Hannah Macanas

LSEE 308
Professor John Lee
December 4, 2018

Middle School Math: Greatest Common Factor and Fractions

We start learning about fractions in elementary school, yet somehow by the time our
students enter middle school, there has been a huge disconnect. Practices students have
seemingly been doing for years no longer make sense, have been forgotten, or were just
never fully grasped. When it comes to fractions, a lot of my students in the sixth-grade class
had trouble simplifying fractions, converting to mixed numbers and identifying and properly
using greatest common factors.

Expectations and Strategies

When I was first placed in Middle School, I was a little nervous about connecting with
the students. I have had some prior experience in middle school and find that this age range
is the most difficult for me to effectively engage in the material. I was placed in two
different classrooms, spending an hour in each classroom, once a week. The limited time in
any one classroom made it difficult to engage with students and effectively gauge student
progress. There was also a significant difference in classroom management. One class (7th
grade) was a lot less structured than the other and my participation was essentially reduced
to observation. The other class had a lot more structure and was focused on group work.
There was more opportunity for me to have hands on participation in the second class (6th
grade), which is why it will be the focus of the rest of this case study.
Having more experience with younger elementary grades, I had certain strategies in
mind going in to the middle school. I planned on simple guided teaching strategies which
involve asking questions that direct the student to letting them figure out the answers on
their own. I also planned on using drawings and manipulatives whenever possible.

School Demographics and Atmosphere: The School, The Class, My Student

I was placed in one of the middle schools in Humboldt County. This particular school is
closely representative of county demographics. In Humboldt County, approximately 83% of
residents are white, 1% black only, 6.3% Native only, 3% Asian only, 12 % Hispanic, and 5%
two or more races. At this school, the student population is made up of 67% white, 1%
Black, 4.5 % Native, 1% Asian, 14% Hispanic, and 10% two or more races.
In regard to mathematic academic achievement of the 6th graders at this school, over
two thirds of the students fail to meet the mathematic standards. 18% of students
exceeded the standards and nearly 17% met the standards. However, 35% nearly met the
standards, leaving nearly 30% failing to meet the standards.
In general, the overall atmosphere is relatively mild. The Principal appears to be very
involved and interested in the success of her students, having seen and spoken to her on a
number of occasions. This was a rare experience for me as I have not really experienced this
in other schools. I did notice some things about the school that I didn’t particularly care for.
For example, during morning announcements, they list and/or call out the names of all the
students who have detention. This seemed to ostracize those students which isn’t healthy
or conducive to a positive l environment. My student was on this list one of those days and
everyone in the class made a fuss about it. He was clearly embarrassed and didn’t want to
participate for the rest of the class.
The teacher in this 6th grade class demonstrates excellent classroom management. It is
evident that he cares for his students and tries
to
inspire them to work hard and not get hung up on mistakes and misunderstandings. He really
encourages the growth mindset.

The Problem

Because I was only in the classroom once a week, each time I went back they were
working on something slightly different. In the beginning, they worked on identifying greatest
common factors, and then applying them to different fraction problems. Students were
encouraged to use their multiplication table whenever necessary. I noticed that several
students didn’t quite grasp how two numbers shared a “greatest common factor”. They would
simply look for numbers that each number could be divided by, not necessarily using the same
divisor for each number in the pair. To help solidify this concept, the teacher assigned the
following Pearson lesson. With my Tutee, I used a previous example alongside the current
problem so he could see how each step relates and can be utilized in the new problem, despite
the difference in numbers.
Fast forward a couple weeks and the students have moved on to multiplying and dividing
fractions and mixed numbers. As we know, greatest common factors are an important part of
handling fraction problems as they are necessary for simplifying fractions.
My tutee is easily distracted and in general, very turned off by math. I believe he is
discouraged by difficulty, so if he doesn’t understand something right away, he’ll just goof off or
procrastinate. When I notice this behavior, I’ll ask him, “Do you understand how to do this
problem?” Most of the time he will say yes and continue to procrastinate, or just shrug his
shoulders and pretend to initiate work. I learned that this was not the way to initiate the
conversation because more times then not, people don’t want to admit that they don’t know
something. Finally, I began asking, “Will you walk me through this problem?”
He’ll usually straighten up and then begin starting the problem. He’ll set it up and then before
doing any computations, he’ll always pause and look at me. “Is this right?” I usually just smile
and suggest that he continue doing it how he thinks it should be done and then we’ll check it
together after.
One day in class, we work working on dividing fractions. Mr. P had taught them the
acronym, KCF for, Keep (the first fraction the way it is), Change (the division sign to
multiplication) and Flip (the second fraction. Previously, I had asked Mr. P if he showed why this
algorithm works. He said that he had, and that the focus now is to continue with the algorithm
and help them solve the problems that way.
First, my tutee showed me a problem that he had done previously. He said, “I know this
is right because we did it together with Mr. P.” I said, “Okay great, let’s take a look!”

Originally, he had solved it like below:

It appeared as if he understood, the KCF process, however when he went to multiply

across, he either forgot or incorrectly multiplied the numerators. He should have multiplied 3 x
2 to get 6/7 however, his answer was 2/7. I said, “It looks like you are on the right path! Can
you show me what you did after the flip?” He was reluctant and said, well I know this is the
right answer. I showed him my paper, and said, “well I got 6/7 for my final answer. Can you
think how I might have gotten that answer?” He remained silent. I said, as I pointed at the two
numerators, “what is 3 x 2? He said, “six”. And I said, “Absolutely! That is how I got my answer.
And of course, we know the denominator is 7, so that is how we I got 6/7.” He didn’t want to
believe that this was the correct answer. I said, there are many ways to make mistakes and that
is okay. It looks like you may have just forgotten to write down the final answer to the problem.
But let’s not worry about that right now, let’s just try another one and see what happens.
This was the first fresh problem of the day. While working on this problem, it was clear he had a
few misconceptions.

The first was how to accurately reduce. He didn’t understand that you could only
simplify diagonally. First, he tried crossing out both 2s. I couldn’t quite articulate why you could
only simplify diagonally but reminded him that that is how it’s done. If I had more time, I
would’ve come up with a more clear and concise reason.

On the second try, he multiplied across the top, but didn’t multiply the denominators.

On the third try, he wanted to “flip” the fraction back around. I asked why, and he said,
“because we’re supposed to flip!” I went through the KCF algorithm again and explained each
component.

I had him set the problem up again. So, I asked him, “First we Keep, so what are we
1
keeping? He wrote down the first fraction: 2

Then I asked, okay so for C, what are we changing?

He said, “The division sign, and then proceeded to write down a multiplication symbol.
Then I asked, okay so what do we flip?
2 13
He then correctly changed 13 → 2
1 13
Once we had the equation set up write, I asked him if we could simplify? 2
⋅ 2
 He said, “Yes, they both have 2s.”
I said, “Yes they do but are they reciprocal? If we just change the bottom ones, we’re
changing the unit of the fractions.”
He said, “oh yeah, okay!”
I asked, “So what do we do next?”
1 13 13
And he correctly answered, “multiply across” and then correctly multiplied: 2 ⋅ 2
= 4

I told him he did an excellent job and that his math was correct and then asked if we
were finished with the problem. He initially said yes. I told him id the numerator is larger than
the denominator then the fraction could be simplified into a mixed number. He looked
confused, so I reminded him that a mixed number was a whole and a fraction. I explained that if
the numerator is larger than the denominator, we have more than one whole. So, we need to
figure out how many “wholes” of 4 are in 13/4 and how many “pieces” would be left over. I also
reminded him that since we have 4 as our denominator, that that tells us how big the pieces
are and won’t change in this instance. After more guided questions, he came up with the
1 13 1
correct answer of 2 ⋅ 2
= 3 4.

3 3
The last question we had the chance to work on was 4 ÷ 16.
3 16
He correctly set up the problem using the KCF method. 4 ⋅ 3

Missing pre-requisite knowledge

It was at this point where his missing prerequisite knowledge was really evident. I asked
him, “Can you simply this first before solving?” (which were the instructions.) He said, “Yes!”
3 4
and performed the following: 2 ⋅ 3

I asked why he simplified it that way and he said, “because 2 goes into 4 and 4 goes into
16”

I said, yes that is true, but remember when simplifying, we have to use the same factor
for both numbers we are simplifying, and it helps if it is the GREATEST common factor”
 He stared at me blankly.

I came to the assumption that he still doesn’t quite grasp the concept of greatest
common factor. He knows that numbers have factors and that they can be used to simplify. I
believe that he doesn’t quite understand that each number is a factor of itself and that
sometimes that is the greatest common factor. He only seems to understand this when the
numbers are the same. For example, in similar problems, he would cross out the 3s (like in this
problem) and put ones there instead.

CRA Strategy
Unfortunately, at this time the class period was ending, and I was never able to fully
explain how to determine and then apply greatest common factors. Before I left, I briefly
explained that 4 is a factor of 4, because we can multiply 1 x 4 = 4. I then showed that 4 is also a
factor of 16 because we can multiple 4 x 4 = 16. Then I explained that because 4 is the greatest
factor possible for 4, that we can use it as the greatest common factor of 4 and 16 to be able to
3 4
reduce the problem to: 1 ⋅ 3

After he re-wrote the problem, I asked him again if there was anything else we could do
to simplify before we solved the equation. He looked at it for a minute, and then crossed out
3 4 1 4
the 3s. 1 ⋅ 3 = 1 ⋅ 1

Then he exclaimed, “the answer is 4!” I smiled and congratulated him, said goodbye and
then wished him luck. I was only able to use the Abstract methods to help him solve this
problem, and I’m not quite sure he fully grasped the GCF concept.
If I had more time with him, I probably would’ve used math tiles or other manipulatives
so show the different groupings (factors) of the numbers and how we can use the same factor
when working with different numbers. This would have been a concrete strategy. I also would
have spent some time drawing pictures and reviewing factor trees. This would have been the
representational method.
Reflection
Being in middle school math was a new and interesting experience with me. After
chatting with the host teacher at the end of the semester, he made is clear that they do not use
concrete examples on a regular basis, if at all. However, he does encourage them to draw
pictures and diagrams.
We are also only there once a week, so it is difficult to gauge the progress made by our
students. I also have found that students often make mistakes, not because of lack of
understanding, but because of lack of motivation and difficulty concentrating. They are so
concerned with more social problems that they tend to just scribble down whatever is on the
bored and/or copy nearby students’ work.
Other times throughout the semester I noticed that he did in fact understand what was
going on, but I think he liked having my undivided attention so he would ask me for help on
simple things I was sure he already knew how to do.
This experience made it evident that one of the greatest challenges for teaching in
middle school is motivation and concentration. Without the proper motivation, students will
find it difficult to engage and connect to the content. I believe that slowing down and taking
more time to use manipulatives and drawings would greatly benefit these students. In doing so,
we also need to work to break down thee stigma that manipulatives and drawings “are for
babies” which I heard muttered by the middle students during this class. In an effort to
continue my professional development in this area, I will look in to ways of motivating older
students and search for real life connections I can use in the class room in an effort to provide
them with something to relate to.
Finally, I also learned that things aren’t always quite how they seem. As a substitute
teacher, I have found myself frustrated to find students talking when I’m talking or otherwise
talking out of turn. During this fieldwork experience, I found myself making breakthroughs and
connections with my student. Just as he’s figuring out something and getting excited about, the
teacher would start talking and my student would immediately be scolded. I found this
disheartening. Right as he was making progress, he was getting called out and embarrassed in
front of the class which I’m sure didn’t help with his motivation. I also felt like I was being
scolded for sharing relevant and important information. This has made me determined to be
more mindful about when I speak, and how much freedom I allow my students to converse. Of
course there is a balance, but there are other ways to approach these situations. Perhaps
issuing a 1-minute warning, ok “Okay everyone, wrap up your thoughts!” would be more
effective ways to regain the attention of students at the end of group work. I also plan on
including an emphasis on manipulatives and drawings, not just in math but in all subjects. A
way to destigmatize their usage could be to relate it science. We use manipulatives all the time
in Science when we do experiments. We simply need to view using manipulatives as conducting
math experiments!
Overall, this was a very enlightening and rewarding experience. I immensely enjoyed my
time in the classroom and have also become more comfortable with older students. I am
looking forward to working with older students more, as well as expanding on effectively
utilizing CRA strategies.