Sunday, March 13, 2011

So since my last post I've made some changes to my data collection. I'm still doing the word problem of the day twice a week with my students but I changed the way I come up with questions. Instead of giving them the problem and asking them to choose the answer, I'm giving them the answer and asking them to choose the correct question that goes with the answer.

When I was talking with my small group at the last meeting I expressed concern about writing my own problems because I thought that it might confuse students since it would not be worded in the format that they would see on the STAR test. Tomas said something that really made me think. He said, "if they are able to answer your kind of question, which is more cognitive, aren't you then preparing them to answer any kind of question that they may encounter?".

Since then I changed the format and have tried to make the problems more difficult. Since changing the format, I've noticed that students haven't been as successful but they are using their thinking skills and strategies to solve these problems. I haven't said it, but I want them to prove it and demonstrate how it is that they found the answer. What I'm finding is that students are coming up with answers but they are having a difficult time defending their choice. They are also having a hard time drawing diagrams. Many of them can give me an answer but can't tell me why that answer is correct.

Some findings that I've come up with are:

-Students are motivated and excited to do Math because I'm excited to teach it. I'm fascinated and challenged to try to teach various concepts in a way that students can understand and easily teach to others/use throughout their schooling.

-Certain students rely on deductive reasoning. I know the answer is not A, B, or D so it must be C. This is a great strategy because they eliminate answers they know are not correct. Other students rely on the opposite strategy. They find the answer that they know is correct and don't bother to look at the other options, which can sometimes trip them up if they're not careful.

-It's very difficult for students to explain their thinking through the use of a drawing. By asking them to draw their thinking, I'm almost asking them to come up with something extra that they hadn't thought of. It's like asking for an extra step. That extra step doesn't necessarily demonstrate how they came up with their answer but rather it's a way to explain their answer (which the two don't necessarily go hand in hand).

-Word problems prove to be difficult for my lower level EL students due to the academic vocabulary.

-When asked to explain how students solved their problems, students cannot always verbalize how they solved the problem but rather they just reread what they wrote on paper.