September 30th, 2008
Oh, Danny boy! What is going wrong? I feel terrible. I feel defeated. This is not working. It is not how I want it to be. Just look at the “Danny” questions, what do you notice? PROCEDURE, PROCEDURE, PROCEDURE. AHHHH!@* These darn Danny tasks are not right, they do not satisfy the problem based approach. All students are not having success, they are frustrated, bored and don’t want to do it anymore.
So o.k, let’s take this example and learn from it. Why is this not working? Students are not able to use what they know and work through it, to enter or start it. There is only one answer, only one way of doing or solving the problems (at least for some of the questions). Some are having problems figuring out which operation to use, which procedure to use, and even when they do figure this out, they are getting the answer wrong.
I am starting to notice something that I think is worth noting. Upon reflecting on my math classes so far, I am seeing that some questions and classes are working and some are not. Some are letting all students find success, including the weaker students, and some are not letting all students in. I think this deserves further attention.
I think I need to look further into the role of questioning, both the questions I ask and the investigations I pose and how questioning affects student learning. I think in order for this problem solving approach to work, I need to revamp my questioning techniques, both what I ask students in class, and the problems and investigations I pose.
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