Mary Jane Walker

March 24, 2019

EDUC 2000
Description

The child interviewed was Aja Penny, a 7-year-old female in Mrs. Jolla’s first grade

classroom at the Math Science and the Arts Academy East in St. Iberville parish. This interview

was done in the library of the school in order to create an environment with the least distraction.

Being in the library Aja had a quiet voice, complying with the rules of the atmosphere.

Executive Summary

Tutoring session

The warm up activity chosen for this lesson includes a 100’s chart and mini reward

erasers and was focused the number aspects of skip counting. The child was asked to skip count

by 10’s starting at various numbers and was told to place a reward eraser on top of each number

the said in the sequence. This was to allow the student to visually see the pattern that skip

counting creates. The questions asked were, “Skip count by 10’s starting at 10”, “Let’s try skip

counting by 10 starting at 5”, “What about skip counting by 10 starting 46”, “Try skip counting

by 10 starting at 22”, and “Skip count by 10 starting at 13.” The student responded to the

questions correctly, she skip-counted by 10 starting at the various numbers and when I asked

follow up questions like “What would come after 95?”. I also asked certain follow up questions

pertaining to what number would co me next in the sequence after reaching the end of the

numbers represented on the number line for example; “What would come after 95?”. I could see

her thinking about the answers. I attempted to guide the student into understanding the idea that

the number in the ones place never changes when counting by 10s and I feel as though she

understood because she was able to reiterate that idea back to me in her own words stating, “the

number at the end never changes”. One thing I would change to maybe enhance the whimsy of
Mary Jane Walker
March 24, 2019
EDUC 2000
the lesson would be to have the student create a pattern other than straight lines on the hundreds

chart using the skip counting by tens method. Pertaining the main activity of the lesson, I created

an original worksheet with four number lines consisting of five numbers each with some of their

numbers missing. The student was to look at the number lines and insert the correct number to

complete the number line. All the number lines were skip counting by 10 however they started at

various numbers. The student needed to understand skip counting by 10’s to complete the

following the sequences; 24, 34, 44, 54, 64; 92, 102, 112, 122, 132; 5, 15, 25, 35, 45; and 86, 96,

106, 116, 126. The numbers I have italicized and bolded were the numbers missing from the

number sequences that the student needed to insert themselves.

Word Problem Interview

The three word problems asked were modified from problems originally created by

Eureka Math. The first of the three was a Result Unknown (Add To) problem, the second

problem was a Part-Part-Whole (Part Unknown), and the final math problem was a Change

Unknown (Add To).

Transcription and analysis of word problem interview

Problem 1 Attending. The child drew a one tens line and 5 circles and also drew another

6 separate circles to represent one 10, 5 ones, and 6 ones. She then pointed to each symbol,

mentally counted the ten, and each of the dots individually. After this she drew the equation

15+6=21 along with writing the sentence “Mr. Roberts graded 21 tests in all.”

Problem 1 Interpreting. The child used forward number word sequence when counting

one 10 and then counted each separate dot starting at 11, counting up to 21. She also used one to

one correspondence when she counted each of her symbols to determine the total.
Mary Jane Walker
March 24, 2019
EDUC 2000
Problem 1 Identifying. By using both lines and dots to represent the numbers 15 and 6

the student used direct model strategies to solve the problem.

Problem 2 Attending. The child drew 7 ones and then 6 more ones.

Problem 2 Interpreting. The child first drew 7 circles to represent the known part of the

problem and then by using interrupted forward number word sequence, she drew 6 more circles

until she reached a total of 13 circles, the other known number. Using one to one

correspondence, she then counted each circle to double check before writing her answer in

equation form.

Problem 2 Identifying. The child used the counting on strategy to solve the problem, as

seen by her first drawing 7 and then counting on to identify the unknown amount that would

equal 13. She also was using direct modeling by drawing symbols to represent each number in

the equation.

Problem 3 Attending. The child first drew 12 circles and then drew 7 more circles.

Problem 3 Interpreting. The child drew 12 circles to represent the known amount then

using her fingers she used interrupted forward number word sequence to count up from 12 to

reach 19. She then took the number of fingers she had held up and drew that many circles on the

paper.

Problem 3 Identifying. She used direct modeling when drawing symbols to represent

the number of objects, she also used the counting on strategies when she took the initial 12 and

used her fingers to count on from 12 to 19.

Conclusion

The student has a good grasp of these types of addition problems as she was able to solve

all the questions correctly within a short amount of time. I would suggest the next reasonable
Mary Jane Walker
March 24, 2019
EDUC 2000
steps be to try and introduce more advanced measure of solving these problems to the student as

the use of direct modeling strategies can be time consuming with larger numbers and more

complex problems. If I were to meet with the child again, I would attempt to build a stronger

foundation with the use of the strategy of decomposing larger numbers. When using

decomposition strategies, students can add larger numbers mentally without the use of direct

modeling.

Reflection

When conducting this interview, I was able to develop my ability to observe and analyze

student’s mathematical thinking processes in order to understand what steps need to be taken in

order to advance their skills and abilities. Within the interview, I did not ask any personal

questions, so therefore I am unsure what I would change. The student understood the word

problems that were presented to them and I did not add any comments while the student was

working through them. If I were to do this again, I would ensure that testing environment is

completely quiet so that the student can properly focus.