Breanna Carels

110220
August 13, 2018

Chapter 9 - Math: Strategies and Techniques

Case 9.1 Rodney’s Mathematical Abilities

1. What do the examples of Rodney’s in-school and out-of-school

mathematics performance reveal about his mathematical strengths and
weaknesses?

Rodney works each week doing practice drills with his basic math facts and on average

has a 70% accuracy rate.  This shows that he has a good understanding of basic math

facts in adding, subtracting, multiply, and dividing single digit numbers.  He also

appears to have a strength in determination to complete tasks. He does not easily shut

down and continues to try to explain his thinking to his teacher.  Another example of this

is at the laundromat he uses a trial and error basis to find the right change for the

machine. In terms of the laundromat, this does not benefit him as he could be losing

money every time, but overall his persistence to figure it out is a good attitude to have

when trying to solve math problems.  Now with that being said, Rodney has several

weaknesses in his math abilities. It has been identified that he is at a 2.7 grade level for

basic math concepts, 2.1 for operations, and 1.7 for application. It is clear in the

examples provided that Rodney has difficulties with applying his knowledge of basic

math concepts into daily math problems.  For instance in school, Rodney does addition

and subtraction with single digit numbers but has difficulty carrying that knowledge

through in doing larger addition or subtraction problems. He also has difficulty

explaining his process to identify his point of error. Outside of school, Rodney has

difficulty seeing the correspondence between adding on a worksheet and adding with

money and time.  

 2. What types of activities will help Rodney to think about why and how basic
math operations work?

First of all, when practicing math skills there should be a variety of ways in which you do

this.  The textbook suggests that there should be a combination of games, drills,

practice, and opportunities to speak and write.  It appears that the resource teacher is

already attempting to do this but should continue to allow Rodney these opportunities.

It is apparent that Rodney has difficulty applying his skills to different types of problems.

Therefore, it will also be important for his teachers to consistently give him real life

examples and reasons for how we would use these skills in our daily life (ie. dividing a

pie, picking up the laundry at the correct time, using correct change).  Rodney will

benefit also from intensive instruction on the foundational outcomes. This year in my

grade nine math program I was part of an MRLC project. This project highlighted for us,

which were the foundational outcomes in our curriculum. Then from there we spent the

first several months of the year focusing strictly on foundational outcomes.  The reason

we did this was that students required skills in these foundational outcomes in order to

complete and understand any new math concept introduced later in the year. There

was certainly a lot of benefit to teaching in this way and I will be continuing with this

routine this upcoming school year. Therefore, for a student like Rodney it will be

essential to understand foundational outcomes before moving on too quickly.  Another

thing that may be considered eventually for Rodney is memorization of some basic

facts. You would never want to start learning new basic facts by simply memorizing

because you need students to understand the concepts. Once Rodney has a

conceptual understanding then he may work on memorizing facts. By memorizing facts,

he may reduce computation errors, increase his speed in solving problems, and engage

more actively in problems.  The last suggestion I would have for Rodney would be to

use manipulatives initially. There is no harm in using manipulatives to help you gain

that conceptual understanding. You can use manipulatives for adding, subtracting,

multiplying, and dividing. Using manipulatives might help Rodney to understand

concepts such as the associative property and commutative property.

3. Will Rodney be able to learn the types of mathematics other sixth graders
study if he is still working to master basic computation facts?

Certainly, there is no reason that Rodney cannot learn the types of mathematics that his

grade will be learning for the year.  The teachers will have to recognize that Rodney has

some weaknesses and plan accordingly for him. They will have to be strategic in the

way that they introduce new concepts to him, and they will have to give him many

opportunities to practice these new skills.  The teachers could find ways in which

Rodney can practice these math concepts outside of math class. He can have

designated tasks to complete in the classroom that help him practice his newly learned

skills. Having the opportunities to do the different types of math that his fellow

classmates are working on will also strengthen his conceptual understanding of basic

math skills.  With adaptations, Rodney can certainly engage in the same activities and

solve similar problems to his classmates.

Reference

Boyle, J., & Scanlon, D. (2018). Methods and Strategies for teaching students with high
incidence disabilities, 2nd Edition. Chapter 9: Math: Strategies and Techniques.  Toronto, ON:
Nelson Canada