Week 5-Bode

          My class is still on the first unit in Everyday Math for first graders, we practice our numbers a lot and my teacher has then turn these numbers in so she can see where the students abilities are. The sample work I have a picture of displays the different levels of ability among the students. The student work on the top left shows a low to average student work, the bottom left shows the struggling student work, while the piece of work on the right shows an average/above student’s work. The directions for this assignment were “write the numbers 1,2,3,4 on the piece of paper.” The student’s work on the top left is interesting because all of the numbers are backwards and he understood the directions to mean that you have to write the numbers in order 1,2,3,4 repetitively. The directions confused this student and therefore his thinking was that the numbers have to be written how the teacher said. I think the gap in his thinking would be that the numbers are backwards but all exactly how they should look if you put a mirror to the piece of paper, which is normal for a first grader at the beginning of the year. Compare this piece of work to the one below it, which is the struggling student. This student I observed during this time and she was not writing anything at first. I saw her scribble down what looked like a backwards “s” and then immediately erase it. She asked me for help and so her whole line of 2’s on this piece of paper for actually written by her but only because I sketched the number out. It was interesting though that she started off with the number 2 at first, not with 1 like others did. She was able to complete writing all the numbers but sadly only because she was looking at her neighbors work and mimicked the way that he wrote it. This is good that she’s learning but scares me because she is very behind for a beginning of the year first grader. She needs to be told to begin assignments and by guided by the teacher or myself. As far as seeing “gaps” in this piece of work to the right, I really don’t see any except maybe that he needs to neaten up his numbers a little more. The range of ability in Ms. Hall’s class worries me at times because I’m not sure how you scaffold for such a wide range of students.

            As far as how I would approach these students and advancing their cognitive thinking, I think the above average ability student would without a doubt be ready to continue on to other units. However, as far as the two other students go. I believe using examples from newspaper clippings or coupons to show how numbers look maybe they would be able to see how numbers are used in their everyday life and that would help them learn how to write the numbers correctly. Another way I could help both students is by having the student watch my writing of the numbers and then mimic that. This may be good for students to see how their teachers write the numbers and the movement of their hand. Just tracing the number may not be enough help for students to learn what their hands should be doing while they write.