Lesson Design

Math lesson on division for 3rd graders

Instructional Strategies used: anchor charts, think-write-pair-share, manipulatives, relevant vocabulary, limited lecture, sentence frames

At the beginning of the lesson, students were presented with a problem. Students had not been taught how to solve division equations yet. Students can benefit from figuring out problems they have not yet encountered (Seeley, 2017). Students were immediately interested and ready to learn.

The strategies used encourage learning in a variety of ways. Division is a difficult concept for third graders. It is even more difficult to understand if you are a second-language learner or have additional challenges that make accessing the material more difficult. As a teacher, I see students struggle every day. My job is to alleviate the anxiety of feeling overwhelmed when the material is too much. One way to differentiate is by talking. When students talk, it prepares them for writing. I can fix mistakes as they speak, which translates into better writing. Sometimes, second-language learners need more support when speaking and writing. When that happens, sentence frames are helpful. Just as important as talking through the math is the use of manipulatives. The lesson encourages concrete, pictorial, and conceptual learning through manipulatives, drawings, and writing equations. The use of anchor charts is helpful for visual learners. To create meaningful anchor charts, several things need to be in place. First, making the chart with two high-contrast colors that alternate in vocabulary words and models makes it stand out. Reminding students to use a “blue” word helps all students. The anchor charts need to be simple and contain relevant vocabulary. This strategy supports all populations of learners.

Student Readiness

Students were able to access the material without issue. Students need opportunities that encourage all aspects of themselves in learning (Davies et al., 2016). Along with student readiness, students were interested. Students could use math language to discuss what they were working on. Students were excited about moving from making to drawing the math problems. 

Assessment

Continuous formative assessments are used by walking the room and watching students. Students were asked to explain the equation that corresponds to the picture. Many were struggling with the final step of writing and explaining the equation. Because of this, the final exit ticket needed to be moved to a different day. One of the issues with the lesson was how the ELLs processed the vocabulary. More time needed to be spent working on the terminology. For ELL students, it takes time to build and retain vocabulary. Students must create a pathway of understanding before understanding the word's meaning (Noonoo, 2022).

Some students quickly made the connection from the concrete to pictorial to conceptual. These students were also able to write the equation and verbally explain it. For these students, the next step would be to explain how the equation was developed. These students can create inverse equations for each problem and write how they know that these relate. 

Additional practice for early finishers

Students can access a teacher-created math menu. Students would have different equations and tasks on the menu or choice board. One task might be to write a story problem for a given equation. Another task might be to create a different problem than the one presented using the same numbers. 

References

Davies, S., Janus, M., Duku, E., & Gaskin, A. (2016). Using the Early Development Instrument to examine cognitive and non-cognitive school readiness and elementary student achievement. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 35.

Noonoo, S. (2022, October 28). Build Strong Math Vocabulary Skills Using These Simple Strategies. Edutopia.

Seeley, C. L. (2017, October 1). Turning Teaching Upside Down. ascd, 75(2).