Storyboards for meaningful patterns by Dubon and Shafer Teaching Children Mathematics

Summary

This article is about Dubon, a Novice teacher who works in a kindergarten classroom in a Title 1 school in northwestern Indiana. While the class frequently uses patterns and predictability, in classroom management as well as in following the daily routine, the students were unable to generate patterns on their own and were not able to discuss or talk about the patterns that they saw or had created. Dubon’s principal eventually paired her with a professor, Shafer, from the local college who arrived at the school armed with manipulatives and ideas on how to teach the children patterns. Initially, Shafer tested the student’s ability to generate a simple pattern, a topic that they had studied in class; few of the students were able to perform the task. So Shafer began her lesson, she used multiple examples using, people (boy-girl-boy-girl), sounds (snap, clap, snap, clap) and other patterns. She then introduced storyboards to the children. The storyboards require the students to start story problems and then introduce the snap cubes as a way to visually represent the objects in the story. The image shown in the article as cats and dogs in an alternating AB pattern; one of the students made up a story about the cat and dogs kissing and fighting, etc. Where all the other strategies had failed this one was successful. The students were able to take this model and extend it to many other situations and stories. Eventually the students were able to successfully use pattern blocks to present many things, assign meaning and tell a story. The key to the strategies success is that it allows the students to assign meaning to an otherwise meaningless activity.

Application
I feel that this article is a wonderful example of how a reflective teacher solves a problem in the classroom. Dubon’s students did not understand the material the way that she approached it, so she approached it a different way and sought the help and guidance that she needed. It can be difficult for a teacher to admit that she dose not know how to help her students and I feel that it is a mark of professionalism to admit when you need help. This article is also very helpful in that it reminds teachers that what we teach must always carry meaning in students lives. The best lessons appeal to student’s interests and common knowledge, are holistic and allow students to participate in a meaningful way. In this article the students spend a lot of time coming up with the problems that they then solved; which, in part was why they remembered the material.

Dubon, L. and Shafer, G. (2010). Storyboards for meaningful patterns. Teaching Children Mathematics. 16(6) 325.