Lesson 3: Implementation and Next Steps
Return to: Unit 3: Creating a Lesson Plan to Teach The Mathematician's Plan
Return to: Mini-course: The Mathematician's Plan: Promoting Thinking In Math
Learning Objectives
- Participants will analyze student work after implementing the lesson plan to determine its success in teaching the chosen step of the Mathematician’s Plan.
- Participants will use student work to make plans for the continuation of the Mathematician’s Plan in the classroom.
Do Now
Reflect on your lesson. How did it go? Click HERE and enter the code EF4SZH
Mini-Lecture
Congratulations! You implemented your first Mathematician's Plan Lesson! You should be very proud of yourself and your students. As you continue to implement these lessons you will begin to feel more confident in the flow of the lesson. The students will enjoy making goals and reaching them. Don't forget to celebrate! Below is a reminder of the Mathematician's Plan. You will use this as well as the recap from Unit 2 Lesson 2 where we analyzed student work for your next assignment. Professional development "should not focus on increasing mathematical content knowledge but include also an understanding of how students think about and learn mathematics" (Krawec, 2014). This portion of this mini-course is for you to look closely at student work in order to better understand student thinking. Take some time to review the materials below.
The Mathematician's Plan
Analyzing Student Work
Here is a piece of student work
Starting with step 1, there is evidence that the student read and understood the question. It is marked up and there is some evidence of a plan. The student knew they would have to perform two operations to eventually get the money earned walking dogs. However, the student clearly did not understand the actions in the story, as they performed the wrong operations.
Step 2 requires students to use their plan to solve. The student did have a plan, although the wrong one. The student did keep their work organized and labeled some numbers. This student could work on labeling all numbers in their work and dividing their workspace into each individual step from their plan.
Students should check their work by re-reading the question as stated in Step 3. The student did not check their work. Their answer does not appear as an answer choice. This should signal the student that something is incorrect in either their plan or their computations. The student did not re-read the question or re-solve. This student needs reinforcement in this step.
As a teacher of this student, I would focus my next lesson or intervention on Step 1 and Step 3. Both steps would have helped the student to catch their mistakes.
Task 1
Your first task will be to upload 2 samples of student data that best represent some common misconceptions with your class as a whole. You will either analyze your own work, or someone else's.
Click HERE to upload your student samples.
Task 2
Plan your next steps. Click HERE and enter the code QYWGDP to reflect on your lesson and next steps.
References and Resources
Krawec, J., & Montague, M. (2014). The Role of Teacher Training in Cognitive Strategy Instruction to Improve Math Problem Solving. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 29(3), 126–134.