Children's Mathematics Book Study: Part 2

We are on to week 2 of our book study on Children's Mathematics.  I am so enjoying this book and this week's chapters really made me think about how I teach kids and what kind of problems I expose them to.  It also helped me see how far I have come in my teaching practice and how much of what I have done has been based on Cognitively Guided Instruciton.  

If you are just joining us, it is not to late to join our book study.  Grab a copy of the book and maybe a friend or two and jump in when you are ready.  Also, if this December is just to hectic for you, I will be starting another book study the second week in January.  Read more details about both book studies here.  

Here is the posting schedule for Children's Mathematics:
December 7: Chapters 1- 3
December 14: Chapters 4 & 5
December 21: Chapters 6 & 7
December 28: Chapters 8 - 10
January 4: Chapters 11 - 13

I will post each Sunday morning and share it on my Facebook page.  Please join in by leaving a comment on my blog post or Facebook page.  If you have your own blog and want to write a post about the book that works too!  Add your link in the comments section here.  Thank you to all who shared last week!

Chapter 4:  Multiplication and Division: Problem Types and Children's Solution Strategies 

3 Possible Unknowns

I loved the way the chapter started with the big ideas around multiplication and the 2 different types of division problems.  When I first learned about partitive versus measurement (sometimes called ) division, it completely changed my teaching practice.  Upon examining the problems in my math program and supplemental materials I was using with students, I came to the conclusion that most of the division problems were partitive or sharing problems.  When I first started asking different problem types, it was hard for my students who had not been exposed to these types of problems.  Now I make sure kids have experience with the 9 different problem types for multiplication and division whether we are working at the fact level, with double multiple digits or even with fraction and decimals.  

Primary Students Need to Solve Multiplication and Division Story Problems

Reading page 71 was a big wake up call for me.  I have been so focused on making sure my primary students are moving along with their additive reasoning and being exposed to the 12 problem types for addition and subtraction that solving multiplication and division types story problems with primary students as kind of fallen by the wayside.  Reading about how these problems support place value development and how "base-ten problems are essentially multiplication or division problems involving groups of 10" reminded me how important it is for primary students to solve more than addition and subtraction problems.  A resource I used a great deal when getting started with problem solving with little kids was the Kindergarten Kindergarten blog and it is definitely a resource I need to revisit.   

Further Reflection

I did take a peak at the questions for further reflection in the back of this chapter and LOVED number 2.  "Choose a book that you are reading with your students or a topic that you are studying.  Write one problem for each of the problem types that relate to the story or topic."  I think this will be a great way to ensure my students get experience with these types of problems.  I will be choosing a few books and doing this and will be sharing these with you as part of my Monday Math Literature posts.  Check back on Monday to see the results!

Chapter 5: Beginning to Use Cognitively Guided Instruction 

When I first started using Cognitively Guided Instruction it was hard.  I felt like I wasn't teaching.  If I didn't tell kids how to do it, how would they learn?  It definitely took some time and a few disastrous lessons before I realized that by allowing my students to construct their own learning was giving them a deeper, more meaningful understanding of math.  This chapter had some great ideas for getting started.  Here is what I think the 5 most important things are to remember if you are just starting out.

1) It is your job to stop "teaching" and start listening.  You REALLY need to listen to how your students are solving problems and not just assume you know what is going on.  

2) Make sure you are using problems of different types.

3) Be strategic in who you choose to share their thinking with the entire class.  Make sure you get a variety of ideas.  This is not the time to use call sticks or other random generators.  

4) Talk to your students about efficiency.  When multiple kids share strategies talk about how efficent each one was.

5) The hardest part can be starting!

I am looking forward to hearing your thoughts on this week's reading!