Karen Sanchez

November 15, 2014

TTE 326
Student Interview
All names used in this essay are pseudonyms.
Part 1: Introduce Your Student
I chose to conduct my math interview with a student named Jamie; she
is eleven years old and a fifth grader at Coyote Trail Elementary School.
Jamie is a quiet girl in the classroom but is very outspoken when she is with
her twin sister, Kasey. She tells me that this is her best friend and that they
enjoy playing together during recess. Jamies primary language is English
and her ethnicity is Caucasian. I chose to conduct my interview with Jamie
because she is the one student in class with whom I hadnt been able to talk
to much since she is very soft spoken. When I would talk to her, she was very
shy and didnt say much so I did want to get to know her better. I talked to
her teacher about her math skills and was told that she was average and
sometimes did very well with math. I was very excited for this interview to
gain some insight on how a fifth grader thinks about math.
Part 2: Summarize What You Learned About the Childs
Understanding
The book Elementary and Middle School Mathematics states that
observing how students solve problems will give you a lot of information
about their understanding of numbers and problem solving (p. 154). I found
this to be very true while conducting my interviews. First I decided to do the
addition and subtraction mathematics assessment because I thought this

was an appropriate interview to pick for a fifth grader. For the first problem I
used the even harder numbers, the question asked if someone wants to
buy a present for $124 but only has $89, how much more money do they
need to buy the present. I asked the question a couple of times before Jamie
knew how to set up the problem, she set it up by writing 124-89= (refer to
solution A). She then proceeded to solve the problem and said that the
answer was $65. I asked how she got this answer and she said she
subtracted the 4 from the 9 to get 5 and the 2 from the 8 to get 6 which was
equal to $65.
Since she got the answer incorrect, we moved on the next problem and
I decided to use easier numbers for this problem. The question asked if a
student has 36 jellybeans and someone gives them 18 more jellybeans, how
many jellybeans do they have all together? Jamie set up the problem the
same way as the first one (36+18=) and also vertically. She solved this
problem and got 54 jellybeans, which was the correct answer. She explained
how she got this answer by adding the 8 and 6 to get 14 and carried the 1.
She added the 3 and 1 and 1 to get 5 and got 54. I decided to now substitute
the even harder numbers (198 and 79) for this problem (refer to solution B).
Jamie set up the problem in the same way and solved it in the same way but
this time got the answer 277 jellybeans. Van de Walle states when the parts
of a set are known, addition is used to name the whole in terms of the part
(p. 154). At this point I made the conclusion that my student understands

how to solve addition problems since she is able to determine when she
needs to add and how to do so correctly.
When we moved on to another subtraction problem, Jamie solved the
problem the same way she did for the first subtraction problem. She would
subtract according to which number was biggest or smallest. For example
the problem asked to subtract 28 from 54, Jamie subtracted the 4 from the 8
and the 2 from the 5 to get 34 (refer to solution C). This proved that Jamie
might not understand subtraction because she would chose to subtract only
the smaller numbers from the bigger numbers. This was very interesting to
me since Jamie is in 5th grade and she has gone through all these grades
subtracting like this. I ended the math interview at this point since that is
what the interview required me to do.
I also interviewed Jamie for multiplication and division a few days later.
I started off with an equal groups question and chose the harder numbers,
the question asked if Jesse has 15 pockets and he puts 8 pennies in each
pocket, how many pennies does Jesse have? Jamie solved the problem with
arithmetic by setting up the problem and getting the answer 120 pennies
(refer to solution D). The next problem was a division one which asked if
there are 84 marbles that 7 friends want to share evenly, how many marbles
would each friend get? Jamie answered using algorithm and set up the
problem 84 divided by 7 to get 12 as her answer. She explained how she first
divided the 7 which fit into 8 1 time, so she put the 1 at the top and the 7
under the 8 to subtract. She got 1 and brought down the 4 to get 14, she

then said that 7 fit into 14, 2 times and got the answer 12 (refer to solution
E). I used the same problem again but with harder numbers and she solved it
in the same way and got the correct answer. The fact that Jamie was able to
explain her algorithmic methods for solving each of the multiplication and
division problems showed me that she understood both mathematical
concepts.
Part 3: Reflect on Your Interactions with Your Student
Jamie is a very quiet girl and I really had to prompt her to get her to
talk to me. I wanted to make her feel comfortable before the interview so she
didnt think it was intimidating or that is was some sort of assessment. I
asked her what her favorite subject was in school and she said it was writing.
Then I asked about her twin sister since I know they are close and she told
me that she is the oldest and that her sister doesnt look exactly like her.
Once I got to know her a little better I asked her if she wanted to solve a few
math problems for me and she agreed to.
During the first interview I would read each question a couple of times.
The first time I would read it, Jamie would figure out whether she was adding
or subtracting and the second time she would write in the numbers. When
she would finish solving the problem I would ask every time how did you get
that answer? to which she would explain every step of the process. I felt like
I could have done a better job of eliciting my students thinking when she got
the answer wrong but I just stuck with asking how she solved it and moving
on. I didnt want to make her feel bad if she got it wrong since she did

seemed so confident in her answers. I did ask her a few times if she knew
different methods of solving the problem but she would say she didnt and
not give me much more than that. If I were to do this again, I would provide
different kids of manipulatives for her or different visuals to help her pick
different ways of solving the problems.
Part 4: Connections Across Interviews, Observations, and Next Steps
Part A: Problem Design
To further my students understanding of certain math concepts, I
would definitely focus on subtraction. I see where she may have got
confused by subtracting the smaller numbers from the bigger ones no matter
what order theyre in. I would like to provide her with visuals so she is able to
see her mistakes. Van de Walle mentions a few different ways of using
visuals to see subtraction. One way is to provide base ten blocks and
allowing the student to take away the amount that is needed and to regroup.
I think doing this would have helped her see that she couldnt subtract the
way she was doing it. For example if she had to do the problem 45-27=,
maybe she would have seen that there werent enough ones to take off
seven so she needed to add the ten to be able to. Another strategy is to
draw a number line to show how she counted up or down to subtract and get
the answer. I would give her a set of double-digit subtraction problems (refer
to double-digit subtraction) to work out by using at least two different
strategies. I think that asking her to do two strategies will allow her to check
her work and to see it from two perspectives.

Part B: Instructional Implications

From working with Jamie through these two interviews and getting to
know her this semester, I think I have a pretty good understanding of what
areas in mathematics she does well with and where she may need to work
on. Subtraction would be my main focus with her and I would go back to the
beginning to make sure she understands the concept. Van de Walle states
that in the beginning, simply focus on regrouping without recording the
numerical process, provide students with place value mats and base ten
models (p.226). I would do this with Jamie so that she is able to see the
problem first with a model of base ten blocks. I think this would really help
her understand the concept of subtraction before being able to move on to
standard algorithm. I thought it was very interesting that Jamie was able to
subtract certain problems but that she had a lot of trouble with other ones
during the interview. I think that at this point in her education, subtraction
should be a fundamental skill that she should master so I think going in
depth with it is important.
Since I know Jamie loves to hangout with her sister, I would definitely
have them work together for some of these problems. They are both in fifth
grade so they are learning the same content for the most part. I think that
when I give Jamie the double-digit subtraction problems that she could work
with her sister to find a couple of different ways to solve each subtraction
problem. I think that working with another student helps kids see other
perspectives on math better. It would also make this assignment more fun

and enjoyable for Jamie. This could turn into a cool math project or
investigation where they could try to come up with many different ways to
solve the problems by collaborating. From what I saw with the
multiplication/division interview, she could also use these skills to solve
division problems since they also include subtraction within them and it
would be another way for her to practice.
I know Jamie has many strengths when it comes to math that I could
also build off of. For example during the interviews she did very well with
adding, multiplying, and dividing. I could use her adding skills to help her
with her subtraction. Van de Walle says that counting up is a good strategy
for subtraction, for example if youre trying to figure out 32-19, you can ask
how much do I add to 19 to get to 32? This will allow her to build on a
strength she already has (addition) and build up her confidence when it
comes to subtraction. The author also states that helping children see that
they are using the same models or pictures connects the two operations
through their inverse relationship (p. 156).
I would also really want to ask Jamies parents about her strengths and
weaknesses in math in her previous classes, if they noticed that she
struggled with subtraction at all or if only sometimes. This would really help
me determine exactly where to go with Jamie to improve her subtraction
skills since I would know if it was only a math error or if she actually always
subtracts this way. Another thing I think would really benefit Jamie is to work
with her peers in group assignments. This would really help her communicate

with her peers more and allow her to see different strategies. I think Jamie is
a very bright girl and I her math skills are only going to keep improving. It
was really good to get to know her through these interviews because now
she asks me more questions when she is stuck on a problem which was one
of my goals!

Works Cited:
Van de Walle, John A., Karen S. Karp, and Jennifer M. BayWilliams. Elementary and Middle

School Mathematics Teaching

Developmentally. 8th edition. Pearson Education Inc.,

2013.

Jamies Solutions to Interview Questions

A.

B.

D.

E.

C.

Double-Digit Subtraction