Let Your Students Take the Lead: The Game-Changer of Writing Their Own Word Problems

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Do your students struggle with understanding word problems? After many experiences of watching students who had solid computation skills struggle to solve word problems, I finally found a solution – having students write their own!

HAVE STUDENTS WRITE THEIR OWN:

Writing their own word problems gives students a deep understanding of why one problem requires addition to solve while another requires multiplication, subtraction, division, or another problem solving strategy like “make a list”.

Give your students a fun way to write word problems! Get them involved and watch them soar as they finally understand how word problems work. You will see so many “light bulb moments.” It will be exciting for you and your students. Try it and be patient. Students will gain understanding through trial and error, practice, refining, and trying again. This process brings great understanding and confidence. It’s thrilling to see students progress!

As they improve, try setting criteria for them, such as:

WRITE A WORD PROBLEM THAT:

can be solved using multiplication
has extra information
needs two steps to solve
uses the numbers 43 and 8 in the solution equation
is about your friend buying a new book that cost $8.43

By setting specific criteria, you will target your students’ needs. You will also quickly see where students’ misconceptions are!

Often, when I ask students to write a multiplication word problem, they write a problem that must be solved using addition instead of multiplication. Even though they know that multiplication requires equal groups, their word problem involves two different sets of objects that must be added to answer the question they have asked. This happens even with sixth graders!

Self Evaluation

When students have criteria for their problem, they must think deeply about: 1. their question and 2. the “action” or “being” in their problem. Can this be solved using addition, or would I have to use subtraction? Is there extra information? Can I solve it using just one step?

Students have to evaluate their own problems and apply their computation skills to write to specific requirements. We work hard to help students become fluent with their facts. Word problems are a chance for them to use their skills in a real-life application!

Build a deep understanding with this FREEbie. Having student-written problems will also give you a stash of math talk materials! Plus, you will have an easy way to differentiate and meet the needs of each of your students.

When students know and understand how to write their own problems, they build math vocabulary, apply computation skills, and deepen their overall mathematical confidence.

Subscribe below and receive your FREE Spin-a-Word-Problem resource! If you are already a Sum Math Fun subscriber, you may download this FREEbie from our Resource Library.

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