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Jessica Quezada
TTE 316
December 2, 2014
Modified Math Lesson: Reflection
Summary of Lesson
The lesson began with a short introduction of the four activities by my mentor teacher. The
student and I sat on the rug in front of the white board while she named the centers as well as the
students that would be at each center. Once all of the students were dismissed I sat on the carpet
area with the students that belonged in my small group. I started by getting us organized so I
asked students to get the different materials that we would be needing such as pencils, crayons,
manipulatives, and boards to write on. While they were doing this I took the time to set up my
camera, and I pulled their papers from the work basket. Once we had all of the materials
gathered I started with a short introduction of the activity. We went through the steps of
completing the lesson so that students understood what was expected of them. Once this
introduction was finished I introduce to them the new materials that I was bringing to the center
which included the hundreds chars, and the number lines. I gave the students a brief introduction
of the each material, and we discussed how they might be used to help them in labeling their
objects, as well as for solving the portion of the worksheet that required them to label their box
as more, fewer, or same. I went through one example using the number line, and I asked the
students to help me solve which number out of a set of two was fewer, and which one was
greater. I then explained to them that the hundreds chart could be used in a similar way, but that

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the chart could be used for numbers that were much higher. I laid out all the tools out around the
work area in order to make them available to all of the students. After this small discussion was
over all of the students began to complete their worksheet. As they were completing their
worksheets I would provide assistance to any students that would need it. As the students began
to complete their worksheet I took the time to discuss with the student what strategies they had
used to find out which of their boxes had more or less manipulatives.
Analysis of Lesson According to First Lens: Student Learning
What students understood about mathematical concepts and what helped them understand
I think that through this lesson student were able to gain a better grasp number sequence, which
is defined as the ordered list of numbers and words (101), and how sequencing that relates to
the words more, fewer, and same. I also noticed that students were gaining a better grasp on oneto-one correspondence, which is defined in Teaching Student-Centered Mathematics as,
counting objects by saying number words in a one-to-one correspondence with the objects
(101). I think that the number line and the hundreds chart were beneficial in helping students
with their understanding. One example of this was when students used the number line to label
her drawing. The student used the number line to match the objects she had drawn with the
numbers on the number line. This helped her in labeling her objects. Another student used the
number line to mark the two amounts of objects that he had, from there he looked at where both
of the marks were to decide on the amount that was more, as well as the amount that was less.

What you did to support, extend and clarify students thinking throughout the lesson
Since I did a small group activity rather, than a whole class lesson it was easier for me to clarify
and extend the thinking of students. It was also beneficial that students had engaged in this same

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activity in the past. This gave me a lot more time to talk one-on-one with the students who
needed the additional support. I was able to clarity students thinking by talking through their
questions with them, as well as supporting them in solving their problem. For example when it
came to the portion of the lesson where students had to decide which one of their boxes had more
objects, and which on had less, the students who still did not have a solid understanding of
number sequencing had a harder time finding the solution, and they tended to ask for support
more often. When this would happen I would walk through the problem in the way that the
student was most comfortable solving it. For example I would ask them What tool should we
use? , and I would walk through the problem with them using their preferred tool. I would also
ask these student if the would be able to solve it using one of the other resources. Sometimes
students would make remarks such as I got two or I got 20. When this would happen I would
ask questions such as What numbers could be higher than two. When the students were done
completing their worksheet I would ask them How did you solve it?, or Did you use any
tools?. One thing that I tried to do during this activity was keep the manipulatives open ended,
as mentioned in Teaching Student-Centered Mathematics a rote procedure with a manipulative
is still just that, a rote procedure, it goes on to say that misuse of manipulatives occurs when
teachers always tell children which manipulatives to use or a given problem (23). I tried to help
student extend their thinking by not setting these limitation for students. They were free to use
the tools in whatever way was helpful for them.

What was hard for students to understand and why you think it was hard

While doing this lesson I learned that students dont understand number sequencing, while most
of the understand how to count starting from one, and they are able to do it effectively when it

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comes to actually writing down the numbers in order some of the students need additional
support. I noticed that when I asked the students to label their work, they would tell me that they
didnt know how to do it. I would have to hint them towards using the numbers around our room,
or asking friends for support. It was clear that the sequencing of numbers, or the ordered list of
numbers and words(Teaching Student-Ceneterd Mathematics, pg.101) was still not solidified
for these students. Another thing that I have noticed the students struggle with was identifying
which numbers are higher than others, even when there was a visual presented in front of them. I
noticed that when it came to identifying which of their boxes had more, fewer, or the same
amount of blocks, they would tell me that they didnt know, or they would give me an answer,
sometimes wrong one, without looking at their paper. As stated in Teaching Student-Centered
Mathematics, initially when young children begin comparing sets, they may be easily contused
by perceptual cues such as length of the row of counters or the spacing of counters in a set versus
another set So you may need to encourage some children to use matching or counting to compare
sets. (106). This could easily explain the students confusion with the activity. It was interesting
to note that when I was doing the modified version of the lesson these problems were not as
apparent, but they were still present for certain students. So I also noticed that once students
began to use either the number line or the hundreds chart for support, a lot of the questions that
were bing asked died down because they had some support in front of them. For example
students did not have as many questions when it came to labeling their objects, and I noticed that
students had an easier time figuring out how to label their objects.
A discussion of what students learned
From my experience there were some students that had a complete grasp on the subject, and
those students didnt really need the support of a number line or hundreds chart. While they may

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not have learned much information when it came to content, they were exposed to different ways
of solving problems that they may not have thought of in the past. Through this exposure I hoped
that in the future children would construct viable options to a variety of problems, and that
students will been encouraged to use procedures that are meaningful to them, as well as
construct strategies for themselves (Childrens Mathematics Cognitively Guided Instruction, pg.
3-4). I noticed that the students who were solving the problem mentally didnt benefit from the
tools I had for them since they had already developed their own methods of solving the
problems. For example some student were able to tell by using the diagrams on the page, as well
as their understanding of number sequencing. There was also a group of students who needed
more assistance with the Grab and Count activity, and I think this group gained a lot more
knowledge in the content area form this lesson. I noticed that this group of students was more
likely to use the different tools that I had presented them with, simply because they needed the
extra support. When they began to use the tools they were able to see how one tool could be used
in multiple ways, and for multiple purposes. For example some students used the number lines to
assist them in labeling their pictures, others used the number line to mark the two numbers they
were working with as a visual way of telling which number came first on the number line. Other
students placed their manipulative on the hundreds chart, and the number line to see how their
manipulative matched up to a number.

Analysis of Lesson According to Second Lens: Power andParticipation

The second lens that I chose was the Power and Participation lens. I thought it would be
interesting to analyze the power and participation dynamics in a small group setting. For this
portion of the analysis I decided to look more specifically at which students engaged with the

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new materials, as well as how many times I provided assistance or started conversations with
each student.
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Who participated and how did the teacher encourage or invite a range of students to participate
Since this was a small groups activity in which all students had to complete their own worksheet
all of the students were required to participate in this activity. One thing that I did notice was a
discrepancy in the amount of students who actively engaged in conversation about the activity
with either me or other students, and those who didnt. It was split pretty evenly between the
number of students that I provided direct assistance to, and those that I didnt provide any
guidance to. For half of the group it was relatively easy for me to begin a conversation with
them. Since they were specifically asking for guidance it was simple for me to continue
conversation with them about their though processes. When it came to the other half of the
group, which was the half of the groups that had a more concrete understanding of the content
area, it noticed it was harder for me to engage them in conversation. This was partially because
they did not need the same level of assistance, and therefore where not explicitly engaging me in
conversation. On the other hand while the activity was taking place I didnt feel as though they
needed my guidance, so I waited until the end of the activity to talk with them about their solving
strategies. Even though some of the students did not need direct assistance from me, it would
have been beneficial to them to engage in a conversation with me, or their peers.

Who held the authority for knowing mathematics (teacher, students, some student more than
others)
Once again since my lesson was a small group activity there was less room for there to be one
individual who held the authority over others. For the most part students completed their

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worksheet on their own, and they thought for themselves about which strategies they would be
using to solve their problems. When students interacted with each other it wasnt so much to
share their ideas about solving the problem, and more about the materials they were working
with. The one time in the activity where there was room for one students to hold the authority
over others was during the discussion in the beginning of the lesson. I did notice during this
portion of the activity that the questions I was posing were being answered by a small handful of
students. During that time those were the students that held the authority. I think that could have
also translated into the portion of the activity that was individual work time. For example if only
one or two ideas were shared about how the number line and hundreds chart could be used other
students could have felt that their ideas of how to use the tools were not valid options. In this
way there were a couple of students that held the authority over other because of the ideas they
voiced.

Evidence that differences in perspective were recognize and valued

Even though most of the students decided to continue using their previous solving methods, to
complete their work, they did show that they understood different solving methods. When I first
started the lesson I introduced the new tools, and I gave examples of how these tools might be
used. When I did this, students were able to see the different ways in which their one problem
could be answered. This was also evident in the fact that several students did decide to use the
new tool as support. There wasnt much interaction between the students, as far as them talking
about the solving methods they used. In the future it would be beneficial for students to hear
other perspectives, and solving methods.

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Explain how issues of power and participation might have influenced student learning
At the time that I taught this lesson it had been introduced in the same way every time it had
been done in the past. This meant that students werent exposed to different ways of solving their
math problem. Most students solved it in the same way, the either knew their numbers really
well, and were able to do the problem mentally, or they needed assistance from the adult at the
center to solve the problem. The adult would sometimes talk through the problem with the
students, sometimes the help was just verbal, and other times they used their classroom number
chart to help the students. I think that because of the limitations that were put on this lesson from
the beginning, it was hard for students to think of other ways to solve it. I think that in their
minds there was only one or two ways of solving the problem, and the students who knew how
to solve it in those limited ways were the ones who held the power. Because of this, students
were more hesitant to try different solving methods. They knew how to get the correct answer
using one method, and that is the one they used. It is my belief that a lot of the power influence
came from the educators rather than the students themselves. Another issue might have come
from the fact that I told students how they could use the new tools to solve their problems. Since
I talked through a couple of different problems with both the number line and the hundreds chart,
it could have meant that students felt the only right was to use the tools, was by mimicking what
I had shown them. Even though this was not my goal, some students could have seen it that way,
and refrained from using different solving techniques. My goal instead was to create an
environment that encourages children to use procedures that are meaningful to them as well as
to construct those strategies for themselves (Childrens Mathematics Cognitively Guided
Instruction, pg. 3).
Extend Your Thinking:

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After having done this lesson, I know there are several things I would change to make this
lesson more effective for the students. One thing I noticed during this lesson was that students
were more drawn to using the number line, that they were to using the hundreds chart. I felt this
was because they were not as familiar with the hundreds chart as they were with the number line.
Additionally I notes that most students only worked with numbers that went up to 10, this could
have made the number line a more accessible tool for them. Finally I felt that the hundreds chart
might have been to been too overwhelming for students, this might have been due to the fact that
there were so many numbers, and also because the way that the hundreds chart was presented
was too small for them. In the future it might he helpful to create a larger hundreds chart that
students have an easier time interacting with. Another aspect of the lesson that I thought about
was the way in which the number line was presented. For me it was natural to give the students a
horizontal number line. This is the way it has been presented to them in class, and it is also they
way they will see it in many other setting. As I read through chapter 8 of Teaching StudentCentered Mathematics it was noted that You can use a vertical number line to help children
visualize how numbers change as they begin writing two-digit numbers. A vertical number line is
also more intuitive than a typical horizontal number line because it is consistent with the notion
that as numbers become larger they go up the number line as opposed to moving to the right.
(101). When I read this section I realized that the students had also seen the number line
vertically. In future it would be helpful for student to see the number line in both ways. This
larger variety of tools would be helpful for many students.
One thing that I wish I had been able to do during this activity was an ending with whole
group discussion. Even though I had planned on doing one, as I was doing the lesson I began to
realize that it would not be possible because of the different amounts of time students were

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taking to finish their worksheet. While some students only needed half of the allotted time to
complete their work, other students were working until the end to the period. This meant that a
number of of the students had gone off to free play by the time everyone had finished. One
solution that I have found to this would be to have students talk in pairs or groups of three
depending of how many students finish at the same time. Since it is likely that the same group of
students will be the ones to finish there will not be a lot of variety in their conversations. For this
reason it will also be helpful for there to be a whole group discussion at some other point in time.
Since students are currently completing this worksheet once a week, a discussion could be held
at the beginning of each lesson. It would also be helpful to have a whole classroom discussion on
the topic, especially because students are separated into the same groups every week. It would be
helpful for students to hear a variety of perspectives on the subject.
Even though this specific lesson was pulled from the Investigations curriculum, in our class we
dont exclusively follow the curriculum. Instead activities are created based on the needs of the
students. Because of this there isnt one specific activity that will occur after the Grab and
Count Activity, and therefore there is not one specific activity that I can make adjustments to.
Even so, there is a lot of information that I have gained through the implementation of this
particular lesson that could guide me in the implementation of another lesson. The following
lesson would most likely continue to focus on the expansion of early counting skills which
include number sequencing, one-to-one correspondence, cardinality, and subitizing, as stated in
Teaching Student-Centered Mathematics (101). After having completed this activity several
times, students should have a solid understand of the words more, less, and same. In order to
expand on their thinking a natural step would be to work on One and two more, one and two less,
The two-more-than and two-less-than relationship involves more than just the ability to count

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on two more or count back by two. Children should know that 7, for example, is 1 more that 6
and also 2 less than 9 (107). An activity such as this one which will further the understanding of
number relationships. Additionally students could be introduced to backwards sequencing, even
though forward sequence is relatively familiar to most young children, mastering the backward
number sequence or counting back can be difficult. (101). In the lessons to following it is
important that students continue to acquire a concept of cardinality and can meaningfully use
their counting skills (107). If these skills are not solidified it will leave children with a very
limited collection of ideas about numbersemphasizing number relationships is key to helping
children fully develop number sense (107). For the following lessons students should continues
to have a variety of options when it comes to solving problems. If lessons are left open students
will find more meaning in solving them.