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Jennerra Maemori

November 3, 2014
ITE324-412
Child study
Why you chose this student.
The student I chose for this child study is within the average mathematical skill range of the class
and he is willing to make mistakes in order to learn from them. I will call this child Jordan. In
fourth grade, the math classes are split up according to skill level. The class that my mentor
teaches is the well-below math class. I have been told that majority of the class doesnt have
good number sense; this means that they dont understand the value of numbers other than for
money purposes. Jordan is a student that is in both, homeroom and math class with my mentor,
so it is much easier to get to know his strengths and weaknesses. I made sure that Jordan is a
student that attends class regularly and doesnt have any behavioral issues that distract him from
learning. Other than how shy he is, I notice that he is a good student who puts in the effort to
understand the lesson content.
Observation notes.
Within the first week or so when the class was doing speed drills for multiplication, I observed
that Jordan was having a hard time doing the mental math. Given 5 minutes to do 20 questions
he completed about 15 of them. Out of all his other classmates, there were some that did better
and some that barely filled out half. Jordan was a little slow to figure out each solution one by
one, but when I corrected the speed drills I noticed that he did quality work. With minimal
wrong, out of the ones that he actually completed it shows that he wasnt just rushing through it
to fill out all the blanks, he carefully thought about how to find the answer to each problem.
When Jordan was taking the math assessment for the ending of the first quarter, I noticed that he
was struggling to understand the concept of place value expanded form. Even though my mentor
reviewed the content right before the test, I dont think he understood how or why he had to
identify and add the different place values of a number. Jordan knew where the tens hundreds,
thousands column etc. was but he didnt understand the purpose of expanded form.
Just yesterday, the class was introduced to a new topic dealing with friendly numbers and
number bonds. When they were doing white boards in class, I noticed that Jordan picked up on
this concept real fast. He understood each part of how to break down double-digit addition to
make it easier to add. He was also capable of showing me two ways to do it. He excelled greatly
in this area of focus.
Discuss the childs relational understanding. (3 supporting details)
In class, lessons are scaffold according to the level of understanding amongst the students. My
mentor does a great job of providing the knowledge of multiple ways to solve a problem. Most of
the time the students in the class will not understand the conceptual part of the lesson, therefore it
must be broken down or modeled using alternative strategies or physical manipulative.
Place value blocks allowed Jordan to physically see the representation of a one (unit) or a
ten (rod). It is safe to assume that these place value blocks were actually able to give
numbers a sense of value.

When the class was practicing word problems, to find the missing factor, my mentor had
them create a unit bar to represent a whole. A part of the unit bar was missing or empty.
This represented the missing factor that they needed to find. Jordan was a little confused
relating a unit bar to the conceptual relationship between addition and subtraction.
Oral language is something that is key to understanding mathematics. Sometimes
students create a mental block when they dont understand the purpose or meaning of
using mathematical language. My mentor replaces these brain-blocker words with words
or ideas that seem more child-friendly and easier to identify/remember. Jordan
understands that a friendly number, is a number than is created to make addition easier
to figure out. For example it would be numbers like 20, 400, 1,500, or 150 (any number
with a zero at the end).

Discuss the childs mathematical proficiencies. (3 supporting details)


Most of the students in the lower level math class, do not have a conceptual understanding for
mathematics, therefore this is why my teach must use an invented approach.
Jordan is capable of using the invented approach to solving double-digit addition. It
allows him to see the problem in perspective in order to make the numbers easier to add
together.
In math, there is always more than one way to solve a problem. Jordan is excellent at
showing different ways to solve for a problem while still getting the same answer in the
end. He is also good at self-correcting his mistakes.
There have been times where Jordan gets stuck on a problem because he doesnt know
where to begin. If you just give him hint words to get his thought process started, he will
be able to do the rest. Since the students dont take notes, they must remember each step
mentally. Talking it through with Jordan helps him get back on track when he is stuck.
When is the interview scheduled.
Recess is usually a good time to schedule it because its about 10-15 minutes long and it doesnt
take away from any instruction time. The interview will occur next week Wednesday during
recess.
What content area did you select. (Pg. 223)
I chose the invented approach to two-digit addition.
What task have YOU selected for this child.
At the moment, the students are learning two-digit number addition. On page 223 there are
example problems being done, but because these concepts are so basic there is no real activity to
go along with it. I just decided to create a few practice problems for Jordan to try out such as,
24+38 and 36+63. I plan to have him show his work on paper as well as share his thinking with
me orally. Jordan and his class just started learning these concepts therefore I dont expect him to
have it perfected.
Initially I was planning on starting with the exercise 24+38. If this one were too hard I would
give him a simpler one such as 37+53 (because these numbers can make tens easily and nicely).
If the first one were too easy for Jordan then I would have him try 36+63 (because it requires
some mental math when borrowing from the other number).

Write the script.


Hello Jordan! Thank you for taking the time to allow me to interview you for one of my
assignments for school. Im just going to have you do a few exercises for me. So as we have
done in class, can you show me how you would solve 24+38? Then I would observe and watch
to see what math strategy he chooses to use. What I will be looking for is the invented approach
that they learned the other day. This will show me that he understood the lesson if he is capable
of demonstrating his understanding. I will then say, so can you explain to me how you found the
answer. Going more specific I would ask him can you tell me how you got that 40 or that 30?
And what do we call these types of numbers? I am specifically looking for the terms friendly
numbers and number bonds because that is the vocabulary that was used during the lesson.
Based off of how fast and efficient he solves the first problem I will decide whether to give a
second problem that is either harder or easier.

Jennerra Maemori
November 19, 2014
ITE324-412
Child study part 2
Picture of student artifacts.

Write a summary on how the student performed.


Reflecting back on how Jordan did during this interview I feel that he did
quite an excellent job. Im very glad that I decided to voice record the
interview because as I have noticed he is one of those students that dont
like to show his work. On previous quizzes and tests my mentor and I
observed the fact that he would tend to erase all the work that he has
shown. My mentor thinks that it might be because he is afraid that he got the
answer wrong. We try our best to encourage him to show his work so that we
can see his process of error. During the interview he only spoke when he
needed to. I made sure to ask guiding questions like Can you explain to me
how you got this answer? Or How did you get from this step to that one?
What I was listening for was key mathematic vocabulary that they were using
in class for the past couple of days, and also to make sure that he was using
them in the right context.
What would you do with him in the short term (next), and what
would you do with him in the long term (later). Describe two
activities and cite where you got them.
Activity 11.18 on page 206. Counting on. 50 and some more.
A couple of weeks ago, Jordan made friendly numbers which is numbers
that are rounded to tens or hundreds in order to make addition or subtraction
easier to solve in their head. The next short term exercise that I would give
would be an activity like 11.18. This activity would be asking Jordan to see
bigger numbers having factors of 50 and ____ instead of just in tens. This
strategy would be teaching him to skip the step of counting by 10s and to
just jump straight to 50. These are the baby steps that are considered minor
shortcuts to make mental math, that much easier.
Activity 12.1 on page 230. Estimating. Over or under?
Previously Jordan has performed exercises rounding numbers to its nearest
tens, hundreds and or thousands. In order to take it to the next level I would
have him perform this activity that I chose from the Van De Walle book. Its a
combination of estimation and money knowledge. I think that this would be a
great activity because it allows him to practice math skills in real life
situations. If I were to get him to understand estimation in terms of money, it
would result in making connections to everyday life. This is the bigger picture
that we strive for.
What was the problem or reason for me being stuck?
During the interview, I noticed that Jordan was rushing through it because he
wanted to just get it done. This forced me to asked a lot of thought process
questions due to lack of work shown on the paper. Another thing that I
struggled with was getting Jordan to speak up. I had to listen in real good to
what he was trying to say because he is such a soft-spoken child. Most kids
are very wordy with their explanations. Im glad that Jordans oral
explanations were competent because he knew how to explain it and exactly
how to say it.

So what did I base my actions on?


I made sure to base my actions according to his performance. As I observed
him perform the task on paper, I took note of how fast and efficient he was
solving each exercise. If he paused for quite a moment, thats when I would
step in to ask, so which number are you going to adjust (to make it a
friendly number)? Or what are the possible numbers you can get (if you need
to round)? I would ask these guiding questions in order to help redirect
Jordans train of thought.
Now what do I need to do to prevent recurrence?
Maybe next time I can make it clear to show all work and for clarification I
can ask, can you show me rather then can you tell me By doing this
it will physically prove to me that he can fully perform the task as well as
present his thinking to me out loud. Im glad that I had him show me how to
solve a problem in two ways for the last problem because it shows me that
he understands that both strategies can still lead him to get the same
answer. Maybe next time I will provide him with a relating word problem so
that he can see how math can apply in real life situations too.

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