Ms. Rogers' Math Blog: Working With Struggling Mathematicians

Assessment Profile Student:

Name: Sweet Jane (concealed identity for confidentiality purposes)

Age: 11

Grade: 5th

Subject: Math

Overview:

The student enjoys Math, and says it is her favorite subject. She has a positive attitude towards school and learning. She shows eagerness to practice and become more fluent in Math skills. She shows strengths in counting, counting on, addition/subtraction, and computation in the form of number sentences. She struggles with interpreting the operation associated with word problems. She has been given a highlighter and taught the strategy of highlighting the question. She has been instructed in the different types of addition and subtraction word problems and how to recognize them through using manipulatives. Sweet Jane practiced interpreting the appropriate operation called for by the word problem.

creating a number sentence for a word problem

Student, working out a number problem in response to a word problem

When I implemented this assignment, I chose a student who was known to be a struggling reader and who received services for Special Education. All though she reports Math to be her best subject, she still requires accommodations on tests and assignments in class. She receives extra assistance and instruction from the Special Education Teacher as well.
I had been working with the student in Reading, as well, and decided that her level of trust/comfort with me was already established. This is what helped me decide to choose this student.
As I interviewed her, I realized that she had no concrete sense of where she really was in Math, and because she did better in Math than in Reading, she felt that Math was her best subject.
I knew she needed to be taught a better strategy in checking her work and I worked with her on that. Questioning was used in several methods from dramatic word problem solving to self questioning.
Also, I worked with her on developing a better understanding of types of word problems and deriving meaning from them. We worked on understanding the different types of word problems for addition and subtraction. We worked out several problems by highlighting the question, re reading the problem, and deciding first what operation we should use to find the answer. Then, she solved the problem and checked her answer by questioning.

Here is the Assessment Report that gives a detailed description of the interview process and my conclusions and recommendations for the student.

These are pictures of the second interview tasks, questions, and discussions that could not be included in the document due to file size: