Student Work 3/26

This was a worksheet the students were given today for their warm up. This math work sheet is very repetitive, and requires the students to do long division for many problems, and then at the bottom complete 8 multiplication problems. This reminded me of what we discussed in class last week about worksheets with a hundred of the same problems on it. Like we discussed in class, I believe this worksheet could be narrowed down to only a few different type of long division problems. I feel that we would have been provided with enough information on the students understanding of long division if they only complete the first 8 problems of this worksheet. Another problem I have with this worksheet is the amount of space that is given to the students to complete the first 8 problems. I noticed the students were becoming very frustrated with this, as they kept having to erase their work and try to rewrite it.

I am curious as to what my mentor teacher uses this worksheet for. I wonder if she looks over the types of mistakes the students are making and tries to create a lesson that helps them fix where they are struggling. I could simply ask her what she does with the worksheets once they have completed them. Does she grade them and hand them back? Does she look over and compare the struggles of the students? Does she just give them points for completion?

I am also curious to know how the students do on the mixed review portion. Do all of these worksheets have this type of review? Does my MT occasionally review these types of problems? If so, I do not think that this section is necessary, as I feel like it is just busy work. The students would benefit more from a challenging problem, one that makes them think and be creative, as that will take up time, rather than something that just makes them go through the process over and over again. This is how we lose students engagement.

I also wonder how she has instructed the students about long devision. When I worked with students today, they did not understand what it meant to divide something. I tried to explain that it is how many times one thing can go and fit into another. I had to repeat this over and over again. I then felt that giving these students these problems without teaching them what it meant to divide, was unfair to the students. I want to know what steps she takes in teaching them how to divide. I could figure this out once again by having a conversation with my MT or by coming in later in the day to observe a math lesson.