The Number Line (9-18-08)

Having a firm grasp of your student's knowledge and skill level is essential to appropriate instruction. If we don't know where our kids are at then we have no idea what to teach and more importantly at times, what not to teach. However, once we know, what do we do? You see, it's not the awareness of my student's levels that I'm struggling with, it's the implementation of instruction to meet individualized needs that's both overwhelming and exhausting. Here's a poignant example of what I'm talking about.

In one of my classes we're working on Data Analysis, specifically focusing on different visual representations of data as well as measures of central tendency and spread. One of my students, Mercy, has been struggling with the learning activities all unit long and is really failing to show a grasp of the essential learning outcomes. Today, rather than have her complete the investigation with her collaborative group I pulled her aside and provided her with an individual task. Writing eighteen numbers, each from 1 to 100, on sticky notes I then asked her to put the numbers in order from smallest to largest. The result...not terribly positive. Her list looked something like this..."0, 6, 12, 8, 35, 26, 93, 78, etc." Recognizing her difficulty with simply ordering numbers from least to greatest I had her create a giant number line from 1 to 100 and then use it as support to re-order the numbers properly. Struggling to do this revised task I began to wonder what I was doing. How could I reach this student and teach her Algebra? The dilemma with Mercy strikes at the core of my bigger dilemma. Once you know what misconceptions or struggles your students have,.what do you do about it? To try and create a unique lesson for Mercy and a variety of other students who all need additional support in a multitude of areas just isn't possible. However, it's what they need and my job is to serve my clients with the best education possible while meeting them where they are when they walk in the door.

The confusion for me is not how do we find out where they are...that's the easy part. The confusion for me is now that we know, what are we going to do about it that is both doable and sustainable.