outside the box” ideas, I know where to find what I’m looking for. These classes have not necessarily been teaching us how to become great teachers but how to be resourceful in finding the materials necessary to be great facilitators of learning.
Students in each class have a huge range in ability, experience, and background. It’s refreshing to read that we will not reach all of them at the same time but eventually with a variety of tasks and persistence, every study will become involved.
Thanks for reading my perspective on this article.

How can technology benefit student learning?

kelley haskins — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 15:45:54 +0000

Interesting topic considering we just finished a special needs technology project, an educational game based in a power point presentation format, three educational website evaluations, and a webquest that required a lot more technology research than I could have ever imagined.

Technology can absolutely benefit many types of students especially those who have learning disabilities. The lesson plans can be so precise and narrow in topic, but once you add the benefits or available options of an education website, it really allows for more freedom. I know for my oldest son, this is what keeps him engaged! I have to quote Damien here “It is our job as future educators to keep up with the technology of today, not be afraid of it, but embrace it and use it as a tool for teaching.” We could easily get tied up in an all technological based instruction but that’s not for everyone. Finding a balance of what you’re good at as a teacher and what works best for your students has to be the priority. I think the most important answer to ”how does technology benefit?”, would be “it’s individual”, find what works for each student.

I’m glad to have started the research to find useful resources in technology during this class. I’m sure we’ll use it more than we thought.