Math Reflection

Students will be able to read story problems that include division problems and read vocabulary words that pertain to the lesson.

To celebrate death could sound bizarre, but in Mexico and in India celebrating death is part of the culture, religion, customs and our own beliefs. However, there are some differences between Indian Hindus and Mexican Christians as well as similarities between both countries and religions. Cooking their favorite meals on their deceased loved ones birthday, and anniversaries, is just one example of similarities they both have. Jumpa Lahiri describes that Gogol and his family prepared Ashoke’s favorite meal (Gogol’s father) on his first death anniversary (Namesake, Chapter 7).

Students had previously covered the topic of developing fluency in multiplication by 2-digit numbers. After that topic students moved on to cover number sense, dividing by 1-digit divisors using mental math to prepare them for the following topic of my learning segment. The topic of my learning segment consists of developing fluency, dividing by 1-digit divisors. I designed my lesson as a three-day unit focusing on long division by modeling division with place-value blocks, dividing 2-digit by 1-digit numbers, and dividing 3-digit by 1-digit numbers. Students were introduced to division prior to my learning segment but the struggled to understand and comprehend division because students were only introduced to the division algorithm and were not provided with a mnemonic to help them recall the steps. Students also weren’t introduced to division with manipulatives or drawings. Therefore, I

In lesson 1, I would still use my same warm-up problem, but as mentioned above, I would want to push the students to think deeper about the problem. I would accomplish this by asking probing questions to get the students to consider the problem from a different perspective. Also, by creating a more debatable perspective, the students would have a greater opportunity to defend their thinking with mathematical reasoning. This would also challenge the students who do well in math to think even deeper about a concept that may seem obvious.

Multiplicative thinking, fractions and decimals are important aspects of mathematics required for a deep conceptual understanding. The following portfolio will discuss the key ideas of each and the strategies to enable positive teaching. It will highlight certain difficulties and misconceptions that children face and discuss resources and activities to help alleviate these. It will also acknowledge the connections between the areas of mathematics and discuss the need for succinct teaching instead of an isolated approach.

After the dissolution of the Tiger Oil Company, it has come to my attention that you need our help improving your communication style. Even if the downfall of Tiger Oil was unrelated to your interactions with employees, it is apparent that improving your communication style will ensure your future success as a business manager and leader. When reviewing your official company memorandums, I could not help but notice a few patterns that are leading to least acceptable outcomes in the Tiger Oil organization. Your style of leadership and communication seems threatening to employees, and all who read your communication. While I understand that your are a "tiger" who is fierce and means business, you need to trust that your employees already appreciate your business acumen and strength. It is therefore unnecessary for you to make threats such as, "If you are not happy working here, I suggest you get a job somewhere else"¦Any conversation of unhappiness or unrest among my employees pertaining to this will mean immediate termination," (Memo from December 22, 1977, sent to all employees). Your approach to employee dissatisfaction is to silence it, rather than learn from it. You are missing out on opportunities to create a maximum supportable outcome not just for you but also for Tiger Oil and any other company you choose to run in the future.

For the Kidwatching Project Part 1, I found myself interviewing a few students on the concept of multiplication and division. According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, multiplication is defined as the process of adding a number to itself a certain number of times: the act or process of multiplying numbers. Merriam-Webster Dictionary also defines Division to be the act or process of dividing something into parts: the way that something is divided (Merriam-Webster, 2015). Multiplication and Division is a subject that many different students in early ages can grasp or struggle with because the concept of using different ways to approach these particular problems. Many kindergarten children can solve simple multiplication and division problems

In the chapter, “Equal Sharing Problems and Children’s Strategies for Solving them” the authors recommend fractions be introduced to students through equal sharing problems that use countable quantities because they can be shared by people or other groupings. In other words, quantities can be split, cut, or divided. Additionally, equal sharing problems assist children to create “rich mental models “for fractions (p.10).

One of the most distinguishable features of the Puritan religious is its strict and unchanging nature. Its dedication to God and to community guided its members’ everyday life and decisions, not in grand gestures, rather in simple and ordinary manners. This concept is sufficiently displayed in the texts authored by influential Puritans of the time in which they apply the beliefs of their religion to all aspects of their life. These specific beliefs were established in order to achieve such simplicity and reverence; these included grace, plainness, divine mission, and the American dream. The belief which stood out to me most while reading the various compositions was that of plainness. The idea of practicing plainness in everyday life of the

During the observation time I was placed in a first grade classroom. Walking into the class I began to look around and smile, there was so much color all over the classroom I could not help but feel happier. The teacher immediately stopped the class and told us what they were doing that morning and had each student introduce themselves to us. They went around and stated their name and then went back to their math workbook. When they were finished with their math worksheets they were then able to pick something to do around the room. That included reading on their own, getting to use the iPad, working on the computer, etc. Some students were together while others chose to work on things independently.

Jaclyn’s grade 8 math focused on mixed numbers to improper fractions. Jaclyn’s tone of voice was clear and welcoming to all students. Jaclyn used the Smartboard and OneNote to show examples of dividing fractions and simplifying fractions. Students were engaged and focused on the questions that were given to them as practice questions in OneNote software. Jacqueline also used instructional strategies and classroom management to refocus students on the task by asking students to put down their pencils while she taught certain math steps and she asked for student feedback while proceeding through each step. Jaclyn encouraged students to work in groups of five students at each table and she monitored each group by prompting questions with each

My lesson was based on the research that I conducted on teaching multiplication. I read in the Common Core Progression Documents that students learn multiplication through equal groups and array models. In my lesson I taught both equal groups and array models, but focused on the array models. I used the array models to help the students visualize the iterating that happens in multiplication, which was something that I had read when doing my research. I had also read that students should use the models to perform repeated addition or skip counting and I had the students do skip counting in my lesson.

The pre-assessment used to establish students' baseline knowledge and skills for this lesson was a comparing fractions pre-test. Students compared the following types of fraction comparisons: unit fractions, benchmark fractions, normal fractions, equivalent fractions, improper fraction vs. normal fractions, and improper vs. improper fractions. I have taken the information and used it to figure out which types of comparisons the students understand and using it to work on increasing the students' ability to include the other types. I use the information to accommodate what the students already know about the target. It showed me that students do not understand how to compare fractions, when they have a different denominator.

The child from my video is my niece Adriana. Adriana is eight years old and she is in second grade. Since, she is my niece my brother gave me permission to include her in the video. As I went through the activity I tried not to do any modifications in the instruction, I just made up the division problems as I went through the video. The only thing I change was the counters for the cubes. The student learned how to do simple division using equal grouping. I know that she learned because she worked out few problems by herself at the end of the video. She was able to recognize dividing by equal grouping is just having the same number of units in each group. Example she was able to solve six divided by two by drawing a circle for each group and

Teaching students effectively in areas of multiplicative thinking, fractions and decimals requires teachers to have a true understanding of the concepts and best ways to develop students understanding. It is also vital that teachers understand the importance of conceptual understanding and the success this often provides for many students opposed to just being taught the procedures (Reys et al., ch. 12.1). It will be further looked at the important factors to remember when developing a solid conceptual understanding and connection to multiplicative thinking, fractions and decimals.