Manipulative Art
I tried to get her on task through proximity and by trying to help her with a question, but as soon as I left she would just keep playing with them.
I can't say that I don't understand why this girl was playing rather than working (as evidenced by the "art" pictured here that I made during Prime Math class). Sometimes you just wanna play with blocks! I was intrigued by the bright colours and wanted to make art with them.
I remember someone once telling me that it is important to give students time to play and explore manipulatives. I was thinking it might be useful to have time allotted during a lesson in which students could quickly make some manipulative art. If they are going to play with the manipulatives, as teachers we could make the play instructional by incorporating art PLOs, and we could potentially increase their focus on math during the rest of the period by giving them a designated time to pay with the manipulatives.
Thoughts? Do you think it would be best to have manipulative art/play at the beginning, end, or in the middle of the lesson? Or should play with manipulatives be completely separated from "math time?"
Depending on the length of your lesson, I think it would likely be best to incorporate manipulative "play time" at the start of the lesson as you'll really need to make the most out of the rest of the time focusing on the content. I think I is a very interesting idea to try to incorporate art PLO's into this free time, however it may be tricky to actually assess students creations. I do think that it could be beneficial to give students suggestions of what they could make with their manipulative during free time. Restricting what they can make may defeat the purposes of the free "play time", but making suggestions would be a huge benefit to those students that struggle with creativity.
ReplyDeleteGood question! I have NO idea! haha. I know that's not the answer you were looking for. I also encountered this in my practicum class. With the base-ten blocks students were building structures; houses and barns and things. I would always go over and re-direct them if I saw them doing this...but I did wonder...should I? They are creating something. But, I suppose it is more a matter of classroom management. Such that, if I let them get away with playing with BTB's instead of doing the assigned activity; that will likely transfer into other subject areas.
ReplyDeleteOoo! I just thought of something. Perhaps you could facilitate a directed playing-with-manipulatives lesson where they can play and create whatever they want but they have to explain to the class how it is associated with math??
I think blocks could be available to students for free time activity but that goals could be set together for staying focused on their use for math learning during math time. I used to set goals with the group by putting 10 blanks across the top of the chalkboard. Then, during the lesson, when I checked to see if everyone was on task, I would put a check on one of the blanks. The goal was for the class to work together to get all 10 checks filled or to do better than they had done last time. If we needed to do better, we would talk about what would help us achieve the goals. I enjoyed teaching so much more after I discovered individual and group self-assessment - much more powerful and positive than scolding or even redirecting! And the students have ownership. One more thing, the new phones as digital cameras have made it so easy for children to create "temporary" art with materials like math blocks and other manipulatives as well as plasticene, and have them recorded as photographs before they are taken apart.
ReplyDeleteI think kids should be allowed to play with the manipulatives often actually, because they are making the connection that math is full of patterns. I think it would depend on your lesson and the mood of your students (what they just did before, etc) whether you let them play at the beginning, middle, or end. Sometimes if kids just want to play with the blocks, it's better to let them get it out of their system, but other times it's better to make them earn it.
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