Reflection

This summer I nannied three children. Their parents gave us summer math workbooks to do. I say us because I was working just as hard to get them to actually sit down and do it. I was nannying Cecilia, my second grader, and she was working on multiplication. She continually kept saying "I don't get it" and "I need help" (imagine in a whiney tone of a kid being forced to do math instead of going swimming). At the time I thought she is just being lazy and not wanting to do that. I made her a chart of little squares that went like this (each number is a cut out square):

1  2  3  4   5   6   7   8   9   10

2  4  6  8  10 12 14 16 18  20

3  6  9 .   .   .

.

.

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Which in my mind I though was genius. She would look at the number going across and the the number going down and when she saw 3x3 she would could the nine squares. Let me just say that turned into a disaster! I was giving this little girl a tool that she didn't want or really know how to use which only frustrated her more.

After taking this class, I think back on what I was doing, the chance I had to help her learn and what I did wrong. Luckily she still loves me as a nanny. I think about my kindergartners and how badly I want to teach them tools they can use to solve these big idea math problems I am giving them and that is what I should have been doing for Cecilia... Giving her many, many tools that would help her learn and master multiplication. This class has taught me that in that situation I really should have looked at Cecilia's thinking and then introduced her to tools that she would keep and use going into second and beyond grades. After this class I am ready to go back to summer workbooks prepared with a mindset of helping her as a math teacher.