what the question was asking. Establishing the representations, such as cubes and
arrays, to help them visualize and solve the problem was also particularly impor-
tant. Using precise language such as “in each of the 56 groups of 5, there are 3
black cars and 2 white cars” would help the students keep track of the numbers
and remind them of what they were trying to solve.
When the meeting was concluded, we had all worked through the problem
and thought deeply about the ways the students could see success. We asked
Karen how she felt about the task and how well prepared she felt, and she showed
a high level of confidence and enthusiasm.
The Small Guided Group Meeting
On this particular Friday, Karen joined Marta’s fifth-grade classroom. She brought
a group of seven students together. Some of the students have identified learning
challenges in reading comprehension and mathematical problem solving, some
are English language learners, and some have special needs in math. A white-
board, markers, and cubes were close at hand. Karen reminded the students that
they would be working on one problem for the entire time and that they would
spend the first part of the session “unpacking” the problem using the KWC charts.
The problem that day was the same one we had worked on together: One day,
the Lugnut Car Factory produced 315 cars. The cars were silver, black, or white.
One-ninth of all the cars were silver. For every 3 black cars made, 2 white ones
were produced. How many of each color did they produce?
Karen began by asking the students to not read the whole problem at once be-
cause they would be discussing each sentence in the problem, one at a time, and
using the KWC chart to understand the problem. She asked a student to read the
first sentence: “One day, the Lugnut Car Factory produced 315 cars.”
KAREN: OK, stop there.
JAY: That’s a lot of cars.
JULIO: We can write that in the Know column.Karen asked Glenda to read the next sentence: “The cars were silver, black,
or white.” The group wrote the new information in the Know column on their
KWC charts: “There were silver, black, white cars.” Karen reminded the group
that they were now noting that the cars were going to be split into 3 groups. Sally
read the next sentence: “One-ninth of all the cars were silver.”
JAY: We could do of 315, and that will automatically give us the silver. We
could break up 315 into 9s. You could do 10 9 and then 15 9 and see
how close you get.1
9WORKINGCOLLABORATIVELY