The four parts remain the same across learning math concepts:
| Plan and Organize
skim and preview tasks breakdown the parts decide how to proceed |
Self-Monitor
check your progress troubleshoot problems ask for help when truly ‘stuck’ |
| Self Reflect
assess our strategies Think-Pair-Share-Compare with others |
Direct Our Own Learning
know what we know know what we need to move forward |
In addition, we may need to create visuals to help with our understanding. (Check out elementary math in Pinterest for tons of ideas on visual representations.) Visuals are especially helpful when we have word problems, new math language. terms, measurement questions, algebraic questions, and comparisons.
Students need to be encouraged to ask themselves:
- What can I remember about solving similar problems?
- How might I represent this math problem so I can better understand what I need to do to solve it
Working with others is another great way to see and learn how others handle math problems. After all, there are often several ways to solve a problem once we understand the goal we’re reaching for