After reading chapter 2 in DMI, I must say how interesting it was to read the different scenarios to get a better insight on how children think. I do have to be honest though and admit that it is difficult for me to try and understand why they solve a problem a certain way. I have worked with some student in my placement on math and when I see them solve a problem that seems more confusing than beneficial I have to stop myself from offering a different solution. I have to keep in mind that it isn't about what I want them to be able to do, but rather what they understand. One thing that I noticed in this chapter was that most of the students got the answer right, but all of their strategies were different. One thing that I found particularly interesting was how Kim (page 28-29) solved (18 + 34 =). When I was in elementary school I was taught to go from right to left. I would have solved this problem by adding 8 and 4 and getting 12 I would have carried the one and added 1, 1, and 3 to get 52. Kim instead, added the 1 ten and 3 tens to get 40 and then 8 and 4 to get 12, so 52. I just thought this was the most interesting way to solve this problem because I am so used to adding from right to left and carrying. The biggest thing that I got out of this chapter was that I do not believe there is a right way to do math. I know that the one thing I have to get adjusted to is not trying to switch a child's thinking. I need to sit back and observe their strategy and question why they did something the way they did.
Kate,
ReplyDeleteI believe that many times is hard for teachers to understand student thinking (especially new teachers). This (I hope) is a task which we will become better at through experience. With that said, I completely agree with you on the idea that it is hard to keep from bringing in your ideas into the students thinking. Being objective and not making any direct comments I believe is one of the hardest things to do. Today I did my interviews with my three focus students. I was amazed at the different ways in which the children solved the problem. One child in particular was drawing each airplane to represent 20. This was taking her a long time and she even stated this was a hard problem. We talked about using a different way to solve the problem. I was expecting her to start over and use the unifix cubes but instead she added onto her paper by using the unifix cubes to represent the last 5 airplanes which she had not drawn. I learned a lot about this child through not bringing my opinion into the situation, even though it was hard no to suggest that she use unifix cubes instead of representing the planes through pictures.
I am interested in how your interviews went. Did you have a hard time being objective in the situation?