Video: 2nd Grade Math- Word Problem Cues

2nd Grade Math- Word Problem Cues

Ms. Lewis was working with her students on word problems. Many of her students were struggling with how to read and process these problems and how to choose which operations to get the correct answer. Students' tended to see 2 numbers and as a first instinct just dd them together. She met with some of her colleagues to explain her class's situation and what she wanted to gain from their observations. She mainly wanted to know what her students were thinking during the problem solving process and what they mutter under their breaths. It is very hard for her to help all of her students at once, so having extra people in the classroom observing her students will help her gain insight into what she needs to work on. For this lesson, she went over the first 2 word problems as a class. She chose samples of students work and went over how they solved each problem and went into detail about each step they took. This allowed them to really think about the problem and decide if the operation they chose was correct. She discussed what students should be looking for while reading the problem, such as key words and vocabulary. For example, if students read "how many more" they should automatically know that they will be subtracting the numbers. I believe that the class discussion on the carpet was very useful. Ms. Lewis made sure to have all students participate and took the problem step by step to make sure ALL students were on the same page. She did frequent checks on where students stood with understanding the problem. For example, they would either have to put their thumb up or down or shake their hand if they were still a little bit confused. Once Ms. Lewis was done reviewing the problem with her students, she passed back their work. I loved how she photocopied their papers so they could not erase their original work. Many students will want to erase their work right when they get it back. I think it is important for students to see what they did wrong and then look at it and see what changes need to be made. Giving them a colored pen was a great idea to show that the correct answers or changes were in the different color. After that, students were told to complete numbers 3 and 4, which were the 2 word problems they had not gone over yet. Some students could look at their work and automatically see if they had made mistakes and then know what to do to change them. Other students were still somewhat confused and Ms. Lewis took time to further explain the concepts. I was intersted to see how Ms. Lewis thought her lesson went. Like all lessons, she believed there were some positives and negatives. She didn't get to show her students all of the sample student work that she wanted to. She strategically picked out each sample to show her students multiple ways to solve the word problem and she was upset she didn't have time to show each of them. She did express that she was so happy that her students participated so much and were engaged throughout the entire lesson. She thought that it went well overall and her students ended up understanding the word problems better. This video was very beneficial. It was interesting to see the planning that needs to go into each lessons. I also liked how she collaborated with other colleagues to get other opinions and ideas. It is sometimes hard to know what to do or what to change when students are having trouble understanding a concept, so Ms. Lewis did the right thing having a small intervention!