Blog Phase II Reflection: Lesson Implementation
Good evening future colleagues,
I delivered my math lesson to a small group of fifth grade students, prior to having to enrich it with technology to present it in my ETC 447 class. The technology incorporated into my lesson allowed me to create a small-group activity easily accessible to a larger group of students.
During the implementation of my lesson I believe I was able to give students a clear list of steps to follow when solving expressions that include addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division along with the use of parentheses and/or brackets. I introduced the students to the mnemonic device PEMDAS (Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally) to assist them in remembering the steps when solving math equations using order of operations. Based on my peers advice they believe I could’ve taught my students an alternate way of approaching the problem which I would have planned to do either before or after this lesson. I am aware that not all students learn the same and not one approach will work for all. I do believe I could have allowed students to create their own phrase that would correspond to PEMDAS instead of using the one I provided to make it more authentic to them and possibly easier to remember. I also showed students the importance of following set steps in order to get the “correct” result. I did this by having them list the steps to creating a PB&J sandwich and demonstrating to them how successful I’d be if I followed their steps. Based on the steps my fifth grade students provided I wasn’t able to get far into making a PB&J sandwich since they were unable to instruct me to open the jars and to use the butter knife to spread either peanut butter or jelly or one face of one of the slices of bread. Students were engaged and were able to understand the importance in solving equations, promptly after I showed them how much a pair of parentheses would change the result of their equation, something I added during the implementation of the lesson.
In order to effectively do my original small-group activity with my peers in class I found a bingo maker website, BingoBaker.com. The website allowed me to put in the numbers I wanted to be displayed on a bingo card. It generated a card for each student after typing in the address given and it shuffled number placements onto each card. Students were able to mark their spots by simply clicking on a spot, a yellow x is shown when a spot is marked. I also created math equations as flashcards on Quizlet to randomly be displayed for students to solve. Once they get to their answer they’re able to mark that number on their Bingo Card. The Quizlet was a great way for me as the teacher to showcase it to students along with allowing me to randomize it if we ever revisit the game. My lesson when presented to my fifth grade students was within the correct time frame because I was able to take up their class period instructing, practicing, checking for understanding, playing Bingo, and completing an exit-ticket. When I presented my lesson to my peers in ETC 447, my lesson was short because I gave them a quick run through explicit instruction and guided practice given college students know how to solve equations using order of operations. I allowed my peers to practice playing Bingo, and we got a winner fairly quick. I explained to them my reasoning to using technology during independent practice versus the assessment part of my lesson. I wanted to ensure students understood how to solve equations using order of operations by seeing their work displayed on their exit-ticket.
My fifth grade students and peers both met my objective therefore mastering the standard presented by my lesson. Based on my peers’ surveys in response to my lesson I was well prepared, supported students in learning the content, and integrated technology to support student learning the content. Some suggestions included: allowing students who struggle to solve the problems ahead of time so they have extra time to complete the equations for the bingo activity, and ensuring students are not just guessing or waiting for the answer. With my fifth grade students I did make each individual student solve the problem on a white board and show their work before showing their answer when teacher calls “showdown”. This allows me as a teacher to look around to ensure students are understanding the concept as well as giving me a chance to walk them through each math equation that they may have missed.
From teaching my lesson and redesigning it after having presented it to my fifth grade students I have realized that there’s no such thing as a perfect lesson plan; as teachers we’re constantly trying to perfect even when we feel we have a solid plan. I have also realized the importance of reflecting on our experience that is involved along the process. If students are not meeting our objective and we don’t reflect on our delivery and guidance then we are bound to fail our students over and over again.
That is all for tonight future colleagues,
Mrs. Vanderford
I delivered my math lesson to a small group of fifth grade students, prior to having to enrich it with technology to present it in my ETC 447 class. The technology incorporated into my lesson allowed me to create a small-group activity easily accessible to a larger group of students.
During the implementation of my lesson I believe I was able to give students a clear list of steps to follow when solving expressions that include addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division along with the use of parentheses and/or brackets. I introduced the students to the mnemonic device PEMDAS (Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally) to assist them in remembering the steps when solving math equations using order of operations. Based on my peers advice they believe I could’ve taught my students an alternate way of approaching the problem which I would have planned to do either before or after this lesson. I am aware that not all students learn the same and not one approach will work for all. I do believe I could have allowed students to create their own phrase that would correspond to PEMDAS instead of using the one I provided to make it more authentic to them and possibly easier to remember. I also showed students the importance of following set steps in order to get the “correct” result. I did this by having them list the steps to creating a PB&J sandwich and demonstrating to them how successful I’d be if I followed their steps. Based on the steps my fifth grade students provided I wasn’t able to get far into making a PB&J sandwich since they were unable to instruct me to open the jars and to use the butter knife to spread either peanut butter or jelly or one face of one of the slices of bread. Students were engaged and were able to understand the importance in solving equations, promptly after I showed them how much a pair of parentheses would change the result of their equation, something I added during the implementation of the lesson.
In order to effectively do my original small-group activity with my peers in class I found a bingo maker website, BingoBaker.com. The website allowed me to put in the numbers I wanted to be displayed on a bingo card. It generated a card for each student after typing in the address given and it shuffled number placements onto each card. Students were able to mark their spots by simply clicking on a spot, a yellow x is shown when a spot is marked. I also created math equations as flashcards on Quizlet to randomly be displayed for students to solve. Once they get to their answer they’re able to mark that number on their Bingo Card. The Quizlet was a great way for me as the teacher to showcase it to students along with allowing me to randomize it if we ever revisit the game. My lesson when presented to my fifth grade students was within the correct time frame because I was able to take up their class period instructing, practicing, checking for understanding, playing Bingo, and completing an exit-ticket. When I presented my lesson to my peers in ETC 447, my lesson was short because I gave them a quick run through explicit instruction and guided practice given college students know how to solve equations using order of operations. I allowed my peers to practice playing Bingo, and we got a winner fairly quick. I explained to them my reasoning to using technology during independent practice versus the assessment part of my lesson. I wanted to ensure students understood how to solve equations using order of operations by seeing their work displayed on their exit-ticket.
My fifth grade students and peers both met my objective therefore mastering the standard presented by my lesson. Based on my peers’ surveys in response to my lesson I was well prepared, supported students in learning the content, and integrated technology to support student learning the content. Some suggestions included: allowing students who struggle to solve the problems ahead of time so they have extra time to complete the equations for the bingo activity, and ensuring students are not just guessing or waiting for the answer. With my fifth grade students I did make each individual student solve the problem on a white board and show their work before showing their answer when teacher calls “showdown”. This allows me as a teacher to look around to ensure students are understanding the concept as well as giving me a chance to walk them through each math equation that they may have missed.
From teaching my lesson and redesigning it after having presented it to my fifth grade students I have realized that there’s no such thing as a perfect lesson plan; as teachers we’re constantly trying to perfect even when we feel we have a solid plan. I have also realized the importance of reflecting on our experience that is involved along the process. If students are not meeting our objective and we don’t reflect on our delivery and guidance then we are bound to fail our students over and over again.
That is all for tonight future colleagues,
Mrs. Vanderford
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