Reflection
What aspect of your lesson were implemented differently than you planned? Why did that
happen?
An aspect of my lesson that was implemented differently than I imagined was the actual
layout of the lesson itself. I originally had imagined 3 lines of students sitting facing the white
board; I imagined all students being able to see and sitting in a straightly formed line. That vision
might have seemed unrealistic but I thought the space would have allowed for it better. But once
I began setting up for my lesson, I quickly realized at 1:15 in my video that I was going to have
to reposition my students. I realized all the students were not going to be able sit in that space
and be able to see. To solve this problem, I broke my lines of students in half and moved half of
the line to the front. This solved the problem at first, but at 4:39 in my video I noticed all my
students are struggling to see the board. At 5:00, I gave instructions for my students to stand in
the back so they were able to see. I was explicit about my instructions, and only gave permission
to certain students to stand. All of these changes happened because of my spacing in my
classroom, I was doing an engaging and interactive lesson that needed more space for the
students other than the carpet and their desks.
If you were going to teach this lesson to the same group of students, what would you do
differently? Why? What would you do the same? Why?
If I was going to teach this lesson differently to the same group of students, I would begin
by establishing partners for the turn and talks right away before the lesson even began. I would
give each student a specific partner, which would be a student in front or behind them. This
would cut back on the wasted time of the students seeking their own partner. At 11:43, in my
video a student moves across the entire room to be partners with another student, and in this
transition time, most other partnerships have already discussed their answer. If I planned out
partnerships ahead of time, then my students “think-pair-shares” will be more beneficial to them.
If I was going to teach this lesson the same to the same group of students, I would make
sure to formatively assess the students the same throughout the lesson. I monitored the students
and looked for the students to show their work on the whiteboards, I looked for the correct
answer, I looked for mental or finger math, and I especially looked for students that depended on
their peers during the lesson. At 13:38, 2 students actually copied the exact WRONG answer off
their peer’s whiteboard. I was looking for these particular students that were depending on their
peer’s answers to be able to pull them before their test to either clear up their misconceptions or
reteach them the material. This also demonstrated FEAPS 1d, as I am selecting appropriate
formative assessments to be able to assess my students progress in their learning of adding 3
addends within 20.
What surprised you in your lesson?
In my lesson, I was very surprised by a few things beginning with the levels of
engagement I received from my students. I knew that my students were going to be engaged in
my lesson because it involved big hula hoops, big dice to roll, and lots of moving around; but
this lesson really enriched their learning because they were engaged during every bit of it. At
14:02 in my video, a student said “this is the most fun I have had in math ever!” and that
comment really helped me in my future math planning. My students were fully engaged in the
math lesson, and did not even realize they were learning. Not only did they do great during the
lesson, they all received a 70% or higher on their math test.
Another thing that surprised me in my lesson was how well the diagnostic data helped
form my groups for the activity. Each round of 3 students was very close when it came to them
raising their hands with their answers. I thought that most groups would be successful and a few
I was curious about but I was very surprised with how well my students did. At 7:25 in my
video, one of my students who has been working very hard to get on level in math, was the
student that won the round. I was very surprised and so excited for her, and all her peers were
cheering her on as well. It was a great confidence boost for this student in math.
Analysis
In what ways were your activities effective? How do you know?
My activity was very effective, especially choosing competition groups of 3 to compete
against each another. These groups made the activity effective because students were
competing against students on even levels. Since the students were on comparable levels in
math, it allowed each round to be a very close call. The grouping allowed the activity to be the
most effective it could be. I used the students most recent diagnostic data from iReady to group
the students so the competition was fair. This also demonstrated my mastery of FEAPS 1e,
being able to use diagnostic student data to plan lessons. It was clear that the students were
facing other students on the same fluency level because each round was very close between
each team. At 14:02 in my video, the students raised their hand almost exactly at the same time,
so I can tell the groups were fair.
Claim: If you facilitate competitive lessons in your classroom, it is important to group students
according to level for the competition to be fair.
In what ways were the instructional materials effective?
Since this was a math lesson, the counters and snap cubes were very effective in this
lesson. These instructional materials were effective because students that felt under pressure
at the front of the class had a strategy that they could fall back on and that was counting the
physical materials. At 17:55 in my video, a student got nervous and briefly blanked on how to
approach the problem, therefore the student turned to using the manipulatives and all
materials provided to help solve the problem. It is important to have physical materials for
kinesthetic learners to use when learning and doing math.
Claim: When students have manipulatives they are able to visual and successfully answer the
math problem, this is important to include in instruction for kinesthetic learners.
