Week 7 Reflection

For Math class this week we were responsible for reading Chapter 22 in the Making Math Meaningful textbook. This chapter is based on patterning and algebraic thinking. After reading the textbook and hearing Patricia’s lesson on Patterning and Algebraic thinking I was surprised at how much algebraic thinking goes into patterning. As humans we are great at recognizing patterns and I never really thought about the mental process that happens when we are looking for patterns. However, at the beginning of class Patricia asked us to demonstrate a pattern with some block manipulatives. Recreating the patterns with physical manipulatives was fairly easy, but then Patricia asked us to create a mathematical expression to represent the pattern. Creating the expression itself was not difficult, but I found it interesting how our minds come up with these expressions without us even noticing it. For example, one of the expressions was 2s+1 (where s equals the step number). I personally do not think of the pattern in this expression, but our minds are registering this. I just thought that it was interesting and demonstrated the fact that we all look at math differently and there is no right or wrong way to reach the answer; where one person sees the pattern physically, the other sees the expression.

this is miki. (2009). Algebra. [Online Image] http://bit.ly/1Wpy5cu

            The Learning Activity Presentations for the day also dealt with the creation of expression and patterns and algebraic thinking. In my opinion I thought that Adriana’s activity was the most successful at encouraging algebraic thinking and equation creation. Being able to use the q-tips to physically see the pattern made the creation of the expression very easy. I also enjoyed the Number Tricks presentation by Peter. The only thing I think Peter should have added to his presentation is an explanation of how his expressions worked to end up with the right result every time. Although, a magician never gives away his trick, and I could see an activity like Number Tricks really being a hit in the classroom and something that would excite the kids and get them to wonder about how the trick works.

            This week we also talked again about how to create a good Math question, and the requirements that it must hit. Patricia gave us some foolproof strategies for the creations of open math questions. The tips were simple things such as starting with the answer and removing some numbers from the process to see if students can figure out what the missing numbers in the equation are, or asking for similarities or differences in equations etc., simple strategies to encourage students to think deeper about math. She also provided us with a very useful link that goes into detail about effective question creation that I will most definitely be using when creating math questions. In addition, Pat made some interesting points about posing questions to students. She told us to never frame a question by stating that it is easy or that it is hard because that can cause a reaction and response in the kids before they even get to see the question. For some, hearing that the question is hard will make them shut down and not even want to complete it, while for others, they might try and find some intricate answer instead of the easier answer because they feel as though it was supposed to be a super hard question. She also told us that when a child asks us a question we should never say anything that you can stimulate the student to say; you don’t want to give anything away, make the students think for themselves. These little tricks about how to run a classroom and manage students are a great resource and are great tidbits of information from an experienced teacher.