Blog Entry #3 — Benny and IPI

Writing: Write two paragraphs about Erlwanger's paper on Benny's understanding of fractions and decimals.

Paragraph 1: Write a description of what you think Erlwanger's most important point is in this paper.

• Describe what the main point is.
  
• Present the evidence that Erlwanger uses to make this point.

Use a topic sentence to start your paragraph. Make sure that you include enough detail about terms and ideas so that someone who didn't read Erlwanger's paper could understand the main point and the argument used to support it. Once again, you are trying to summarize Erlwanger's thinking, so do not include any of your own ideas. At the same time, don't just write a blow-by-blow account of the paper. Organize the ideas in a way that makes sense to you and is easy for a reader to follow.

Paragraph 2: Identify a part of his main point or argument that is valid for teaching mathematics today, and write a persuasive argument for why it is valid.

• Describe the part of the main point or the argument in Paragraph 1 that is still valid today.
• Explain why you think it is still valid.

Once again, your paragraph should start with a topic sentence. Although this paragraph reflects your own ideas and thinking, please maintain a scholarly tone in your writing. Feel free to include your own personal experiences or ideas from other papers you have read as evidence to back your claim. Include enough detail so that your audience can understand your experience or the ideas you are citing from other papers.

Please proof read your entry before you post it. Remember, approximately four people will be reading your entry, so be courteous and keep the errors in your writing to a minimum.

Commenting: Visit three blogs that you have not yet commented on. If a blog already has four student comments, please choose a different blog to comment on. Read the whole entry, but focus your comment on the second paragraph. Your comment should identify one part of the second paragraph that you think meets the assignment well, and one part of the same paragraph that could be improved. Some possible issues you might want to consider commenting on include the fllowing:

• Is there a topic sentence for this paragraph that adequately captures the point of the paragraph?
• Are all of the sentences in the paragraph related to the topic sentence?
• Is the idea that the author is arguing for part of the main point or argument that was identified in the first paragraph?
• Is the idea the author is arguing for adequately described?
• Does the author provide a compelling argument for the validity of the idea for teaching mathematics today?
  
• Is there something in the paragraph that weakens or detracts from the argument?
• Is there a way that the argument could be strengthened?
• Does the author fail to consider important evidence or ideas that contradict the argument?
  

The purpose of your comment is to critique the author's argument, not to argue for your own ideas about what is valid for teaching mathematics today. Do not propose an alternate point that should have been argued for instead of the one the author chose. Instead, work with the author's ideas and give feedback that can help the author write better in the future.

Due Dates: Entry due at start of class on Jan 25; comments due at start of class on Jan 27.