So if your students’ performance on state tests doesn’t match what they seem able to do in class, look out for these 3 common teaching mistakes. And when they just follow along without real understanding, they can only do the work when we’re standing next to them. Once we cross a certain line, instead of learning to problem-solve, our students are just learning to mimic us. So once we set a learning objective, we do everything we can to ensure all of our students meet it.īut we can only provide so much help before we are no longer teaching what we meant to teach. And most are relatively common in math classrooms. The mistakes in this lesson may seem extreme, but I know I’ve made most of them myself. Lesson Plans and Classroom Activities Math Word Problem Graphic Organizer | Digital and Print $2.00 Add to cartģ Common Mistakes When Teaching Word Problems “See, they know the math.” Classroom Resources for Teaching Word Problems Once everyone had the correct answer, Ms.
In most pairs, one student calculated, while the other copied.
“Remember to circle the numbers and box the key words.” She circulated, showing students where to put the decimal or how to line up the subtraction for the the long division. Hartwell pointed to the CUBES poster on the wall.
The students then worked in pairs on a similar problem about 20 students running a 5-mile relay race. The class read the answer, “0.4,” off of her whiteboard. Now, we need to put a decimal in our quotient as well. “Now 100 doesn’t fit into 40, so we need to add a decimal.” She changed 40 to 40.0. The students copied as she put 40 under the house and 100 outside. Hartwell drew a vinculum (long-division house) on her whiteboard. So how do we divide a small number by a big number?” She pointed to an anchor chart of ‘key words.’ ‘Each’ was at the top of the division list. How much does each get? What’s our operation?” “OK class, she has 40 pounds for 100 horses. If she has 100 horses, how many pounds does each horse get?” As instructed, they opened to page 47: Division Word Problems with Decimal Quotients. Her students sat at round tables with their textbooks and hand-held whiteboards. Hopefully, a first-hand look would uncover the issue. Hartwell teach a lesson involving word problems. I knew there had to be another explanation. (Not that the tests are perfect, but judge for yourself based on the samples above). Standardized tests are specifically designed to prevent such issues. I know of no studies that say students who know the math fail state tests because they can’t read the questions. They’re not solely reliant on explanations given orally by their teachers. In addition, strong readers can develop their math skills by reading their textbook. For one, students from wealthy families tend to be stronger in both math and reading, because of their additional resources. It’s true that increases in literacy are correlated with improved math performance. Here’s an example of a released question from the 5th grade state test:Ĭompare that to one from the grade 5 language arts test: For one, the language used in the word problems was pretty basic. Hartwell and a few of her colleagues at this East Harlem public school, as part of a New York City program to boost math achievement in underperforming schools.Īnd while many of the teachers in the program echoed the ‘literacy’ explanation for low math achievement, it didn’t quite add up. She was explaining why her students had been struggling on standardized tests, which were heavy on word problems. It was my first coaching session with “Ms.