BJ Hemphill

MIAA 340
Article 1 (4-7)

Hord, C., & Xin, Y.P. (2014), Teaching Area and Volume to Students with Mild
Intellectual Disability. The Journal of Special Education, 0022466914527826
To put it mildly, my idea of equity in the classroom has been challenged and
reshaped. If I were to be brutally honest with myself, I would have to say, "I have
not been equitable with the treatment of special education students who are
pushed into my classroom." In the past I have had RSP and SDC students pushed
into my classroom based on some standardize test they took with the resource
teacher or school site psychologist. I have taken these students in with the
assumption that they could rise to the cognitive demands that were put upon my
students without altering or providing sufficient scaffolding. How wrong I have been
and reading this article opened my eyes a little wider.
Ushering in the era of common core has posed challenges to all stakeholders
in the educational setting. It must be daunting for those with special needs.
Students are required to meet very high expectations, including students with
disabilities. "The Equity Principles as outlined by the National Council of Teachers of
Mathematics (NCTM, 2000) stresses higher expectations for students with
disabilities and appropriate support to help these students meet these higher
expectations."
Students with Mild Intellectual Disability (MID) and mathematics face
significant challenges in academics, but that is not to say they cannot achieve
success. Despite the difficulties they face some have experienced success in
mathematics through the use of meta-cognition to make sound and reasonable

decisions in solving word problems and have created their own strategies to math
problems. However, they do experience a more difficult with geometry and
measurement (Hord & Bouch, 2012). There is a disconnect with between the
formulas and mathematical relationships within area and volume problems.
With sufficient scaffolding students can come to an understanding of the
concept of area which is how iterations of rows of squares (length or width) can be
used to find the area of various geometric shapes. Additionally, when it comes to
volume, the third dimension of layers poses a challenge for students with MID.
Students must be given strategies to be able to understand that layers or cubes and
iterations of these layers can be used to determine volume (Clements & Sarama,
2009).
Visual representations (wooden blocks, base 10 blocks), and semi concrete
(two dimensional drawings) have been helpful in reaching students with MID and
can help them access more challenging mathematics including algebra concepts.
The Conceptual Model-Based Problem Solving (COMPS; Xin, 2012) is another
effective instruction strategy when teaching students about area and volume.
CHOMPS uses real world situational models (concrete models with diverse contexts)
and the mathematics symbolic model (formulas, algorithms) to foster an
understanding and connection of relationships In the pilot study of (Xin & Hord,
2013) a combination of concrete, semi concrete and abstract along with the use of
CHOMPS strategies improved the participants ability to solve area and volume
problems including area of a rectangle, area of irregular polygons, and volume of
rectangular prisms.

This sounds to me like using better teaching practices and implementing

realia into the classroom, something new teachers are taught and sometimes old
veteran teacher push aside.

BJ Hemphill
MIAA 340
Article 2 (4-7)

Woodward, J., & Brown, C. (2006). "Meeting the curricular need of academically low
achieving students in middle grade mathematics." The Journal of Special
Education, 40(3), 151-159

How exactly do we meet the needs of low achieving students? According to

the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Standards all students should have
access to a coherent, challenging mathematics curriculum. Everyone agrees that all
students need to be challenged in order to develop high levels of mathematics. This
includes conceptual understanding, problem solving and communication.
Unfortunately, there has been a tendency to place too many SES students
from diverse backgrounds in low track, skills based classrooms (Schoenfeld, 2002;
Secada, Fennema, & Adajain, 1995) and efforts to create curriculum that is both
equitable and rigorous is difficult at best. And increasing the rigor of the class is
insufficient because of the complexities of students and abilities. One has to
remember that among the at risk and low achieving students are the Gifted and
Talented. Making too many modifications to meet the needs of low performing puts
meeting the needs of the GATE students at risk.
Meeting the needs of academically low achieving students includes the use of
visual models or manipulative, and working with students in small groups can help
students become more successful and can possible prevent them from falling into
the false belief that they are a failure. Creating opportunity for success can be
challenging for the classroom teacher, but it is important for students to have small
successes so that they continue to be motivated to keep trying. On the other hand,

creating tasks that are too easy for students can lull them into the false perception
that they are ready to tackle higher levels of mathematics, when in reality they
would fail.
A balance of sufficient opportunities for success and tasks that require
considerable effort and that may need to be solved through small group efforts,
rather than individually, required carefully designed curricular materials and
instructional practices (Woodward, 1999). Students should not be duped into
thinking they are succeeding if they are not. It is okay for them to experience
periodic challenge and even momentary failure to develop high level of self efficacy
and task persistence. (Bandura, 1986; Middleton & Spanias, 1999; Shunk & Pajares,
2001).
Achieving that balance takes years of practice, trial and error, modifications
and rewrites, but when teacher and students say, "It's time to go already," the
teacher may very well be on track at achieving that balance.