Using The Walls To Improve Students Strategies

Arpine's Grade 3 class was about a week into their unit on Patterning and Algebra.  She was finding that the students were always using pictures as a way to communicate their thinking.  They had been exposed to different strategies (like using a number line) but were always going back to drawing a picture.  Not only is the strategy not varied, it also was taking them a lot of time to complete their work!

As she headed to her class one day she noticed the work of Brian's Grade 6 class posted on the wall.  She stopped and had a look at what they were doing.  They too were doing Patterning but had shown different strategies in their answers.  So she decided to take her class down the hall to look at the wall before she gave them their next problem.  This is what they saw:

The "Wall" of student work.

A brief explanation of what they achieved in the lesson.

One sample of how the students found the pattern.

A second example.

When the students went back to their class something happened.  They wanted to do what the Grade 6 students did.  They now had seen different ways to find patterns, and wanted to demonstrate their thinking in a different way.  Here is a sample of the work Arpine was getting before looking at the "wall"

Here are samples of some of the different strategies that she go after the walk:

These students decided to try a number line.

This student attempted to use tally marks to help show their thinking.

To consolidate this lesson, they then created an anchor chart with the strategies that they could now use to help them when they solve a problem.  Even though they choose not to use some of these strategies, they remembered seeing them done by the Grade 6's and wanted to include them for future use.