Place Values

In my alternative teaching lesson, I was providing remediation to two students in Math on place values and what the value of each place value is. This alternative teaching lesson was done on November 2, 2017. While I was providing this small group instruction, my mentor teacher was providing more practice on rounding decimals to the rest of the class. The learning targets for these two students were that they would be able to recall the place value names and locations in relation to other place values and the decimal point as evidenced by the completion of a blank place value chart. The students would also be able to identify the values of each place value and the differences in each place value’s value through modeling it on their place value

Examples of numbers are 8.12, 30.462, 4,657, 14.307, and 162.805. I would guide them through the process. If they got stuck or were doing it incorrectly, I would prompt them to count how far away that number was from the decimal and then count on the place value chart to find the correct place value. I also provided the students with a mnemonic device to try and remember the order of place values from left to right starting with ten thousands and going to thousandths. The mnemonic device is Trying to think how the odd tiger had tentacles, which represents ten thousands, thousands, hundreds, tens, ones, tenths, hundredths, and thousandths. I then assessed the students on recalling the place values and their positions with a blank version of the place value chart on the back of the handout. They were not allowed to use the one they created on the other side. After that I gave them each a set of flashcards I created for them to keep and they started working on those, while I observed and helped when needed. Some of the questions on the flashcards included: What number is in the tenths place in the following number? 62.143, How many places after the decimal point is the hundredths place?, How much more is the tenths place than the hundredths place?, and How many times greater is the value of the 7 in

I knew that this helped the students because I could see the improvement. From how they answered questions in class and the work they had done before my lesson to what I saw them do on the place value chart and how they answered the flashcards showed improvement. I knew it went well when the students started quizzing each other with the flashcards because they were interested in learning and wanted build on this concept. I knew the lesson was going well when the students were comfortable enough to say “Yeah, that one I don’t understand”. I have observed them in whole class instruction and neither of these students ever speak up when they do not understand. When they said those type of things I knew they were beginning to grasp the concept. I also knew that they felt better about this concept because one student said “I feel that I know it a little better now” and the other agreed. The smaller group and the atmosphere around this lesson helped these two students to learn. My mentor teacher has a more aggressive style of teaching and I knew as I was starting this lesson that they needed a more comforting and relaxed setting to learn. These students are aware of their inefficiencies and the aggressive style seems to make them feel worse about themselves, causing them to become distant. The more intimate and upbeat atmosphere