Error Analysis Reflection

The work I participated in while reviewing the More Errors document was quite interesting to dive into. A series of various student samples of mathematical problems were posed, many of which involved errors in solving and/or incorrect answers. I was to go through each problem and determine how the sample student was going about solving the problem, and if mistakes were made, where those mistakes were found. Then, I had to try and solve a few additional, similar problems using the sample student's method (which was usually incorrect). This seemed like a simple task at first, but as I explored deeper into the problems, I realized this was more difficult than I first thought. Some of the mistakes I was able to easily pick up on, while others caused me quite a challenge. I think most of the difficulty came from trying to read and understand someone else's work. It is easy for me to reread and understand my own work and my process for finding a solution, because I can internatlize my thoughts. However, when it comes to trying to read and understand someone else's methods and processes for finding a solution, it can be much more difficult. I had this problem throughout the entire More Errors document. Some of the problems really caught me off guard, because I could not figure out the methods/strategies the sample student was using to find their written solution. In additon to having difficulty in finding the mistakes the sample students used, it became evident to me that a large multitude of mistakes can be used when solving mathematics problems. I saw mistakes in the problems that I read which would never even cross my mind to do while solving a mathematics problems. I think this really opened up my mind to the fact that just because an idea, method, or strategy in mathematics makes sense to me does NOT mean that the same applies to someone else. Reading and understanding my student's mathematical work is something that I am going to do every single day. After completing the More Errors assignment, I now realize that I need a lot of practice and experience in doing this.