Erica, I too did not understand how the student arrived to
his answer. I don’t think I have ever come across a student who has tried
performing a math operation similar to what Dylan did. I always have students
making the common error of subtracting from bottom to top and they get the
incorrect answer. I view Dylan as a creative thinker. Like the article said, students
often know what is going on in their head but need support getting it down on
paper. Once I prompt students to explain their thinking then they are able to
practice explaining their thinking but that takes time, like Erica mentioned.
My question is, how can I help my students become thinkers? I
give students a basic math problem and they can solve it. I throw in a multi-step
word problem and their initial response is, “I don’t get it.” I currently have
a newcomer in my class. I give her a multi-step word problem and she tries her
best to solve it, oftentimes arriving to the correct answer. I had nothing to
do with that. It was her teachers in Mexico who helped her. What do teachers do
differently in Mexico, or any other country, to help their students become thinkers?
Maybe they have more time. Maybe teachers are not stressed about state tests
that are such beasts for this little kids. What is it?
Karla,
ReplyDeleteI agree that Dylan's way of thinking was different than what I have ever seen, and had I looked solely at his work, I would have come to the conclusion that he was subtracting from the bottom to the top. His work ties nicely to our readings regarding looking at student work without bias and allowing students to explain what they are doing.
I also agree that the testing environment we work in does nothing to encourage critical thinking. One strategy that you may use in your class that I use with my kids is deconstructing word problems. As a whole class you read the problem and after understanding the context they think/pair/share about what the question is asking them to do and what strategy they can use. I have noticed that it has given my students more confidence when they encounter word problems, it also makes my quick calculators stop and think about why they are solving problems they way they are.
Yes, Dylan is quite the creative thinker! Dylan had most of his thought process in his head. However, common core wants it on the paper and in the academic language.
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