Student Work #2

Every day that I am in my placement during math time, the students complete the task called "BIG 4." The students divide their paper into 4 sections and have to complete questions that cover different topics they are learning about from their math textbook. The teacher displays a version with all the questions but without the answers. After enough time, the students are called up by their popsicle stick to come up and answer any question and explain how they got their answer. 

The purpose of this  math task is to continue practicing various topics and problems the students have already learned or are learning currently. The four areas the students are covering today are the following:

1. division with remainder 

2. addition and subtraction with 4 digit numbers

3. rounding to the nearest hundred including numbers in 1,000s and 10,000s

4. word problems including time 

The students have to complete all of the problems individually and come together and go over answers as students come up to the teacher's copy and answer and explain each problem. Every time they do this task, the problems are different and change as the topics and concepts change when learning them in class. 

A effective approach to this task is to make sure the student writes down the instructions for each square so when they look back on their notes they know exactly what the teacher was expecting of them. For example, in the bottom right square, *Erica* did not write down the word problem question but instead just the numbers needed to answer the question the fastest. Another way that the teacher approaches this task is very helpful. Like I said, she calls on students randomly and allows the students to pick what question he/she wants to answer. This allows the students to become comfortable in front of their peers and increases confidence to answer math problems in class. I also like how when the student gets the question wrong, the teacher has the student stay up in front of the class and talks through how they completed the problem and how they can correct it. A approach a student can take is the one that Erica took which is to not completely fill out the four squares with all the information like I said earlier. Even though she got all the answers correctly it could lead to silly mistakes. Another approach this student took in this task is to not show any of her work on how she got her answer. She got all the answers correct but did not show how she got to that answer. I am not sure if the teacher wants the students to work up to only showing their answer or if it is okay to show work. Erica demonstrates that she is at that stage where she can do all her work in her head and only has to write the answer neatly without work. 

Erica demonstrates that she is able to answer all her math problems correctly and a stage, like I stated before, without showing any work. The correct division problems shows that these problems are becoming memorized facts in her head and she is able to compute these by memory and doesn't have to count on her fingers. As well, the word problem asking how long a time period was between 3:45PM-5:10PM, was answered correctly and demonstrated Erica can add time in her head. she demonstrated she can add the minutes of time correctly and also the hours correctly. A student could have added the hours together to get 7:55 but Erica shows that she understands that an hour represents one thing and the minute represents another. Erica and other students that are demonstrating higher knowledge than others should have a more advanced "BIG 4" worksheet to complete so they do not get bored. Erica finishes early and allows for other students to ask her for her answers and how to do problems instead of doing them individually.