Student Thinking Analysis 1

Student Thinking Analysis

Diana A Chavez
MIAA 340















Student Thinking Analysis 2
Abstract
Analyzing student thinking during math time is a great way to assess what students already
know about the concept. In this way you are not assessing and finding out what they dont know,
but instead you are gaining deep understanding of student thinking and where to begin to
instruct. According to de Lange (1992) Most forms of assessment are not dynamic or
continuous; they are static and discrete, designed to determine what a child cannot do rather than
what he can do (as cited in Fosnto, 2010, p.45). A better approach to keeping track of what
students know instead, are having conversations while students are working and question their
thinking during math in order to see what they know and where to guide them in their learning.
For both Kindergarten and 8
th
grade I was the one interacting with student/class. I used a lot of
what I have learned so far in my math program to guide the instruction and the lesson plan. I paid
special attention to the kind of learner I was dealing with, I took time to analyze what some
misconceptions could be and how to adjust my teaching according, I also took special notice to
get to know the level the student was at on the landscape of learning.
I purposefully gave the 8
th
grade student a problem/equation and no direct instruction except
asked her to solve and describe orally what she was doing at each step and gave her think time so
that I could see where she was and build from there. Fosnot (2010) found "Teachers must find
students strengths to build their self-confidence but also find entry points to help them build
understanding" (p. 46). I focused on what she already knew about solving equations and only
helped her when she felt stuck. This seemed to me for the first time to be a successful lesson,
with a student who is learning Algebra that I have accomplished. I think getting all the steps
together and especially teaching myself how to be confident in my own math skills helped me
do this lesson better.
Student Thinking Analysis 3
My kindergarten lesson was a whole class lesson and the point or focus of the lesson is to get
students to realize that you can use different combination of counters to represent the number 6. I
also wanted students to start to see patterns for quickly visualizing a number. What I noticed
with this lesson was that it took a while for students to get down the symbol used for showing
they had an answer. It will take more practice for them to get this routine down. I was actually
pleasantly surprised on how well they did for the first time we did this kind of a math lesson. I
also need to include more time for students to pair share and get ideas from each other. It was
especially interesting to see all of the misconceptions that students had to start out with, many
students were saying that their were 10 on the ten frame which leads me to believe that either
they didnt understand the question or they thought the question was how many spaces do you
see. Which ten would have been the correct answer? Other answers were 6 and 7 which 6 was
the correct answer. I asked a student who answered 7 to describe their thinking and it was a great
way for the student to independently revise their thinking.
In observing the 5
th
grade lesson on exponents I saw many good teaching strategies being used in
the lesson. Some I observed were; phone a friend, tell your neighbor, whisper to the person
across from you, and small group discussion. It was also interesting to see the math notes journal.
It was a great source for students to refer back to. It even had a table of contents, which made
finding the information a lot easier for the students. The particular student that I sat with had a
lot of knowledge already on exponents and could describe what the number of the day meant.
Orally she could explain well what she knew about the number. When writing down her
responses to everything she knew she had a much more difficult time of explaining. She did refer
to notes journal various times to get the correct vocabulary down. Writing may be a weak area
Student Thinking Analysis 4
for her or she may be the kind of student who is careful and precise with their writing and would
need more time.









































Student Thinking Analysis 5
References
Fosnot, C. T. (2010). Models of intervention in mathematics: reweaving the tapestry. New York:
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

Teaching Channel Video Blog Quick Images: Visualizing Number Combinations [Video file].
Retrieved from https://www.teachingchannel.org

Teaching Channel Video Blog My favorite No: Learning from my mistakes [Video file].
Retrieved from https://www.teachingchannel.org

Teaching Channel Video Blog Sorting and Classifying Equations: Class Discussion [Video file].
Retrieved from https://www.teachingchannel.org