Kayla Wright
November 24, 2914
TEDU 522
Math Assessment
For this math assessment my second graders did the assessment for addition and subtraction, It was very interesting to see the different answers they all came up with because they were most definitely at different levels of understanding.
Omar for example seemed to know how to add but was unsure why he was doing it. He explained that addition is what you do when you see a plus sign. When I asked him when he might need to use it in real life, he said, “Maybe when someone asks me to do an addition problem.” It seems that he only has procedural understanding of addition and need to take it one step further to know when and why he does it.
Kyleigh had the same type of understanding. She understood that Addition is when you add something but she would need to use her fingers or a number line. When I asked her to show me two ways to add 6+7 she showed me 6+7+13 and 7+6=13. She remembered this from working with fact families. She really had a hard time explaining when we would need addition in real like and writing a word problem for the addition fact.
Brianna showed a clear understanding of addition and why we do it. She explained to me that she knew addition was adding something to something else. She chose to show two ways to solve 6+7 the way Kyleigh did but with pictures. Brianna created a great word problem to go with the addition fact. The only thing I was unsure about was the real life situation. She explained that she would use addition to find out how many nails she had when building a birdhouse.
With Nancy and Judah, we completed the subtraction assessment. Nancy was able to complete the subtraction equation with a picture and simple equation. However, when it came to writing a word problem she struggled. She also thought doing problems at school was a real life situation in which we would use subtraction (although to her that is real life).
Judah was quite interesting. He struggled with showing me how to solve 13-9. However, he added the two together to get 22 and created a fact family triangle. Then he was able to tell me that he could use subtraction for things he wanted to get rid of at a yard sale. He proceeded to write a word problem about selling his toys to go with 22-9=13. With Judah I had a hard time figuring out if he just misunderstood what I was asking or just got hung up on needing to see a fact family from working with the so much.
I think the biggest thing for Omar and Brianna is that they don’t understand why we need addition and subtraction. My main focus would be on those word problems and real life situations. I would use them more than the standard addition/subtraction set up. Using their name and a problem they may come across in their lives would help give meaning to what we do in the classroom.
I would probably group Kyleigh and Nancy together. Both girls know how to add and subtract but can’t create a word problem or give a real life situation. I think they have a hard time understanding what subtraction actually means. With these two I would prefer to use word problems again, so that they are able to work through them themselves and set up their own problem. I think focusing on the meaning behind the problem would help them to see that 13-9 isn’t just symbols. I would really focus on letting them guide me through the problem and letting them explore ways of solving it.
Because Judah couldn’t solve the subtraction, I would really want to move away from the fact family strategy. I don’t want him to rely on it so much that he doesn’t know why he is doing it. I would want to focus on finding different strategies that work for him to solve basic addition and subtraction facts. A number line could be beneficial to start getting away from fact families. I would want to get him thinking about strategies like one more, one less and seeing the problem in a different way. For example, the problem 13-9. The answer to this problem would only be one more than 13-10. Another strategy we could use is borrowing. He may find it easier to use tens so showing him that he can take one away from 13 and add it to 9 to get 12-10 may be an easier way to help him see these problems a new way.
All of these students seem to either understand how to add or subtract, but rarely do they understand why they are doing it. I think it would be beneficial to all of them to focus on why these problems work the way they do and why we need to learn them in school.