Personal Narrative: An Interview With A Child With Tyrese

The child I interviewed is a six years old boy by the name of Tyrese, and he is currently in the first grade. Tyrese first began school in kindergarten, he has no prior formal schooling; however, his mother tried to teach him the basics at home. Being that she is an early educator, she was always seeking information on how she can assist Tyrese at home in order to prepare him for kindergarten. Tyrese is an active, smart and persistent child and he always demonstrated a positive approach to learning. It came as no surprise to me when I told him that I was coming to his house to have complete some math problems, he was ecstatic. When I got to his house, he was well prepared. He had his notebook, pencil and counters ready. I began the interview by asking him what the highest number he could count to and he responded “one-million.” Of course I know that was not possible, so I asked him to count for me. Tyrese counted to 100 without any assistance. I then asked him if he could count by 2s, 4s, 5s. and 10s, he counted by 2s, 5s, and 10s, but not 4s. I then presented him with the first problem, which was a simple addition problem (5+4=____) and without even thinking, he immediately wrote the answer to the problem. When I asked him if he was certain that the answer is correct, he said yes with confidence. When I asked him how he solved the problem he stated “I just

Potential employers will see that I have the ability to create age appropriate math problems, and conduct an interview that allowed me to gain insight into a child mathematical thinking. Doing this interview will also allow potential employers to see that I am able to pose addition and subtraction problems to a child and analyze his thinking based on both his written and verbal