Lesson Self- Assessment for ED 315 Name: Stephanie Wilmore Lesson topic: Rounding Decimals Date: Spring 2013

School/grade level/ number of students: Walt Whitman Elementary/4th Grade/ 14 Name of Cooperating Teacher: Tim Malloy Planning and preparation: Describe how your plan provided opportunities for active engagement. How did you provide for the needs of diverse learners? Did you adjust your plan in any way? Describe how and why if you did. At the beginning of the lesson, the students and I had a discussion. I wanted to see what general background knowledge was for rounding. This gave me a chance to see where to begin my lesson. Many students understood how to round, but when I asked to round to certain placements, they were confused. The students were actively engaged a few times. I gave each student a number 1-10 and had the students come to the board and place it under either zero or ten. This allowed me to see where students were at. Later on, I had students place a number I had given them on a number line. Again, I was able to see where there thinking was. I made sure to move around the room while I was teaching which I believe also allowed the students to stay engaged. The students and I were running a bit behind, but I also thought they understood the concept, so I did not teach them a rounding song. Looking back however, I wish I would have made time for this. I believe this would have met more learners and their multiple intelligences. If they were stuck on whether or not to put a zero at the end and which number to add one too, they would have been able to sing the jingle and thought it through. Next time I plan to do this.

Classroom environment: Evaluate the ways in which your encouraged student participation. How did you elicit student responses? How did you engage them in responding to you and each other? Evaluate your plan for individual, small group and/or whole class work. How effective were these different organizational techniques for keeping students involved in your lesson? I made sure to move around the room while I was teaching. This allowed me to see which students were staying focus or which ones were bored. I also encouraged participation and explained that if you thought you knew to raise your hand. I also told students that I did not like the same few students raising their hands and that I wanted more students to speak up. After I mentioned this, more students participated. I also had students work in groups. I noticed that many students will discuss when it is with students around them, but are nervous when everyone is listening. This gave students the chance to speak as well as gave me a chance to go around the room and listen to what they had to say.

Instruction: Evaluate your choices of instructional strategies. Did they have the effect you intended? Were the needs of all learners met? What changes would you make if you repeated this lesson? Like I stated before, I wish I would have taught the students the rounding jingle. I believe this would have been effective and students would have enjoyed it as well. This would have hit on different intelligences and would have given the students something to refer back to if they found themselves stuck. I am very glad with my decision to have whole class and group work. Next time, I plan to have individual work done during the whole group lesson. I plan to have white boards. I will give students the chance to do a free draw to get it out of their system. Then, I will ask questions and have them write what they believe is the answer on the board and then we will all do it together.

Assessment: What assessment processes did you plan and how did they work? What did you learn from listening to student responses, examining their work or listening to their interactions? How well did your assessment procedures inform you about student attainment of your lessons objectives? I was able to take notes on my students. This was very helpful, but if I would have used the whiteboards, I would have had a better understanding and way to assess students knowledge.

Professional responsibilities: What did you learn from your cooperating teachers feedback on this lesson? How will you apply it to future lessons? He explained that I had a great relationship with the students and good classroom management. This is feedback that I have gotten from others as well, so I was very excited to hear this news. He also explained that as a new teacher, being able to wait for students to answer the questions and having that pause is very difficult. He explained it as almost a panic button. He is exactly right. When students do not raise their hands right away, I feel as if I need to talk more. Instead of giving the answer, however, I plan to work on asking more questions that can lead students to answer the question themselves. Based off of watching him too, I plan on working on developing more examples when I teach. His feedback was very helpful and encouraging.

Reflection: What did you learn about student learning and assessing from this lesson? How will it affect your planning for future teaching? This is a great group of students. In order to get more participation, I plan to do more group activities. I believe this will also allow me to have time to go around the room and asses my students. I will be able to hear them communicate with their peers and see what direction their minds are going.