Focus on Expectations. After they have completed the problems on the Delivering Newspapers pages, tell students you are going to show them some solutions written by other students. The class will help you decide what to tell each student, so that the student can improve his or her work.
Give each student pair one of the copied student work samples you prepared (Colleen's Work Master, Marta's Work Master, or David's Work Master). See Materials Preparation. Ask student pairs to review the student work sample and to discuss how well that student met the Math Practices Expectations 2, 3, 4, and 6. Students can record feedback in the Feedback Boxes on the sample copies.
Reviewing student work samples is a valuable learning experience for children. Student work samples are provided as Masters in this lesson, but it is even more meaningful for students to evaluate the work of their classmates. Classroom work samples are better reflections of classroom instruction and students have more ownership in them. Be sure to ask permission before displaying a student's work and black out the student's name to provide anonymity.
There are several strategies you can use to improve student explanations.
- Review a student's written work and then have a conference discussing how solutions can be improved.
- Peers can help each other review and communicate solutions.
- Review sample student work with the class and then ask them to revise the student sample.
- Students conduct a self review using the Math Practices page in the Reference section of the Student Guide.
- Provide an outside audience to help focus student revisions. For example, tell students, “Write your explanation so your mom, dad, or sister can understand what you did.”
This lesson describes a review of sample work, but any of the above strategies can be useful.
Review Colleen's Work. Display the Colleen's Work Master. See Figure 2. Select one pair of students to share their feedback. Record students' responses in the Feedback Box on the master as they provide it. See Figure 3 for possible feedback responses.
- How did Colleen show how she used the graph to solve the problem? (She marked 50 on the vertical axis and used dotted lines to show how she went from there to the solid line and then went down to get 4 weeks.)
- What second strategy did Colleen use to solve Question 3? (She used division to figure out that there were four 12s in 48, which is close to 50. Her answer matched the solution on the graph so she knew the answer was reasonable.)
- How did Colleen clearly show her work for this strategy? (She explained the division problem with words and symbols, 50 ÷ 12 = 4R2.)
- Did Colleen label all the numbers? Is there anything that could have been labeled more clearly? (She labeled her answer with weeks and days. It might be even clearer if she used a dollar sign on the $12.)
There are a variety of ways students can deal with the remainder in Question 3. Students could say that the answer is 4 weeks with $2 more to be earned, 5 weeks, or between 4 and 5 weeks. In Figure 2, Colleen decided that Katie needed to work one more day.
Review Marta's Work. Display the Marta's Work Master. See Figure 4. Again, select one pair of students to share their feedback and record it in the Feedback Box on the master. See Figure 5 for possible feedback responses.
- How did Marta show how she used the graph to solve the problem? (She did not show her work on the graph.)
- What second strategy did Marta use to solve Question 3? (She used division.)
- How did Marta clearly show her work for this strategy? (She wrote an explanation and a number sentence, but there is a little confusion about whether she divided 48 by 12 or 50 by 12. She explained what to do with the remainder.)
- Did Marta label all the numbers? Is there anything that could have been labeled more clearly? (In her explanation she used weeks appropriately. Her explanation might be clearer if she labeled the $12.)
Review David's Work. Display the David's Work Master. See Figure 6. As before, select one pair of students to share their feedback and record it in the Feedback Box on the master. See Figure 7 for possible feedback responses.
- How did David show how he used the graph to solve the problem? (He did not show how he used the graph.)
- What second strategy did David use to solve Question 3? (He did not show any strategy. He had an answer, but he did not show how he solved the problem.)
- Did David label all the numbers? Is there anything that could have been labeled more clearly? (He labeled weeks, but he didn't explain what that meant, so it is unclear what the numbers mean.)
Revise Work.
After reviewing and discussing the sample work, ask:
- Based on the sample work we reviewed, what changes would you make to your solutions and explanations to the Delivering Newspapers problems?
Direct students' attention to the Delivering Newspapers Feedback Box on the Delivering Newspapers pages from the Student Activity Book. Remind them to think about the Expectations listed and to use what they learned from the student sample review to revise their own work.
