Numbers

Thursday, August 9, 2012

for December 12th

Read Chapters 5 & 6 (pgs. 71-126).

In the comment section below, share at least one "aha" moment (evidence) and "why." Read comments by other group members and respond to posts by at least two other teachers.

27 comments:

  1. I enjoyed reading these chapters because it reaffirmed what our SIT process is all about and that we are approaching student learning problems the correct way. The student interview would be very helpful as well.

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    1. I felt the same way Linda. I thought that Chapter 5 really addressed what we do in the SIT process. I think maybe this reading could help us possibly structure our meetings to be more effective ~ focus in more on what the difficulty is for a student.

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    2. I also thought of our SIT process when I read chapter 5.

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    3. I also thought of our SIT process when I read this and I am so glad we have this in place.

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    4. It was reaffirming that we have the concept of collaborative study in place. It is very helpful to get the input of colleagues. Having an intervention program like Math Recovery or an assessment like the Primary Number and Operations Assessment would also be helpful.

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  3. I liked the connection that they made between the Collaborative Meetings (like our SIT process) and the student interviews. It would probably help us a lot to conduct those interviews to truly understand the struggles of our students rather than "guessing" at where the gaps might be.

    The actual interview process would unlock some of the mysteries of why our students aren't learning the content that we are teaching. I looked at the Marilyn Burns website and thought that it would be a good place to start. While reading about the interview process, I thought is seemed a little daunting ~ how would I come up with the right questions to ask a student? I'm not sure I would know where to start. The Burns site would make me feel a little more comfortable as we get started with this.
    The length of the interview seemed difficult to handle too. It would definitely be easier for someone other than the classroom teacher to find the time to administer.

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    1. When I was reading about the student interview, I was thinking to myself would I be able to think of good questions to ask to uncover the misconception. I also could see myself trying to teach the student while I was interviewing the student.

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    2. The length of the interview was interesting...a lot of time indeed. Like Chelsea, I would have hard time not teaching or addressing conceptions during the interview, but can certainly see how valuable it would be to take the time to interview so completely!

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    3. I agree. I am interested in trying the Math Reasoning Inventory as a tool to try out...

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    4. I really think that the classroom teacher would be the best person to do the interviews. I could see it being done much in the same way that we conduct our dibels assessments.

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    5. I agree time is the issue with conducting the interviews, but would be most beneficial for either classroom teacher or math tutor (if such position exists) to do. I think the bigger question is, after the interview is completed and gaps are identified...then what? Ideally math tutoring, but what if that is not available?

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  4. When I read chapter 5, I immediately thought about the SIT process. I am glad that our district already has a collaborative study in place. I also thought that the student interviews would be really helpful. Sometimes when I am teaching, I am asking myself how did that student come up with that answer.

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    1. I find myself questioning how students come up with an answer often. I think this is one plus of having students work on math in the classroom and monitoring by walking around. Sometimes, I can stop a student and ask right away how they came up with an answer and this is always helpful!

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    2. The book gives great questioning ideas, and I use them when students are working. Like Elizabeth said, if I ask students to tell me their thinking as I watch them working, it gives such good insight into their thought process and help identify their strategies and also misconceptions immediately. a Mini-interview is valuable as well on the spot.

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  5. I also thought about the SIT process as I read chapter five over collaborative study. My Aha! moment was seeing the SIT process basically mapped out in print and as a first year teacher this is very helpful! Keeping precise data has helped me to be a more effective teacher, especially for my students that we have met for in SIT meetings. I have benefited very much from the SIT team's ideas and input. Student interviews would definitely shed more light on student thinking and help with figuring out why students are struggling with math. My favorite line about collaborative study in chapter five is "It allows teachers to work together to better understand student thinking-many minds are often better than just one!"

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    1. I so agree with what you said. Having the data, then to get others input and ideas help lay the ground work for those students who are needing that extra help.

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  6. Wow! I really liked the idea of the student interviews. Has anyone ever conducted a student interview? I would love to know about them. I would like to observe as one is being conducted. I think this would help me find out where some of my students are at or coming from in their thinking of math.

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    1. I did student interviews last year as part of a project with Dr. Allen at KSU and I found it to be very interesting. I remember telling myself that I needed to do this with my students again, but I have yet to do it this year and I was glad to read about it in this section, because it reminded me of it!!

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    2. Marilyn Burns's website shows videos of actual interviews and looks as if it will lead you through the whole process.

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  7. Strategies have been a "go to" for teaching students who struggle, and I found it interesting that through the use of a student interview, I may find that the student lacks a model on which to base strategies.

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  8. I conducted the MRI last year in my class with 3 students for a project for Dr. Allen and I thought it game some very interesting information. After reading this section of the book it has made me think about the format of the MRI and how it did not take the 45 minutes to an hour that is talked about in Chapter 6. I do not recall exactly how many question it was, but it took about 10-15 minutes to conduct and there were questions already layed out for you.

    I for one would be very interested in seeing what the MRI would look like used in your class room as a pre assessment at the beginning of the year and then again at the end of the year to see what (if any) change there has been to a students thought patterns in regards to doing various math problems.

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  10. I like the idea of having another teacher interview the student.
    Sometimes they will see what I miss.

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  11. Conducting interviews with our at risk kids would be very enlightening, and I like the idea of having a different teacher do the interview. Grade level focus meetings would be a great time to analyze the interviews and plan interventions. This would then bring even more data to our SIT process. I love the idea of using Marilyn Burns' MRI as a time effective way to conduct the interview. Has anyone done this yet?

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    1. I asked my question before reading other responses. It looks like it would be worth the time to assess specific students.

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  12. I thought that Chapter 5 gave me a clearer picture of my role in our own SIT meetings, and what things I would like done differently (in a perfect world where time was plentiful). I feel as though when I have gone in to meetings where math is a concern, I have expressed those in generalities ("she has a problem with place value"). I look at all of my quantitative data, but I don't analyze assessments and really focus in on the student enough to know what exactly about place value is the struggle. I need to work on this. That is why I thought that in Chapter 6, doing the student interview after a collaborative study, sounded strange to me: I would rather do the interview beforehand in order to bring that data with me to the first collaborative study we would do on a student, so that I know right away exactly what skills and/or concepts are needing to be addressed.

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