I learned that I do a good job of covering the important concepts, scanning the room, and including all students in the discussion process. Each pair of students created their own list of characteristics and was called upon to share one characteristic.
Due to the fact I walked around, most students were engaged with the process of making the list and I made sure to call on each group to participate in sharing. I do not believe they would have been successful in doing this without encouragement or guidance from me. They needed a little guidance and encouragement but most of them contributed some sort of work.
I addressed a variety of abilities by knowing my students and spending more time with the groups who needed more guidance. I also guided them more when they were sharing answers if I knew they were struggling to express something.
My biggest challenge was assessing students' understanding of prior knowledge before jumping into the next topic. I should have spent more time and gone slower before leaping forward. The assessment component is the piece I have worked the most on since taking this video and my mentor teachers have given me positive feedback and noticed a big difference in my teaching.
In this warm-up routine, the students were asked several questions that involved recognizing equations in slope-intercept form and then being able to graph them. Furthermore, students were asked to identify whether the paired equations were parallel, perpendicular, or neither. Strategies used during the warm-up included select and sequencing, inquiry-based instruction, conjecturing, generalizing, justifying, and clarifying.
ReplyDelete1. What strength(s) did you notice in the teaching and learning process?
I used a variety of inquiry-based methods to engage students in the learning process and promote higher order thinking (conjecturing, generalizing, justifying, etc.) Rather than asking for volunteers, I tracked participation through select and sequencing so that by the end of the week, each student came up to the board at least once.
2. What evidence(s) of students' learning did you observe?
Students demonstrated their ability to identify the y-intercept and slope, graph the equations, then determine whether the lines were parallel, perpendicular, or neither. In order for students to know if the lines were perpendicular, they had to either draw the picture or see that the slopes were negative reciprocals. The negative reciprocal part was the most difficult part for them to understand.
3. To what degree were all learners engaged?
Judging by the posture of a few students in the back, I could try to call on them to be sure they are engaged and ask them politely to sit up with their feet facing the front of the room. Sometimes students will sit sideways with their legs in the aisle and I need to try to discourage this posture.
4. What evidences of addressing varied abilities did you observe?
I clarified student's explanations when I felt it was necessary. Most students in this class struggle with math and it is my job to do things slowly and at a lower volume than some of the other classes so that they are not overwhelmed by the curriculum. Less is more with this group.
5. What was the your role in supporting learning?
I wandered up and down the aisles while the students were working and I kept them on task and gave students pointers to get them started. Sometimes the students simply needed me to restate the directions to get them to begin working. I did my best to ask questions whenever possible to stimulate learning rather than telling them the answers.
6. Describe one challenge you observed.
My main challenge is keeping students in the back of the class engaged. Starting Monday, all of the students will be put in the front of the classroom near the center so we can do more think-pair-shares and other collaborative learning activities.
7. Based on the above responses, how might you revise or tweak this instructional routine?
I may try to bounce around a bit more with questions and call on a variety of students to keep them more engaged. We will absolutely work on the body language and posture in this class as well. The basic structure of the warm-up was a success and the students were give ample opportunities to learn and ask clarifying questions. For slightly more advanced learners, I threw in an extra question to see how well they understood the structure of an equation in slope-intercept form (when there was no "b" for the y-intercept, it is assumed that the y-intecept is zero. I would not expect ALL of the students to know this the first time around, but I want them ALL to know it by the end of the unit.)
1. What strength(s) did you notice in the teaching and learning process?
ReplyDeleteExcellent! Great job giving positive feedback and speaking slowly. I still get nervous and will often get too caught up in what I’m saying to remember to slow down! I liked how you had students come up and not only write on the board, but also EXPLAIN what she was doing.
2. What evidence(s) of students' learning did you observe?
Great job getting students to participate in the activity and calling for responses.
3. To what degree were all learners engaged?
For the most part all the students were engaged and focused in on the warm-up. Again I think speaking slowly and clealy was a key part of this
4. What evidences of addressing varied abilities did you observe?
This warm up activity is a good one for varied abilities because you can pick the student who participates based on the difficulty of the problem. For example, with a more difficult problem you could pick a student who is a high achiever, while saving easier questions for students who are struggling.
5. What was the your role in supporting learning?
I think you did an excellent job guiding the student through her thought process on the graph. Also, by reiterating or just speaking louder, you made sure that the other students were tracking.
6. Describe one challenge you observed.
I noticed that the class has some difficulty paying attention, and some of the students were looking elsewhere while you were talking or when the student was doing something on the board.
7. Based on the above responses, how might you revise or tweak this instructional routine?
The only recommendation I have is to maybe walk back into the class and stand by students that are not paying attention, or walk by them, giving them a silent reminder such as a hand on their desk. I think it would be very effective, especially while the student is at the board and you have the option.