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Elizabeth Sanchez

Draft of Inquiry Research Plan


November 30, 2016
Inquiry Research Plan
Elizabeth Sanchez
esanchez3@mail.usf.edu
Background, Purpose, and Wondering
I am a current student at University of South Florida. I am a pre service teacher in their
College of Education Program and am interning at a fellow elementary school. In my current
internship classroom along with previous experiences I have taken interest in building
foundational skills to foster better learning experiences in later grades. This past semester I had
the opportunity to observe and co teach a primary grade (first grade) and have had previous
experiences in intermediate grades (third grade), with the plan of moving back into an
intermediate grade, a fourth grade classroom in the spring semester.
One of my many passions in research and learning opportunities to better my instruction
as a future teacher is analyzing and interpreting how things in all elementary grades connect in
curriculum. My inquiry this year is focusing on how I can help my student be better prepared for
content in fourth grade by addressing prior knowledge and practicing number talks for
mathematics. What I already know about this topic is that the curriculum in grades as early as
first grade focus on the basic skill set, such as number sense, to foster different ways of thinking
and solving mathematical problems. I also know that in my internship classroom, that is a
mathematics and social studies focused classroom, the students need to understand the different
ways to solve a problem and focus on fluency of those skills to successfully learn the fourth
grade content. What I want to learn about this topic is what strategies I can use with my students
and co teacher to better their understanding of math. Also, how does this effect their thinking and
knowledge and can it foster higher order thinking skills for students who need enrichment while

Elizabeth Sanchez
Draft of Inquiry Research Plan
November 30, 2016
giving assistance to those students who just need the extra help in learning. This inquiry connects
to my personal and professional goals because it focuses on creating a better learning experience
for my students and at the same time in a way differentiating for students. I also have a passion
in empowering students to take control of their own learning. So in participating in this inquiry I
hope to show students that they can do just that through getting to the same result in different
ways, whichever way suits them best. The students will hopefully know how they learn best and
what engages them to make the correct choice. This leads my wondering to be what can I do to
enhance my students learning experience? More specifically, I can ask how I can incorporate
foundational math skills in my number talks to better my students learning of mathematics.

Elizabeth Sanchez
Draft of Inquiry Research Plan
November 30, 2016
Literature Connections, Data Collection, and Timeline
Article Citation
Moving a School With

Key quotes an ideas related to Ideas for taking action in


your wondering
your classroom
Furthermore, the
Create a time slot for

Number Talks

technique helps to

pure math discussion to

build a classroom

share ideas, and create

culture where students

a classroom community

can make mistakes and

where we know that

share misconceptions.

mistakes are okay and


we learn from them.
Post it notes on
students questions
about the math topic
prior to teaching it.
Notes on what they
already know about the

Contest Corner:

They are asked to

topic.
Post mathematical

Increasing Classroom

make connections and

discussion sentence

Discourse and

look for relationships

starters to help ELL

Computational Fluency

and thus are engaged

students

through Number Talks

in "doing

Journals given to

mathematics." When

students just for their

students share their

ideas in math

Elizabeth Sanchez
Draft of Inquiry Research Plan
November 30, 2016
strategies with others,

Fluency games for

they learn to clarify and

foundational skills

express their thinking,


thereby developing
mathematical
language. This, in turn,
allows students to learn
to express their
mathematical
processes verbally
TECHNOLOGY CORNER:

and/or in writing.
can lead to great

All different learners

NUMBER TALKS.

mathematical

see things differently

discussions in class.

but it can be something

Asking questions such

that benefits all

as How many dots do

students and their

you see? How did you

thinking.

count them? lead to

Incorporate

students seeing

mathematical debates,

different strategies for

based on students

finding answers to

interest.

questions involving

Students also enjoy

addition, subtraction,

competitions and

Elizabeth Sanchez
Draft of Inquiry Research Plan
November 30, 2016
multiplication, and

fluency games so

division. Talking about

instead of giving games

how they see each

to just give the answer

image lets students

incorporate technology

develop their ability to

to where the students

articulate and defend

show their work and

their ideas, and

explain their thinking.

exposes them to new


ideas, as others
students may see
different patterns in the
images.

Elizabeth Sanchez
Draft of Inquiry Research Plan
November 30, 2016

Data I Plan To Collect

How this data relates to my wondering

Teacher Reflections on lessons and strategies

My reflections will help me analyze what

on Blog (including reflection entries, videos)

works and does not work for my students. It


can also help my teaching instruction so I can
improve my instruction for my students

Student Artifacts and journal entries (math

learning experiences
This will allow me to see how the students

journals)

feel about mathematics and their actual work


during the lesson so I can see if they

Field Notes

understand the content


How quickly they are understanding the
questions, solving them, how many students
are participating, raising hands to participate

Literature on mathematical practices and

in math discussion or to answer the question


Will help me expand my understanding of the

Elizabeth Sanchez
Draft of Inquiry Research Plan
November 30, 2016
empowering students
Student work over time

matter/inquiry/wondering
Will help me see if my strategies are working,

Teacher collaboration notes

student improvement
Collaboration can help me with my teaching
and see how other teachers teach the content

Timeline:
First Week- Set up classroom environment for the new procedures of Number Talks, distribute
math journals, and begin recording the practices of the students in math block to see what needs
to be done to start the following week.
Second Week- Begin the number talks and use of strategies, will ask students the first week of
implementing to assess if they like the strategies and if it works for them. This incorporates
empowering students to take control of their own learning. I will also begin collecting data listed
above to improve for the following week.
Third Week- I will implement any strategies that I was not able to the week prior, if any. Make
adjustments if needed form the students feedback. During this week I will begin recording
lessons to be able to look back at the video and take notes on the lesson and success of number
talks. Collaborate with co teacher to see what is going well and what we can improve.

Elizabeth Sanchez
Draft of Inquiry Research Plan
November 30, 2016

References
"Making Number Talks Matter." California Bookwatch, July 2015. Literature Resource Center,
go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=LitRC&sw=w&u=tamp44898&v=2.1&id=GALE
%7CA422328338&it=r&asid=ead4e84366fbfe9811602726794c357a. Accessed 30 Nov. 2016.
Flick, M. f., & Kuchey, D. k. (2015). Contest Corner: Increasing Classroom Discourse and
Computational Fluency through Number Talks. Ohio Journal Of School Mathematics,
(71), 38-41.
Wargaski, S. (2016). Making Number Talks Matter: Developing Mathematical Practices and Deepening
Understanding, Grades 4-10. Teaching Children Mathematics, (2), 117.
BOURASSA, M. m. (2016). TECHNOLOGY CORNER: NUMBER TALKS. Ontario Mathematics
Gazette, 54(3), 27-28.
NAUMAN, J. (2016). Moving a School With Number Talks. Principal, 95(5), 40.
Miller, G. (2015). Five Strategies for a Better Math Argument. New Teacher Advocate, 22(4), 1415.

Elizabeth Sanchez
Draft of Inquiry Research Plan
November 30, 2016

Appendix

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