Grades 3-5 Math Problem Solving in Action_ Getting Students to Love Word Problems

Real Stories, Deep Understanding ◆ 3

Figure 1.1 Problem Solving in Math Block

Element When How? What does it look like?

Problem of

the Day (word

problems)

Every day some work on

the problem (this is longer,

around 10 minutes)

Every day students take out

their math problem-solving

notebooks and work on their

problems.

Energizers and

Routines

Every day (these are

short)

Reasoning Activities

What doesn’t belong?

True or False?

Guided Math

Groups

A few times a week Differentiated based on

student needs

Math Workstations Daily (students should

go to the problem-solving

station every day or

almost every day)

Differentiated based on student

needs. Activities vary—solving

problems, writing problems,

sorting problems, matching

problems and equations

Homework A weekly problem-solving

packet

2–3 rich tasks around the

current unit of study with

maybe one review problem

Adapted from Gojak (2011, p. 29)

idea that they have to stick with it and can’t give up. There should be
mini-lessons around perseverance. There are so many ways to teach and talk
about this now with videos, picture books, songs and posters (see https://
http://www.pinterest.com/drnicki7/growth-mindsetperseverance/)..) There are sev-
eral great videos. The Michael Jordan/Nike commercial where he talks about
being a winner because he has practiced and failed so many times is phe-
nomenal. There are different versions of this commercial, but a really powerful
one shows him messing up on the court with the following voice-over:

I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300

games. Twenty-six times, I’ve been trusted to take the game win-

ning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in

my life. And that is why I succeed!

(http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/

m/michael_jordan.html)

What a powerful video! The discussion that pursues is the linchpin to the
year. Students have to understand that problem solving is about sticking
with it. There are some powerful posters like the powerful Japanese prov-
erb: “Fall seven times, stand up eight.”
One third-grade teacher said that she had to persevere to teach her
students what the poster meant. Being children, at first they took the say-
ing literally. They said that it meant if you fall down seven times, just