Salyer 1

Abby Salyer
EDMA 6421
Lawler
6 October 2019
Student Interview Assignment
Student Interview Summary:
The student interview was conducted with a 7th grade, female student. I pulled the student aside
during lunch to work on the selected task. I chose to give the student the Cutting Through the
Layers task. The task asked the student to find a rule or pattern to describe the relationship
between inputs of number of layers created in a string, the number of cuts made to the string, and
the output of how may string pieces were created.
To begin the interview, I told the student that there was no right or wrong answer to the task,
rather I was interested in her thought process in attempting the task. I went over the Cutting
Through the Layers task orally with the student and asked if she had any questions. The student
was initially concerned with being right or wrong concerning the task, but I reinforced that there
was no right or wrong answer and I just wanted her focus on attempting the problem.
The student began the task by creating her own examples of strings with various numbers of
layers and cuts. The student was initially confused on how to count the number of layers in her
string examples. After clarification was given on counting the layers, the student continued with
creating and evaluation various string examples. The student created 3 examples of strings with
various numbers of layers and cuts. The student followed the prompt instructions and organized
the input and outputs in an In-Out table as shown in the task. The student made the following
initial observations:
 When you add one layer to the string, the number of pieces produced by cutting the string
changes by 2
 Using the logic above, the number of cuts made does not affect the number of pieces of
string produced
When the student was prompted to look at the patterns corresponding to the string with 5 layers,
the student observed that every time you add a cut, 5 more string pieces are produced. The
student realized her initial observation was false and that the number of layers and the number of
cuts made affects the output of string pieces produced. I prompted the student to try more cuts on
the 5-layered string example. The student confirmed that the number of string pieces produced
keeps increasing by 5. At this point, the student was relating the inputs and the outputs based on
the operation of addition.
Next, she tested if the amount of string pieces for the 6-layered string example also increased by
5 pieces each time a cut was added. The student found that for the 6-layered string example, the
number of pieces produced increased by 6 each time a cut was added. The student made the
following observation, “However many pieces you have depends on the number of layers by the
number of cuts. So, you would add the number of layers per the number of cuts made.” At this
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point the student was building upon her reasoning by using her previous knowledge of relating
the operation of repeated addition to multiplication. To try and formulize the observations the
student was making, I prompted the student to think of what operation was being done between
the inputs to produce the outputs. The student answered by stating multiplication and addition
was being done with the inputs to compute the output.
The student realized the relationship between the inputs and outputs was through multiplication,
but she had yet to determine what was being multiplied. The student recognized that for the
string with 5-layers, the output will always end in a 1 or 6. Comparing this pattern with the
pattern of the multiples of 5, the student realized the outputs of the 5-layered string were all
multiples of 5+1. The student tested to see if this was true for the other examples. After testing a
few examples, the student realized that the outputs were not always multiples of 5+1, but rather
multiples of the number of layers+1. Finally, the student realized the relationship between the
inputs and the outputs was a function of the number of layers multiplied by the number of cuts
increased by 1.
Student Interview Reflection:
The three algebraic thinking habits of mind are performing doing-undoing processes, building
rules to represent functions, and abstracting from computations. Through the task performed, the
student performed the algebraic thinking habit of building a rule to represent a function. To build
rules to represent functions, an individual must organize and analyze data or computations and
recognize any patterns or relationships of the data. The student modeled this algebraic thinking
habit by creating different examples of strings with various layers and cuts and organizing the
data in In-Out tables (Driscoll, 1999).
During the student interview, I observed the student’s algebraic thinking build upon itself. First,
the student was not sure if there was any relationship between the inputs and the outputs of the
task. The student then realized the additive relationship between the inputs and the outputs. Due
to the student’s prior knowledge, she knew that repeated addition was related to multiplication.
The student did not immediately observe what was being multiplied, but rather continued
exploring characteristics of multiplication by recognizing the pattern of certain multiples in the
output values. The reasoning the student used to complete the task built upon itself starting with
her prior mathematical knowledge. Through observing the student’s mathematical reasoning in
this task, I realized that students are able to provide their own scaffolding by building upon their
prior funds of knowledge. I was doubtful that the student would be able to create a rule for the
function in the task. However, the student used her previous knowledge of mathematical
operations to create the correct rule for the function.
Through her prior mathematical knowledge, the student also showed an intuitive mathematical
sense. The student knew the pattern of repeated addition was in fact multiplication even though
she did not immediately come to the relationship of what values were being multiplied. The
student further explored her intuitive mathematical sense to find that the inputs were being
multiplied by each other. Currently in this student’s math class, we are focusing on writing
algebraic equations given word problems. I was excited to observe the student using key words
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to verbally express mathematical operations. Many students struggle with identifying the correct
mathematical operation corresponding to certain key words in word problems. When the student
related the number of string pieces produced to “the number of layers by the number of cuts” she
was able to verbally relate the inputs using multiplication. Throughout the task, I observed the
student first verbalizing her mathematical reasoning, then testing her observations through
computations.
During the student interview, my role was to focus on listening to the student’s reasoning and
thinking process while she completed the task. I noted two useful advantages to shifting my role
to a listener rather than a teacher. First, I was able to listen to how the student was thinking
instead of listening for a certain answer. As previously mentioned, the student verbalized her
thinking process before testing her observations through computations. I believe because I
communicated with the student my focus was on her thinking process rather than her getting the
“correct” answer, she became more comfortable with verbally communication her algebraic
reasoning. Throughout the interview, the questions I asked the student were prompts to facilitate
the student’s algebraic thinking and, naturally, our interaction shifted to become more of a
mathematical discussion. Because my focus shifted from teaching the student to listening to the
student, the student was able to take part in meaningful mathematical discourse (Davis, 1997).
The second advantage to taking a listening role was giving the student an opportunity to explore
the task independently. The task was focused on the student exploring the relationship between
inputs and outputs. When the student began to focus on exploration rather than learning or
memorizing a set of rules, the student naturally became less worried about getting the “correct”
answer. By shifting the focus of the task from mastery to exploration the student was presented
with a challenging opportunity to independently explore her algebraic thinking by building upon
her prior funds of mathematical knowledge.
Many mathematics teachers use a gradual release instruction model, which limits tasks to
learning and practicing procedures with limited opportunities for the student to explore and
create their own mathematical reasonings. The gradual release instruction model – or the “I do,
we do, you do” model – focuses first on the teacher doing the mathematics, then slowly shifts to
the students doing the mathematics. Rather than taking this common instruction approach,
teachers should focus on being facilitators of student learning through student exploration
(Boston, M). When teachers become listeners and/or facilitators of student learning, students are
given the opportunity to comfortably take part in mathematical discourse and independent
reasoning. When these opportunities occur in the mathematics classroom, students can build on
to their prior funds of knowledge and intuitive mathematical reasoning skills to become math
doers.
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Works Cited
Boston, M., Dillon, F., & Smith, M. S. (n.d.). Taking Action: Implementing Effective
Mathematics Teaching Practices in Grades 6-8. Retrieved from
https://www.nctm.org/Store/Products/Taking-Action--Implementing-Effective-
Mathematics-Teaching-Practices-in-Grades-6-8/.
Davis, B. (1997). Listening for Differences: An Evolving Conception of Mathematics Teaching.
Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 28(3), 355–376. doi: 10.2307/749785
Driscoll, M. (1999). Fostering Algebraic Thinking: A Guide for Teachers, Grades 6-10.
Portsmouth (NH): Heinemann.