Observation 3- 8th Grade Math

What I See                                                                                                                                                                  What I Wonder

I came into class five minutes after it started. Two of the students are taking advanced Algebra so they are sitting right outside the classroom working independently on an assignment.The teacher is reviewing HW questions from the night before on the boardTeacher is reviewing scientific notationStudents are all facing the board, two hands go up Teacher calls on each student one after the other and answers the questions Student asks if there is another way to solve the problem, a way she sees as simpler. Teacher responds by explaining why she does it the way she does it. Teacher says the way she does it lays out all the info more clearly Transition to note taking Students are having a couple of side conversations while teacher puts notes up on board (Teacher is using a projector, computer and smart board) Students are taking out their composition books to take notes Teacher begins explaining the notes on the board as students are copying down the notes One student asks a question, the girl next to her answers it quietly The next slide has up problems; teacher gives them a few minutes to find the answer. She asks for volunteers to answer the questions She calls on students- no one is raising their hand Teacher uses smart board to write out answers Student asks for teacher to go over one of the examples again. Teacher says we saw one like this yesterday as well, and then goes to re-explain how you solve the problem and why it can be solved that way. Transition Teacher gives out an assignment for students to work on as an in-class assignment Students get to work pretty quickly A couple of clarifying questions are called out. Teacher walks over to students to answer questions 10:15-Each student takes out their books and begins. Some students seem to be working together asking questions to each other. Science teacher walks in to give Teacher some papers Student start calling out Happy bday to science teacher- this creates an eruption of conversation Teacher calls everyone to attention, it needs to be silent in here so people can work Students get back to work immediately, with small conversations. One student is asked if she needs to move seats, she says no, she can get back to work. Students are re-engaged in the work Teacher is walking around asking to see students HW from last night, to mark in her grade book 10:20-Teacher gives a reminder for students to be quiet One student keeps asking the students around him if they got the answer to various problems 10:25-Teacher gives a reminder to be quiet again, students are silent As teacher is walking around checking HW, some students have questions about the math. Teacher stops at their desks to answer their questions. Classroom is decorated with math posters and information on the walls (i.e. the Distributive property, a guide to problem solving, and a picture of Albert Einstein) 10:30- Students are working silently on the math, teacher is walking around checking work and giving feedback to students One student gets up to leave classroom and as she is walking to asks to use the restroom, teacher nods One student raises he r hand often for help Another student says he is finished and is looking for teacher attention, but she is helping a student. He asks what should he do now Student who is finished is starting a conversation with student next to him Teacher says she will give him the HW assignment to start 10:35- more conversations are starting around the classroom Teacher is writing HW assignment on the board Students are reminded to keep it down again Teacher continues to walk around the room, answering questions or giving feedback as needed Students write down the HW, student work right up to the bell and are dismissed- they are reminded to leave their things because they are coming back 4th period

Do the students know that they may be called on without having their hand up?           This teacher has had these students for math for the last three years. It is obvious they have routines and guidelines that they all know well.

Weekly Reflection 13: Math Lesson-O2

Today I was observed by my coordinator with my morning math student. Here was my lesson plan I used in class today.  I thought the lesson went well. My student was able to use the problem solving strategies to reach an answer.

Something interesting that happened was with the following question:

When I asked the student to tell me which operations would be used to solve this problem, she said addition and multiplication (both my coordinator and I would have also said subtraction). I did not want to tell her what to do as this was more of the independent practice piece of the lesson. She then went on to show that she needed to multiply $10 and  3, which equals $30, and then multiply 15 and $5, which equals $75. The student then added $30 and $75 to get $105. She then added up from $105 to get to $150. I would have subtracted $105 from $150 to get $45. It was interesting to see which way she chose to find the answer.

Lesson Plan:

Anticipatory Set: We will review the steps involved in solving a word problem. I will do this by asking her to help me write the learning target (which is: By the end of the lesson I will be able to solve a word problem using the problem solving steps), and we will list the steps together.

Statement of Objective: Today our target is to review and apply steps in order to successfully solve a word problem.  The student needs to state the learning target.

 Input: We will look at one of the problems together. Since this is not the first time we are doing this, we will skip to the guided practice step

 Guided Practice: I will ask student to guide me through the problem. I will ask her questions, such as, what is the first step? What should we do next? What information should we write down? What operation is being used? What is the question? And I will remind her to write the answer to the question out in a sentence.

1-      Underline important information

2-      Pull out important information

3-      Identify the operation and strategy

4-      solve

Independent Practice:  She will have the opportunity to approach and several word problems on her own. I anticipate needing to remind her of some of the steps along the way.

At the end of the lesson, the student needs to state the target and give her input how she learned the lesson, including how she felt about the difficulty of the work.

 

Offer appropriate challenge in the content area.This lesson appropriate for my student, both to challenge her, but also she was able to be successful.

Weekly Reflection 12: Math Lesson 2

I taught a lesson to my 5th grade math student on equivalent fractions. Before we started we wrote down our learning goal for the lesson.

Here is the assignment:

   

This student likes to work using a white board.  Here is some of her work: