NLCINC Math Literacy Update
the short version of the long version...
Update to Last Update...Please Review the prior information about "Math Talks".
1. Math Talks: NLCINC would like for grades K-5 to experiment with Math Talks this year and I would love to share our work via video and/or pictures. How should we do this? Possible K-2 and 3-5 math meet ups?
TASK: If you haven't already, please experiment and incorporate math talks into your math routine.
2. Differentiating: "Low Floor, High Ceiling" and Problem Solving
School Wide: Problem of the Month (POM)
"Party Time" is the name of the first activity to try school-wide.
TASK: Please use this as a warm up activity within the next month or so. I will get your feedback to share during the February meeting. Please send pictures of video (or perhaps we can get someone to video if you let me know when you are playing with this idea?) !!! If you have any problem solving resources that can be used across grade levels, please share. The kids will love it!!!
http://www.insidemathematics.org/problems-of-the-month
Great Article on using "Low Threshold High Ceiling" Tasks in Ordinary Classrooms http://nrich.maths.org/7701
(this site also has wonderful games and other problem solving tasks)
3. The performance tasks in our curriculum are fantastic. Great as a whole-class activity and can also be used as a final assessment for a chapter.
Number Talks/Math Talks
Professor Jo Boaler's video below is an introduction to this classroom strategy.
Piaget identified three kinds of knowledge...
Social Knowledge: Must be told/taught, or transmitted, but will be learned more effectively if it is meaningful and seen as useful to the learner. Thus we seek to create authentic contexts for active learning. (This kind of derived knowledge is simple to test and measure, yet easy to forget. It is even possible to "know" this kind of knowledge without understanding it! It is the focus of the psychometric approach to education.)
Physical Knowledge: Children need ample time to explore the physical world. No one can do this for them. Physical knowledge forms the basis for logical-mathematical thinking. Psychometric approach usually doesn't have time for this. It is seen as frivolous "play" and only allowed in preschool or Kindergarten classrooms.
Logical-Mathematical Knowledge: This is developed or constructed within the mind of the learner. Physical knowledge, work with objects, forms the basis for logical-mathematical knowledge. (This fundamental, yet more difficult to test and measure, thus tends to be neglected by a psychometric approach to education.)
How to Manage Number Talks
1. Keep it short (5-15 min)
2. Do it every day
3. Give students lots of practice with the same kinds of problems
4. Teach with intention. Start with your current topic and/or build toward your next.
5. Chart student thinking without judgement. Accept all answers without praise or criticism.
6. Encourage students to listen and ask questions of each other
7. Encourage students to self correct
Essential Teaching Strategies to build Number Sense:
1. Model different methods for computing
2. Ask students to calculate mentally
3. Have class discussions about strategies for computing
4. Make estimation an integral part of computing
5. Pose numerical problems that have more than one answer
6. Question students about their thinking