USING MULTIPLE STRATEGIES TO SOLVE WORD PROBLEMS

Using Multiple Strategies to Solve Word Problems

Maryloise B. Yanday

University of Hawaii at West Oahu

EDEE 492
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Description

The process that I use when I am planning lessons is that I look back at the module that I

taught beforehand and then look at the work that the students produced. For Math, I look back on

how the students did in their Stepping Stones Student Journals and look at the gaps that are

present from that day. From looking at their journals, I would then adjust what I had already

planned and then edit my lesson plan. I would edit by changing the amount of review time and

then provide more examples before moving on to a new lesson. When the students give back

their homework, I skim through it once they are returned and further analyze the gaps that are

present. On the day of a new lesson, I would look back at my lesson for the day and then adjust a

bit more before the math block starts.

I collaborated with other teachers by presenting my lesson idea to them and asking them

what I should improve on my lesson and the activity that I plan on doing. I asked them if they

think that there are things that I should anticipate and on how I should address them if it does

occur during the lesson. To support learning, I asked other teachers how I would review and

work with the students to help them recall the previous strategies that they had learned.

Developmentally, my students are at all different levels. I have students that are already

above grade level, or at least in the later end of 4th grade; students that are at a 3rd grade level;

and students that are below the grade level. The students that are at or above grade level usually

get their work done quickly and can grasp the concepts that are taught. They are my students that

consistently raise their hands and would volunteer to answer questions. The middle portion of

my students may not finish their work as quickly, but they are able to grasp the concept after

listening and partaking in the lesson. These students also try their best to answer questions if they

know the answer. As for my students that are below grade level, they are the ones that I work
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with in my small group after I finish teaching the lesson. They are the ones that I give a lot more

support and more examples to before they are confident enough to do the work on their own.

The lesson that I planned and delivered was sensitive to the diversity of my students

because I have students that learn from moving around and working with others, working alone

at their desks, and working through an activity. I think that this lesson was sensitive to the

diversity of my students because it touched on majority of the ways that my students worked.

The activity had the students working with one another and allowed them to be out of their seats

while working. The exit pass had the students apply what they had just learned and presented on,

on an individual paper. The lesson also allowed the students to be able to present to the class

without pressure; if there were students that were not confident, they could rely on their group

members to give them support.

A situation that happened during the lesson is how the students all decided to do

multiplication problems for their charts. I chose this situation because I thought that the students

would at least have a mix of addition and multiplication for their charts. Although I did

anticipate that the students would not pick division problems because they have not been

exposed to it as often as they were exposed to addition and multiplication. This situation really

stands out because a lot of the students have a difficult time with multiplication, but they seem to

understand it more when they use the tape diagram. Seeing the students become more

comfortable in using multiplication over addition was a surprise for me.

Analysis

The students were able to create their own individual word problems and use different

strategies for their exit pass. They were able to create a word problem that made sense and figure

out the correct answer using different strategies that they knew. A majority of the students were
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also able to answer 1a-1c on their exit pass. They could read the word problems and solve them

using the tape diagram. They were also able to accurately draw the tape diagram according to the

operation that was needed to be used.

My teaching methods were effective because by the end of the lesson, my students were

able to produce a chart that had three different strategies, an expression, word problem, an

answering sentence, and then provide a justification for their answer. Before the lesson took

place, I taught the students about the tape diagram and how it looks for different types of

operations. I went over multiple problems and had them solve as a class, as a group, and then

individually. I knew the teaching method of “I Do, We Do, You Do” was effective due to the

work they produced. The instructional materials were effective because through Stepping Stones,

I was able to have ready-made examples and visuals of the tape diagram. I also provided students

an example that was readily available and visible to them. I was also able to produce my own

word problem that the students were to solve on their white boards. The use of the students white

boards was effective because it provided me a way in which I can see what the students are doing

and how they are solving the problems in real-time. The white boards allowed me to see the

students work and then use what I saw to address misconceptions before I had them do their

activity. The ways in which my activity was effective was that before the students even did their

charts, I demonstrated how to do the chart in the previous lesson. I showed the students the

components of the chart and how I went about each part. After this was done, I reviewed my

chart with the students before I had them do it on their own. When the students were free to do

their own, they were equipped with seeing how the chart was made and what belongs in the chart

at least twice and they were free to look at my example chart throughout their activity time. I
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knew that this activity was effective due to their responses and their own word problem on their

exit pass.

The differentiation strategies that I planned worked because the students were able to

work with their peers for the activity to see what each other was doing. The students were also

able to observe one another through a presentation. These strategies worked because it allowed

the students to see how others worked and their thought process on solving the problem. The

differentiation also helped in providing ways for the students to be more active in the classroom.

The student responses that were meaningful to me was how they mentioned that they

enjoyed the activity. They were enjoying themselves in doing Math and in working with one

another. This was really meaningful to me because usually, the students would not be so active in

the Math block and I would have a lot of blank faces. However during the activity, the students

were enjoying themselves and they mentioned that they were enjoying it. Another meaningful

non-verbal that I observed was that all the students were involved in what they were doing. I

would walk around and see the students working with one another and contributing to their

charts. This was meaningful because in previous activities where the students needed to work

together, there would be some students that would not be participating as much as the others.

A group that had difficulty with this lesson was my Table 4. They were having a difficult

time creating their word problem and then finding different strategies besides tape diagram to

solve. They spent a good amount of time just creating the lines and trying to make their chart as

nice as possible. However, when it came to finally creating the work for their chart, they had a

hard time. Their exit pass also showed some signs of difficulty for them such as how they solved

the first part of the exit pass. I think that they had difficulty because they already had

misconceptions beforehand that I did not get to go over. To help these students achieve the
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learning objective, I would provide them with more examples of word problems. I would then

work with them on how to solve the problem and how to analyze it. The next steps after this

lesson would be on continuing to use the tape diagram when working with word problems that

involve any of the four operations and using the tape diagram in multi-step word problems. I

would also continue implementing the tape diagram through my morning Parking Lots for the

students to solve. It would provide the students practice even if we move on to a new module.

Reflection

Overall, I think that my lesson went well. The students were all participating in the

activity and were able to create their own word problems. The students were also able to present

to the rest of their peers. I would not take a different approach next time in terms of the activity

because I think that the activity worked well for the students. They were able to collaborate and

practice with one another before they did one on their own. I would consult with the school’s

math coach in the future. I would ask her how she would approach the lesson and if the activity

would work. I would ask her for advice on whether I should add more elements or limit the

amount of strategies that the students need to use. To strengthen the lesson, I would have the

students work on more examples. I would have them have more practice before doing the

activity. I would also show more than one operation for their example. I would show more than

one because it would allow the students to see what a word problem for division and addition

looks like. They would also be able to see how the problems can be solved using strategies that

are familiar to them. Doing this would have provided me with more variety on the operations

that the students used.

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Student Work - Low

Student received a low due to inaccuracy in drawing the tape diagram for multiplication in both

1a and in their own chart. Divided 1b by 12 instead of by 5. Justification did not have concrete

evidence.
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Student Work - Medium

Student drew tape diagram inaccurately in 1a, 1b, and in their own chart.
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Student Work - High

Student drew tape diagram accurately across 1a-1c and their own chart.
USING MULTIPLE STRATEGIES TO SOLVE WORD PROBLEMS 9

Focus Student - High

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Focus Student - Low

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Answer Key
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Assessment Data (Whole Class)

Student Score Grade

1 7/8 MP
2 6/8 MP
3 8/8 ME
4 5/8 DP
5 2/8 WB
6 3/8 WB
7 8/8 ME
8 8/8 ME
9 5/8 DP
10 8/8 ME
11 7/8 MP
12 5/8 DP
13 5/8 DP
14 6/8 MP
15 6/8 MP
16 5/8 DP
17 7/8 MP
18 7/8 MP
19 5/8 DP
20 7/8 MP
21 7/8 MP
22 Resource Resource
ddddd : Focus Student Low

Ddddd: Focus Student High

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Resources Used:

Stepping Stones (OrigoSlate.com)