Math in the Middle Institute Partnership
Date of this Version
7-2008
Abstract
In this action research study of my classroom of 5th grade mathematics, I investigated writing in a journal as formative assessment. I also investigated how elementary age students would be able to utilize the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) process standard reasoning and proof. Using the Houghton Mifflin (2005) textbook and curriculum I discovered that writing reasons and proof as a formative assessment in a mathematics journal is a good way to teach mathematics. Having students solve math problems during the closure portion of each math lesson does a good job of holding students accountable for the math objectives and lets the teacher know who understood the mathematical objective each day. By using a reasoning and proof journal, students are able to demonstrate their understanding of mathematical concepts in words and numbers. Each student has the opportunity to explore and develop a conceptual understanding for each math objective while they write in their RAP (reasoning and proof) journal. As a result of this research, I plan to report my findings and share all the data to my Math in the Middle colleagues. I plan to use a RAP journal with a new group of students when I teach math next year. I hope to continue to develop these RAP journals further into the future. I hope to pioneer an effective strategy to reach students in the area of mathematics response to intervention (RTI).
Comments
Math in the Middle Institute Partnership, Action Research Project Report, in partial fulfillment of the MAT Degree. Department of Mathematics. University of Nebraska-Lincoln. July 2008.