Creating Math "Attack"ers

Word problems.  The scariest task for most students and the most overwhelming lesson for most teachers to instruct.  It's the skill many teachers claim, "some students have and others just don't".  Or is it?  Can we reach the most unsuccessful students and even more can we shift this task from being perceived as an intimidating burden into a challenging brain teaser that's fun!?

This year I have joined the club and have added a new buzz word into my students' vocabulary: growth mindset.  The growth mindset instills that failure is just a stopping point on the way to success.  It's not the end of the journey!  

We have begun using phrases in our classroom such as:

"I don't have it YET, but I will." 

not "I can't do this."

and

"I made a mistake, but I learned..." 

instead of "I stink at this."

This language is vital when placing students in situations they are hesitant and unsure about.  It creates a climate that encourages one another to challenge themselves and to not be afraid of failure! Word problems are scary to students whom not only struggle with the math concepts, but also in the simple task of breaking down the problem.  

Ergo...the strategies!  Oh, the strategies! 

Discuss word clues.

Teach organization.  

Create visuals.

Encourage discussions

Share misconceptions.

Word clues are the clues that help make the puzzle fun!  Once students understand that the word problem provide them with all the information they need to solve, it shifts from an endless wandering into a purposeful plan of attack!  Those word problems have become impossible possible!

The word problem included that each student collected a certain number of cans.  The student recognizes that if "each" is used as a clue word, she can multiply to find the total number of cans.  She also boxes "how many more" and identifies this as a subtraction clue word.  Now, she has a clear plan to attack the problem!

Organization, a scattered brained, 4th grader's best friend!  It sounds so simple, but it isn't a strategy that comes naturally...it is a skill that must be taught.  Spacing is key.  Many students begin solving problems within the mult-step word problem and lose track of where they are and what they still need to solve.  This is where many students give up.  We must teach them to keep track of their own progress as they are solving.  When they plan the number of steps they will need to carry out to solve the problem, organizing a clear space to complete each of those steps is a simple strategy to focus students that become overwhelmed easily. Labeling each step helps students feel like they have a checklist to carry out.

It's important to teach students to organize problems using divided areas, labels, and clue words for themselves to keep track of what they have solved and what they still need to solve.

Click HERE for a Christmas themed multi-step word problem FREEBIE from my TpT store!

Visuals help students identify exactly what the words mean.  Common core encourages students to create models when solving math problems.  Students need to be shown how and when to use this strategy.  

Discussions provide opportunities to share their own strategies and hear others.  In the beginning of the year when students share out how they solved a word problem whole group, if a student's idea looked different then their own, they quickly said it was wrong.  Regardless if they calculated the same answer, they were sure the student was wrong.  At this age it is so important to teach students that there is more than one way...this can be surprising to many!  The fun part begins when they start to understand this and comment on the strategy the student used to solve the problem.  They begin to notice other strategies that work and may have been more simple than their own.  They encourage one another and give tips on what to do next time.  The discussion becomes student-led and the roles shift.  Students take more ownership, ask questions for clarification, and challenge one another. This is where the magic happens, my friends.

These students were having a fantastic discussion regarding their own ways of solving the problem.
Two strategies, one great discussion!

Don't be afraid to let them share misconceptions.  This is where the true learning takes place.  While it may not seem like a strategy for solving word problems, it is one of the most valuable strategies I use in my classroom.  This allows students to share moments that confused them and ask questions for the future.  This is another step in the growth mindset.  It encourages students to share their mistakes, to learn from themselves, and others, instilling self-monitoring.  

For example, a student shared when solving this problem they estimated.  They saw "an average" in the problem, didn't read closely enough, and accidentally estimated the difference rather than solving for the exact difference.  This provided an opportunity to discuss the word "average" in this context.   

Word problems have become an engaging brain tease, rather than a scary, impossible challenge.  You'll be amazed what a little organization and the right mindset will do for your students, as well!

Looking for your own multi-step word problems to try with your students?  Check out these fun Christmas themed multi-step word problems by clicking HERE!

Thanks for reading!  

Leave a comment to share what you try in your classroom to make word problems a little less scary!

Teaching Your Littles to Write Like Readers

Teachers always complain that their students are either strong, skilled, competent writers...or not so much.  How can we reach the writers that just don't seem to have what it takes?  

Mike Hanski from the "Huffington Post" writes, "Every author writes for readers; no grammar rules and writing techniques will help you understand your reader if you do not read yourself.  Enjoy what you read. It is difficult and mostly impossible to write something really good if you did not experience anything good that had been written already. Being a writer yourself, you have an ace in your sleeve: you can read a book with an eye for writing, though you do not even realize it.  Everything you learn as a reader, you can use as a writer afterward."

If we can infuse our students with a true joy of reading, can we also help them enjoy writing like a reader???  Think about it...as teachers we are constantly seeking strong examples of the great writing techniques we teach!  Why aren't we instilling these desires in our students?  Encouraging them to search for fantastic writing techniques in the authors they read will in turn motivate them to include those same writing techniques in their own writing!

This can be done in the simplest of ways:

1. Complete an Author Study:  Choose a favorite author and study his/her writing techniques.  Collect these on an anchor chart and refer to them throughout a writing unit, constantly challenging your students to mirror these writing techniques. 

2. Choose a technique you would like students to grow in and challenge them to find mentor texts that model it well for other students.  This encourages students to take ownership in their own learning and students will have a personal connection with the author's technique they sought out to find. 

Perhaps the simplest of strategies that I have used in my classroom has been to teach a reading skill and then apply it into my writing instruction.  I began with a reading standard and a writing standard that connected closely:  RI 4.2 Identifying Main Ideas and Supporting Details and W.4.2 Informational Writing. 

The most challenging text for young students to master in reading and writing seems to be informational text...however, once they are able to think how an author thinks, the missing link is found!  Students must learn how authors organize their writing before they are ready to create their own informational text in writing.  When they become the author themselves, they became more comfortable discussing the author's craft and organizational techniques used throughout the text and even...dare I say, critique the author's form themselves!  

My first task was to help students identify the main idea and supporting details of an informational text through reading (ergo RI 4.2).  We had many discussions about main supporting details versus minor supporting details--the reasons for each.   The purpose of this instruction would link directly to the writing later...it was necessary for students to understand how author's organize focused paragraphs before they could produce them themselves.  

Students helped create this connection visual to refer to when proving the main idea of a text.  These skills are vital when learning how to create focused informational paragraphs. 

This is an example of a resource I used throughout this unit to help students decipher major versus minor supporting details.  To purchase this unit, visit my TpT store here!

We began small...simply creating organized paragraphs with main idea topic sentences, following with major and minor supporting details.  We collected a variety of supporting details such as quotations from text, examples, facts, and definitions.  This is a must, or I warn you...you will read a thousand paragraphs with the exact sentence structure over and over.  No. Thank. You.  Students need to understand the value of variety.  No one wants to read definition after definition after definition.  Have students read informational paragraphs from an informative text of their choose and share with the class the variety they found. This will once again provide a personal connection for the students and encourage the transfer of this skill into their writing.   When my fourth graders were experienced readers in informational text, it was time to create informational writers!  It was THEIR turn to produce the information!

To find the informational writing unit, click the link!

Finally, students were prepared to create multi-paragraph informational writing.  It was important to teach the students to organize their own thinking like real writers. For each topic they could inform the reader about through the prompt, a new paragraph was necessary.   For example, the prompt, "Describe two instincts that some animals are born with to help them survive the cold winter months." allowed for two separate informational paragraphs--hibernation and migration.  Rather than provide students with a pre-made, beautifully created handout that is organized for them, we created our own in our writer's notebooks for each prompt following this teacher modeled handout.  As much as I love a pretty font and border...it had to go!  The more student input, the more ownership the student will put into the writing.  By the end of this unit, students had become well-rounded readers and applied the reading skills into their writing. This was the ultimate goal.  While we want students to become well composed writers, we must teach them be readers first and foremost! 

Data Driven World

Making decisions in the teaching profession has slowly shifted from opinion-based to data-driven.  This is a huge relief to the teachers that over analyze each and ever decision they make.  No more wondering...no more second guessing.  Clear cut data to help decide how a student is progressing through their academic endeavors.

{clouds part and a chorus of "Hallelujah" rings from the heavens}

On the other hand, there are times when we intuitively know exactly what these littles need by glancing at their student work and we can positively, without a doubt make the assumption that they are just. not. getting. it.  So why use data?  Isn't it just one more thing on our ever growing to do list?  Two simple answers that prove you will not be wasting your time:  student motivation & shared responsibilities.

Students that contribute and maintain data of their own academic progress learn to self-monitor their own personal growth and set goals to accomplish them.  This is a life long skill that teaches students that aspirations don't just happen on their own...it takes a plan and effort. This was the key that I was missing.  I felt like I was putting in so much work and getting a minuscule amount of effort in return.  This all changed when collaborative data was collected within the classroom and it became a classroom norm to collect and discuss our performance data. 

We all know that formative data drives our instruction, however, do our students?  Shouldn't they be included in the conversation?  This was the problem!  I was making decisions based on student outcome, however, never filling them in on my plan...seems a little backwards, right?

In the beginning, we started small...we began to collect classroom average scores and collect them on a data board in our classroom.  We collected the number of students that were meeting the goal, approaching the goal, and that were still below--this gave us a conversation starter, without calling anyone out individually.  Talk about a team building experience!  

Students update the data wall to take ownership.

Once students became aware of our common goal, they took a more active role in their education and encouraged others to do the same!  I had students beginning to ask, "How can I improve my answer?" and "What should I do when...?".  

{"HALLELUJAH", indeed.}

Thus...the data folder was invented.  If these results were shown through a simple collection of whole group classroom data, imagine the possibilities of individual data results, as well!  Students were given pre-tests in reading and math tests to let them know where they were starting prior to instruction.  This was eye opening for both of us.  I was able to see what skills were already mastered from 3rd grade and pushed the students that were ready for more challenging skills, while also recognizing if the skills assessed were brand new to other students. We recorded our pre-test scores in our data folder and forgot about them until after instruction took place and we were ready for the post-test. 

Once we took the post-test, we collected them in our data folder and bragged about our growth.  The fun thing became that everyone had their own goal to beat. Everyone was successful at their own level!  This became routine for reading and math standard assessments, but the opportunity for growth didn't stop there.  

I am an advocate for small group reading instruction...and not just to because it's a buzz word right now.  IT MAKES A DIFFERENCE.  Providing students instruction at their level is key to individualized instruction and ensuring mastery of reading skills without the frustration of decoding higher level words students aren't ready for.   Once again, to know this goal and to not share it with the students felt silly.   The goal was centered around THEIR PROGRESS!  Why wouldn't they know that?  

We discussed the fourth grade reading goal expectation and I helped them individually graph their instructional level based on fluency and comprehension.  I use Reading A-Z for resources, however, there are so many fluency progress monitoring programs out there. 

Stars represent the goal for fourth grade reading level.
Students self-monitor growth in comparison.

Click here for a free download of the Reading Level Progress Graph.  This can be customized per grade level reading expectations.  Simply draw in a star for each quarter that shows the appropriate reading level for your grade. 

Data has transformed my classroom from a hard working teacher to a shared responsibility and common goals.  I love the conversations that develop and the clear expectation of growth before each assessment begins. Data-driven decisions has changed my classroom climate completely...and for the better! 

Click here to purchase the complete data pack from my TpT store, Teaching Littles.