Classroom Characters Coach Students to Success Article

The article I read was, Classroom Characters Coach Students to Success, in the Teaching Children Mathematics magazine. This article discussed different ways to incorporate characters into the learning environment and have these characters be beneficial to the students. The article also discussed a 1-2-3 Time that seems to work with many different teachers. The 1-2-3 Time allows students to go to different stations that incorporate mathematical skills in 3 different ways. These different ways could include, but are not limited to: computer activities, reading and writing experiences, or instructional material.

The coaching aspect of the article, was a computer related character that was part of a mathematical program. This character would help encourage the student to continue to work and try different computations on a particular math problem. The math problems on the computer were relevant to what the students are learning and are at the appropriate level for the individual.

Math learning games are another way that allow students to have a hands-on experience with math and to get a better understanding for how something is meant to be. Math learning games allow the students to work in groups to create a solution that everyone can agree on. Math learning games also provide students with the ability to think outside of the box, they are able to formulate many different answers for one particular problem, but many answers could be correct.

Edwards, S., Maloy, R., and Anderson, G. (2010). Classroom characters coach students to success. Teaching children mathematics 16 (8), 342-348.