The topic that I taught was on completing the square. We have not worked on this yet, but had worked on converting previous forms of quadratic equations over the past few days. I figured that this was so different that it counted as a new topic. The video is just a recording off of the smart board. It was either see what I was writing or see the class, so I figured the writing was more important so you can make sense of it. I could only get it on youtube and not vimeo because my teacher has them all converted to youtube for her classes. I apologize if it is too long. It is a whole lesson. I needed the whole thing to send to a student who was out with a relative who passed.
My strengths were having students involved in the lesson rather than just lecturing them. I try to have them lead me through the lesson by asking leading questions. I observed student learning by asking a lot of questions to see how they were understanding. I also had about a half hour of students working on problems while I walked around observing so I could see how they were doing. I also checked for understanding by asking them to rate their understanding 1-3, 3 being the highest. There were only about five different students who were answering/asking questions. This is a very small class, only about 12 students. Even though you can't see the students, there are only probably two students that aren't engaged. That is easy to fall in to because this is my last class of the day so students are tired which makes it challenging. Addressing varied abilities did not come up much because most of the students are on the same page. The students who did not understand spoke up when needed and that was about as far as it went. My role in supporting learning was having students guide me through the lesson. One challenge I observed was getting students to participate early on. Since this is a small class late in the day it is pretty difficult at times to get this group to participate. I would probably revise this lesson by having students work on problems on their own more in the middle of the lesson so that they are getting a chance to try and can figure out whether they really understand what we are doing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYwi2_lF-cU&feature=youtu.be
If possible, in order to address all the the reflection 'essential questions', one would need to 'pan' around the room and the teacher to see the dynamics (vs just looking at the smartboard and audio). This video still has some value, but would be more beneficial if next time to experiment with the above.
ReplyDeleteStrengths: I thought you did a nice job of reminding them of what they have already done before leading into the new lesson on completing the square. This helps remind them that they have multiple ways for solving equations and they should not forget them. The use of the Smart Board was a good idea as I assume you have notes that are available to the students. The repetitions of the problems also reinforced the information.
ReplyDeleteEvidence of students learning: I could tell that the students were able to follow notes from previous problems and get into a rhythm with these. They realized they should follow the steps each time. Maybe next time show the students instead of the screen? I think the engagement piece is the most important part as well as body positioning, proximity, and other factors that go into effective teaching. I was unable to tell this from listening to you and watching what you were writing. When you are being evaluated by either Willamette or an administrator, they will likely pay more attention to the student engagement piece than they will the actual content of your instruction.
To what degree were all learners engaged: Maybe try calling on individual students rather than asking for volunteers. This will improve student engagement and keep students alert. Again, I was unable to tell how engaged they were because I could not see them.
Evidence of addressing varied abilities: The think-pair-share method allows for students to work in small groups and it helps those who do not prefer participating in full classroom discussions. They get to be heard this way.
Supporting learning: Used inquiry based instruction methods and encouragement to get students to participate and lead the discussion.
One challenge: I think overall student engagement would be improved with random calling on students. Asking for volunteer answers decreases engagement.
Tweaking this routine: Near the beginning you start off well with the recap on what has already been covered, but then I felt like it went a little fast into the "showing". Maybe go slower at the beginning and lead into completing the square before actually showing them? Would it be possible to show them the first step or two for the set up and then ask questions to lead them to the answer? Again, try to ask direct questions and call on individual students for each piece. I think you will find that more students are paying close attention. Overall I thought it went well and the students learned a new skill and had adequate practice with it.