Reflecting On The Great Fish Problem: Day Three of the Three Part Lesson

Today was our final day of the three part lesson. Yesterday, the students worked in partners to complete The Great Fish Problem, and today they reflected on their work. We decided to use the Livescribe Pen to record our reflections. I picked a couple of the sample questions provided by our math facilitator, and as a class, children shared their thoughts. Here is what they had to say:

How Did You Solve The Problem
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What Was The Most Challenging Part
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What Other Math Can You Connect This With
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What Did You Learn
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Based on their discussion, I had some more reflections as well:

1) Students can explain the process of what they did, but they need to continue to make reference to the tools and the strategies that they used when completing various math problems. Continue to model this during full class activities, and give students lots of opportunities to discuss tools and strategies in small groups and with the class.

2) Students can make connections between various math problems, but many of their connections are general ones based largely on involvement in other problem-solving activities, and not specific ones related to the type of question asked. Give lots of opportunities for students to discuss connections between different math problems completed in class, and encourage students to make reference to specific skills addressed in both problems.

3) Students know what they learned from this experience, but they need to continue to use the appropriate vocabulary to describe their learning too. Model this vocabulary in class during math problem reflection opportunities. Maybe even try making an anchor chart of words that students can use to explain their learning.

4) Students know what was difficult for them, and they also know the importance of overcoming these challenges. Try to address their concerns though. Many expressed that the writing was the hardest part of this word problem, so continue to model how to write a complete answer, and provide anchor charts to assist students with this writing. Try the use of the Livescribe Pen to allow students to expand on the ideas in their written work too.

Completing this three part math problem and reflecting on the process has been a very beneficial activity for both me and my students. I look forward to trying more of these problems in class too!

For those of you that completed this problem at home or at your own school, I would love to hear your reflections too. Maybe you just listened to these recordings and you have something else to add. All insights would be much appreciated! Thanks for your help!

Aviva