10/21/13

5th grade-Decimal understanding and comparing.

I went into the class to model a lesson where students use

models to understand and compare decimals. My opening

was an empty number line with 11 hash marks – zero on the

far left and 1 on the far right.

I asked students if they knew what any of the hash marks on

the number line should be labeled. Only a few students raised

their hands, so I asked the class to talk about  this at their

tables for a minute.

After a quick discussion, a boy was chosen to come to  the front.

I asked him to point to the hash mark on the number line that

he thought he knew the label for. He pointed to the  middle line.

What I would’ve done 15 years ago, is ask him what it should be

labeled and move on with the lesson.  Instead, I asked him to

whisper what the label for the hash mark should be.

I thanked him and asked all of the groups to focus on the middle

hash mark on the empty number line and see if they could agree

on what it should be labeled.

This teaching strategy never ceases to amaze me – and neither do the

students.  The conversations were incredible.  Just allowing students

to share their ideas with each other and try to make sense of numbers

(fractions and decimals) on a number line.

In the beginning of their discussions, most students thought 1/5 (the

same thing the boy whispered in my ear). Their reasoning was that

there were 11 hash marks and the middle one was the fifth one over.

It made “perfect incorrect sense.”  But I learned what misconceptions

were prevalent in the class.

As I talked with each group, students began to question their own

reasoning.  One group, while defending the idea of 1/5 said, “Yeah,

the fifth one over is in the middle and . . . well, it is in the middle, so

it could be 1/2.” This was my time to ask, “Can it be both 1/5 and

1/2? You have 90 seconds to discuss this and I’ll be right back.”

By the time I got back, they had decided it had to be 1/2, because

they “knew” that 1/2 and 1/5 weren’t the same.

When we came back as a whole group, many of the students had

shared that they had thought it was 1/5 at first, but many changed

their minds because of the idea of the hash mark being in the middle.

Many changed their minds to 1/2, but not all.  Some had decided that

since our standard was about decimals, the hash mark should be

labeled 5/10.  The next discussion lead to proving that 1/2 = 5/10.

Once students were comfortable with the decision that 1/2 = 5/10, I

asked them to label the hash mark to the left of 5/10.  The discussion

was quick and efficient.  They knew it was 4/10 because there were

ten “sections” on the number line (no longer 11 lines), and that hash

mark was the end of the 4th of the 10 sections.  They were thinking of

the number line as an equally divided line (fractions).

Finally, the students were asked to draw a number line in their journals,

like the one at the front of the room, and label all of the hash marks

with fraction and decimal notation.

It’s important to note that this opening to the lesson (that ended up

becoming the whole lesson) would not have been possible if the teacher

hadn’t developed group norms with the students at the beginning of

the year.  This class knows, after 9 weeks, how to talk to each other,

discuss their thinking, and work together toward a common goal.