Introduction
Overview
In this clip, Hillary Lewis-Wolfsen introduces herself to the fifth grade class and orients them to the day's tasks. She hands out “Think Sheets” and asks them to think as mathematicians.
Teacher Commentary
Teacher Commentary
HILLARY LEWIS-WOLFSEN: Background information about this class: This class is a Mandarin Language Enrichment Program. It is a voluntary program offered to all children at our school who are either fluent in English or have some Mandarin knowledge. Many of the children have been together in the program since kindergarten. By fifth grade, they know each other well and are comfortable working together.
A day or two prior to this lesson, the students were given the “Candies” task. They had not seen it since, and had no feedback as to their success with it.
I was not their regular classroom teacher, so I needed to set up my expectations and address the unusual situation we were in with having so many observers. It was also a deliberate decision to not hand back their original work. I wanted them to think through the problems again, not worry about what they did right or wrong initially.
LINDA FISHER: The students were asked to think like mathematicians. This had been an important discussion point when planning the lesson. Hillary and Carolyn wanted the class to be able to have discussions about the logic of the mathematics and confront their misconceptions.