Amy Peabody April 22, 2013 ELD 375 Dr.

Bulgar Field Report #3 I chose to have the second graders in Wicoff to do an inquiry based problem with money; my goal was to see how well students could follow specific instructions. There were two different steps for this task; the first step was for students to make a designated amount of money using the fewest amounts of coins. The second step was to make the same amount of money using a different combination of coins. The classroom is set up into four groups; each group had a different amount of money; the money amounts were $0.49, $0.68, $0.73, or $0.87. I did not give very specific instructions on how to solve this problem because I wanted the students to figure it out on their own. Each table was given a money tray and a note card with the instructions and money amount; I read the instructions to each table for their amount of money. Then I just stepped back to watch the students work. The instructions were for the students to show the money amount using the fewest amounts of coins. The student I observed during this lesson is an 8-year-old named Jaliah; I chose this particular student because I have seen her do some great work with math in my time in Wicoff; she is a very creative student and works extremely hard. I was surprised with how Jaliah solved the problem because she did not listen to the directions when doing the task the first time. The amount of money that Jaliahs group had was $0.87; she made this amount of money using eight dimes and seven pennies. Although the coins add up to the correct amount of money, they do not follow the instructions. When Jaliah showed me her answer I asked her to reread the instructions and walked away.

The directions were clearly written out on a note card that was given to each table. Jaliah seemed confused as to why I was making her reread the instructions. She started to look at the note card; it was clear that there was something that didnt make sense to her. Jaliah read the directions out loud, and then she asked what the word fewest meant. When creating my lesson plan I thought that the word fewest would be a word that the students would know and majority of the class knew what it meant and followed the instructions. My advice to Jaliah was to think of words that may mean the same thing as fewest. I noticed that she started looking at the work of the other students and then asked someone what the word fewest meant. Jaliah was able to solve the problem after having asked multiple questions and talking to the students. After Jaliah solved the problem correctly, she was given a second problem. For the second amount of money Jaliah solved the problem in a short amount of time and had a smile on her face when she showed it to me. I was glad that she did not make the same mistakes twice. After having completed the problems Jaliah spent some time reflecting on the problems she completed. Jaliah is an above average student in mathematics, reading, and writing so it was odd that she could not complete this task like instructed. I spoke with my cooperating teacher, Miss Refsin, and she also thought that it was odd for Jaliah to have struggled as much as she did. I had an idea come through my head later on and thought that maybe Jaliah was not listening to directions and maybe that is why she struggled, but this didnt cross my mind until well after the interview. Money is something that Miss Refsin works with everyday in her classroom; this task was not meant to be difficult to the point where the students could not do it. The goal was for students to think about how to use the least amount of coins possible to make the denomination of money. I have seen Jaliah do plenty of mathematical thinking in class and she typically excels

unless she is not following directions. My cooperating teacher did not allow me to use any previous samples of Jaliahs work; the information that has been gathered on her is from my observations and through conversations with Miss Refsin. During the interview portion Jaliah explained that she struggled with what the word fewest meant, she expressed that she knew she heard the word before but was unsure of what it meant. Jaliah explained her thought process for the first amount of money. Her first idea was to make the amount of money the easiest way she could, the eight dimes and seven pennies. When Jaliah asked me to check her work I explained to her that she had to reread the directions and try the problem again. Jaliah explained that her frustration was difficult because she did not know where her mistakes were. Once Jaliah realized that the word fewest was where she was making her errors then she started thinking of what words could mean the same thing. Jaliah was able to solve the problem after having taken some time to think about the task and what the question actually asked. Jaliah realized where her mistake was and knew not to make the same mistake twice when completing the second problem. After having completed both problems I then asked Jaliah to show a second way to represent the same amounts of money. When asking her to explain her thinking her response stood out to me; she said, I know that it takes eight tens frames to make the number eighty and that there are seven ones so that is why I used eight dimes and seven pennies, when explaining how to make $0.87. I have concluded that it is more effective to have a child try to do a problem again by figuring out their own mistakes because then there is more learning. I also learned that if a child can explain how and why they solved a problem a certain way that it may lead to an explanation as to why they struggled. It is beneficial to have a child try a similar problem when they have previously made errors to see if they have actually learned anything. After having solved both

problems, Jaliah clearly explained that if she starts off using the larger coins first than she will have to use less coins and that is the type of mathematical thinking that I was looking for from the students. The manipulatives made the problem more realistic because it was a money problem. Overall I believe that this activity was relative to what the students work with in school and it proved how important clear directions are and that students really need to listen to directions to succeed.