1. Using Bundling Sticks to Teach Introductory Place Value Concepts

ED 411/518

Fall 2005

Class #2 Assignment

Please complete the following tasks in your notebook before our next class:

1. Using bundling sticks to teach introductory place value concepts

a)Model the following numbers using bundling sticks (draw them and show the connection between the symbolic form and the sticks):

32 20323

b)Write some specific questions or sequences of questions you might ask students about the numbers in (a). (Feel free to use questions or variations of questions you observed from the bundling sticks activity in class.) Explain your purpose for each question or sequence.

c)You ask a first grader to show the number 53 with bundling sticks. Identify two common responses you think you might get. For each response, what do you think it means about the child’s understanding and why?

2. Establishing and managing a productive learning environment

a)Read the following two pieces related to the teacher’s work in establishing and managing a productive learning environment:

• Environment, and Standard 5: Learning environment. In National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (1991). Professional standards for teaching mathematics (pp. 56-61). Reston, VA: Author.

Copies of this reading are available for pick up outside of Laurie’s office.

• Lester, Jill Bodner. (1996). Establishing a community of mathematics learners. In D. Schifter (Ed.), What's happening in math class? Envisioning new practices through teacher narratives (pp. 88 - 102). New York: Teachers College Press.

This reading is available online at . See syllabus for instructions for accessing electronic reserves.

b)You have seen many examples of teachers’ efforts at the beginning of the year to establish a classroom learning environment – in the videos of the third and fifth grade classrooms, in our own class, and in your field placement classroom. How do the readings resonate with the examples you have seen?

c)Last week you made a list of important things you would consider at the beginning of the year in your own classroom. Based on the readings, how would you add to or revise your list?

3. Analyzing teacher moves

a)Choose 3-5 questions or sequences of questions that you recorded as you were observing the bundling sticks activity in class. For each question, describe what you think its purposes or functions might have been. Try to think of a possible mathematical purpose and one related to establishing a learning environment for each question.

b)Read Chapters 1-2 in Classroom discussions: Using math talk to help students learn, Grades 1-6 (Chapin, S., O’Connor, C., & Anderson, N., 2003).

c)Try to find specific examples of each of the five “productive talk moves” (described in Chapter 2 of Classroom Discussions) in the two videos we watched in our first two classes. That is, use the transcripts to find two examples for each move --- one from the third grade class, and one from the fifth grade class. For each example, describe what you think the teacher’s purpose/s might have been.

Mathematics Methods Planning GroupPage 1 of 1

University of Michigan