Math Journals: A Record for Students and Teachers Transcript
Karen Lassiter: Okay, this is what I want you to do: we're going to do a little work in our journal. So, what I need you to do right now...
Karen Lassiter: Math journals are something that I think are important for children because it gives them meaning and it gives them an opportunity to solve in many different ways.
Karen Lassiter: Oh wow, very cool. The journals are a recording of their thinking processes they go. We keep those math journals so that they can refer back to them. Or if they come up with something and they say, "now, how did I do that problem?" They'll know exactly what math journal to go to and pull it out and where to find it. So I do math journals that are individual. Individual means covering a topic.
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Karen Lassiter: The math journal today covers the numbers 11 - 19. Math journals, I just take 8 1/2 x 11 paper, fold it in half, staple it down the middle and that's a math journal. What I put in the math journal is based on what I'm looking for them to teach.
Karen Lassiter: What I want you to do now is draw a circle around 10 sail boats and then count how many more and come up with a number and I'm just gonna walk around and look.
Karen Lassiter: In today's journal, I put all kinds of different graphics and I tried them in different formats. I tried them set up as if they were in a ten frame, I tried scattered, because I wanted to see if children could make sense of numbers in a scattered format.
Karen Lassiter: If you start counting at 10, can you count on?
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Student: Yes.
Karen Lassiter: Okay, do it for me.
Karen Lassiter: When the kids are working on their math journal, that's the perfect time to look for that formative assessment. How many of them have them? How many don't? It's an opportunity for you as a teacher to also determine who needs help and give that right there in time, kind of instruction. It's difficult, sometimes, because you want to just say it and move on. But the math journal time is a time that you can actually spend a few more minutes with a student. Make that solid connection and make sure they have connected firmly before you leave.
5 Comments
Aundrea Gamble Apr 23, 2020 4:31pm
1. How could math journals be used as an assessment tool?
Math journals are used to record the students thinking during lessons.
2. What is Ms. Lassister's role during math journal time?
Ms. Lassister's role is to look for that formative assessment to see if they have the correct answer. It also gives the teacher the opportunity to spend a few more connections with students to make sure they understand how to do it before they leave the classroom. It gives the teacher the opportunity to give in time instruction.
Donna Provencher Aug 5, 2015 4:10am
Sandra Doucette May 19, 2015 7:26pm
Cortnie Wilson Mar 16, 2015 2:11pm
Schalk Fredericks Mar 9, 2015 6:05am