Shari Smith Nine Ways to Help Floundering Students

Shari Smith Literature Review

Title: Nine ways: How do we help floundering students who lack basic math concepts?

Author: Marilyn Burns

Source: http://www.mathsolutions.com/documents/2007_Nine_Ways.pdf

Summary:

Marilyn Burns discusses ways to help students who are struggling with mathematical concepts.  She suggests there are three reasons students struggle:

                1. Students have not made connections between mathematical ideas.

                2. New information needs to be built on a foundation of what they already know.

                3. Students don’t have a deeper understanding of how numbers work.

She suggests nine strategies to make interventions successful.

1.       Determine the skills that are essential to the student and then break them into “manageable chunks.”

2.       Watch the students for clues that tell you they may be lost.   Some things may need to be “unlearned before they relearn.”

3.       Provide a routine of support by using four stages.  Stage one - Teacher modeling.  Stage two - Teacher modeling with input from students. Stage three – students work in pairs solving the problem. Stage four – students work independently.

4.       We learn best from teaching; encourage students to interact with each other.

5.       Make sure to explain connection to previous knowledge.

6.       Help students find patterns so that they can do math mentally.

7.       Writing things down helps to track the thinking process.

8.       Practice using written work or games.  

9.       Vocabulary is key to the students understanding.

Analysis:

Reading this article has helped me to understand some of the pitfalls that cause students to struggle mathematically.  It isn’t enough to check a worksheet; it is important to have a conversation to help determine the depth of understanding.