Clip 11/11: Area and Perimeter Post-Lesson Debrief

Overview

Reflecting after the lesson with a colleague, Robin shares her sense of surprise that the students used the strategy of tick marks to help them with their accuracy. Others used the tiles to check and correct their thinking. She shares her next steps for the following day, building on the idea of one group in creating irregular shapes, as well as taking perimeter further.

Teacher Commentary

They pulled in the perimeter part. We hadn't really talked about perimeter, and they were seeing that with perimeter. They were adding versus area, they were multiplying. I know I gave them specific instructions on using the manipulatives first, because I do have a few students in there that have been instantly doing multiplication and not really having to think through the process. I’ve got kids that can multiply, but they don't understand why they're multiplying. They don't understand what that actually means, what they're actually looking at when they're looking at that shape: area’s on the inside, perimeter’s on the outside.