The Whitenack article stressed all the important facts and benefits to explaining and justifying students thinking. In the discussion part of our lesson, we are looking for students to share how they approached the task and explain why they solved it the certain way that they did. By having different groups explain their approaches to the task, the class will hopefully see different ways the task can be carried out. This gets students thinking about mathematical reasonings and might bring up arguments about strategies. By having these arguments, strong connections are being made by both the supporter and the arguer. The supporter has to think about ways of defending why they liked the way they solved the task and how it worked. The arguer is learning new approaches and ideas. With our task being very open-ended, it allows for many different way to approach the task. This hopefully will make for a in depth discussion.
I think the biggest challenge of the lesson study is the observations that are going to be taken. There is a lot to look for and you have to be very prepare on how students might approach the task. The observers have to make sure they are recording every step that the students make and try to think of their reasoning behind their actions. This is a lot to have to do. Total attention has to be carried out throughout the entire lesson. I think the most beneficial aspect of the lesson study will be to say that I was participated in a group that studied how second graders approached measuring with different units. It will be beneficial to say that I was an observer that took a first hand look at how students responded to a task their first time really dealing with measurement.
I agree with Michelle that the main mathematical goal of this video was to have students understand what area is and how it is measured. The students weren’t just given the equation used for area and applied it to numbers, they actually had to come up to the board and draw the area within. I think it is important when learning area to really understand the concept of area. It can be confusing for students to understand so I think actually measuring the inside of objects will be beneficial. I think it is important to teach the students to measure in square inches but they need to understand other units that can be used to measure area. For the lesson study groups, I like the idea of having each observer focus on one specific student. If the observers focused on all of the students they would only get broad ideas of what is happening, rather than specific ways that the students were solving the problem. This is especially important for open-ended tasks that can be solved in many ways. It is important to see exactly which approach a student took in order to solve the task in order to better understand student thinking.
ReplyDeleteOur lesson study task is opened ended and it is very likely that students will solve our task in different ways. First of all, we have different tools the students can pick from in order to measure the length and width of two different objects. We want students to be able to pick the tool that will best measure the specific object. However, the students are Kindergarteners and it is likely that they might not pick the most appropriate tool. It is important for the observers to focus on specific students so we can really see what approaches they took to solve the task. I agree with Michelle that it is important to have the students share their thinking to the whole class so that the class is aware of the different approaches that can be taken to solve a certain task. This is a good way for peers to teach their classmates and help them to develop a better understanding of the math concept. For our study lesson, we are going to have each group explain exactly how the measured the objects, what numbers they came up with, and why they thought it was the best way to solve the problem. I think that having an in depth discussion will be important but it might be hard for Kindergarteners because they are probably not used to it.
I agree with you that the observers might have trouble with the lesson study task. I think in order to get the best observations possible; observers need to be fully prepared before the lesson is taught. I think they should outline exactly what they are looking for. For example, for my lesson, I could have things such as: tool used, number they got for the measurement, method used, etc. That way I will know what I am looking for and I can just fill it in on my worksheet as I observe. I think that it will be beneficial for Michelle to say she participated in the second grade lesson study. I am excited to see how Kindergarteners work with math because I am in a first grade class. I am excited to see the differences and similarities between the two groups.