Melissa McGraw

MAED 3224

December 6, 2017

Clinical Reflection

When I found out I was placed in a fifth grade classroom, honestly, I wasnt thrilled. For the

previous semesters I have been placed in K-2 classrooms and Ive grown to love that age range. I

know in the real world, I will accept any grade level that is offered to me but ideally I would love

K-2. However, throughout my experience this semester I truly enjoyed working with fifth

graders.

Overall I thought the math content for fifth grade is too complex to teach to students: dividing

three or four digit numbers by 2 digit numbers, and decimals!? On the first few days in the

classroom I just wanted to observe the teacher and see how the students were behaved so I knew

what to expect. I must say I was shocked to see students giving their full attention to the teacher,

working independently to solve equations, asking questions when they were confused, and most

importantly I could see their excitement to learn new content. Before her math lesson she had the

North Carolina State Standards on the board that she was using in her lesson for that day. She

had one student read the standards and asked if the students were excited to see what that

standard meant they were doing for that day. The students of course answered yes and they took

guesses as to what they thought they would be learning. This brought so much joy to me because

I havent had the opportunity to work with older students that are learning complicated material

and are excited about it. Im used to doing addition word problems and having to explain over
and over how to solve it. Being with this fifth grade class made me excited to want to teach my

lesson.

My clinical teacher just started teaching the students division strategies. She taught them the

big 7 method, standard algorithm, drawing a picture and partitioning, repeated subtraction, and

multiple towers. She had just introduced multiple towers when I was there so I was given the

opportunity to continue on with the lesson the next day and elaborate more on how beneficial

multiple towers can be. When my clinical teacher gave me this task, I was up for the challenge

but I was nervous because I wasnt completely sure on how multiple towers were made, how

they worked, and what questions to ask the students during the lesson. My teacher let me borrow

her Math Investigations resource book where she gets all her math lessons from. The book is a

fantastic resource for teachers! It guides the instructor with questions to ask the students,

examples to use with the class, worksheets and homework to give to the students. It was an

excellent tool to be able to use and Im grateful my teacher let me borrow it.

When the day came for me to teach my math lesson, I was no longer nervous-I was excited. I

learned to love these students and it was a pleasure to teach them. I had the students sit on the

carpet while I sat in the chair and we discussed how multiplication can be used to solve division

problems and what the purpose of multiple towers is. The students were respectful when others

were talking and they raised their hands and waited to be called on. It made me feel more relaxed

because they were so well behaved. As a class we made a multiple tower using the number 21. I

made the multiple tower and asked the students for the next number I should write down. The

students were telling me the numbers quicker than I could write them all down! I was amazed

with the mental math skills these students had, especially when we got into the higher numbers.

We got all the way to 1,050 without calculators! I had the Math Investigations book with me in
case I needed guided questions or examples to give to the students but to my surprise I

remembered the questions and examples used in the book from studying it. Everything came so

naturally to me and I didnt have to reference back to the book for help.

For the explore phase I gave the students a worksheet with seven division and multiplication

equations on it. The students were allowed to work with a partner or independently to solve the

equations. I gave the students ten minutes to work on it and then I got the students attention so

we could go over all the problems as a class and they could check their work. The students were

allowed to use any strategy they wanted to but all the equations included 21 in it so it was easiest

to use the multiple tower that was just made. Because there were only seven equations I asked

students if they wanted to share how they got their answer. I think this was a good way for

everyone to hear different ways the multiple tower can be used and what ways their classmates

solved the equations. After we went over all the equations, I gave the students an exit ticket and

told them to work independently to solve it and they could use any strategy they wanted to.

There was one student who just stared at the paper for the entire time, I told him to try to write

something down based on what he just learned. He got frustrated and started to cry. I asked him

to come into the hallway with me where there was a desk so I could help him with the equation.

The clinical teacher stayed in the classroom while the rest of the class worked on their exit

tickets. The struggling student said he didnt know where to begin to solve the equation. He

didnt want to draw a picture, use repeated subtraction, the multiple tower, or the big seven

method. He wanted to use the standard algorithm but forgot how to do it. I wanted to teach the

student and make sure he wasnt frustrated in future lessons so I showed him how to use the

standard algorithm (this exit ticket didnt count in my assessments). I felt so bad seeing the

student get upset out of confusion and frustration so my instinct told me to help him and teach
him what he needs help with. I hope the one on one instruction helped him learn and remember

the standard algorithm strategy.

The following day, the teacher continued with multiple towers except she used a different

number. The students again helped her make the multiple tower and applied it when solving

division and multiplication problems. The teacher had a worksheet she wanted the students to

complete. She divided them into groups based on the students that understood it and could work

independently or together, students that somewhat understood it but needed some guidance, and

students that were completely confused and needed assistance. She had me work with the

students that were completely confused. There were five students and we sat at a U shaped table.

I gave instructions to the students as a group, but was able to work with them one on one to see

where they got confused and what they needed help with. One student always wanted to do

repeated subtraction but when it was a three digit divided by two digit equation, she learned that

it took too long, was messy, and was easier for her to make a mistake and not get the right

answer. Another student always wanted to draw a picture but when it was a three digit divided by

two digit equation, she learned that it was hard to draw pictures big enough to hold lots of circles

and it was hard to keep track of how many more she had to fill in the circles. I enjoyed seeing the

different ways students worked out the problems and showing them easier ways to solve them. I

could also see how much these students wanted to learn strategies because they asked many

questions to make sure they were understanding properly. I loved working in small groups

because it gives me more time to focus on students misconceptions and what they need to work

on. For the rest of my time in this classroom, I worked in small groups almost everyday. The

teacher switched it up and sometimes I had the yellow students and sometimes I had the red

students. I loved every opportunity I had to work with the students. During the last few days I
was there, my clinical teacher lost her voice to the point where she could barely talk. She asked

me if I felt comfortable enough to teach lessons to the students. Of course I said yes because this

class was great and the students got to know me so well, they enjoyed seeing me every day. It

was also a compliment to me that the teacher felt comfortable enough to have me teach to her

students without having it planned.