Southern Methodist University

Simmons School Dept. of Teaching and Learning

Student Teacher:

Colleen Farrisee

Cooperating Teacher:

Susan Worthey

School:

Kramer Elementary School

University Supervisor:

Lura Raney

Reflection Form
(Complete this form as soon as possible after delivery of the lesson and give to the observer.)
Name:

Colleen Farrisee

Date of Lesson:

Tuesday February 3, 2015

Grade:

1st

Subject:

Approximate Length of Lesson:

Mathematics
1 hour & 30 min.

GENERAL REFLECTION
Overall, how successful was this lesson?
I thought that the lesson went well overall. Most students were engaged and interested in the lesson
activities. There were some students who were off task at points, but with a warning quickly got back on
task.
The students seemed to understand the LO (Students can put 2D shapes together to make new 2D shapes).
I reminded them that this meant creating real 2D shapes, not designs. The students were really into using
the pattern blocks to discover. Some students were distracted by the pattern blocks, but stopped touching
them when instructed.
By the end of the lesson, most students were able to identify what new 2D shape they created and what 2D
shapes they had used. Some students are still confused about the names of the 2D shapes, but these terms
will be used for other math lessons this week. Therefore, I think that with repetition they will have better
understanding.
GOALS/OBJECTIVES
In what ways were your goals/objectives appropriate for your students?
The LO stated that Students can put 2D shapes together to make new 2D shapes and the DOL stated
that Students, using 2D shapes, will create at least one new 2D shape on a sticky note.
These two were appropriate because the different activities of the lesson all focused on getting the students
to practice creating new 2D shapes with other 2D shapes. The DOL lined up with the LO to see if the
students grasped the material.
In what ways were they not appropriate?
I think some students were confused by what new 2D shapes was talking about. Many students when
exploring were creating designs, such as suns, flowers, and robots. I explained to them that none of those
were new 2D shapes but still received some confused looks. Once I showed multiple examples, students
seemed clearer of what was expected of them.

ASSESSMENT
How effective were your assessment strategies in measuring student achievement of the learning
goals/ objectives for this lesson?
The students completed the DOL, which stated, Students, using 2D shapes, will create at least one new
2D shape on a sticky note. Each of the students were able to complete the DOL and most were accurate.
However, there were several students who drew designs on their sticky note.
Would you make any changes to the assessments strategies you used? What changes would you
make and why?
I think the DOL was on target for the assessment. I think that I could have been walking around more to
make sure the students completely understood the new 2D shape. But since it was a DOL, I wanted to
see what the students had learned.

Southern Methodist University

Center for Teacher Education
Student Teacher:

Colleen Farrisee

Cooperating Teacher:

Susan Worthey

School:

Kramer Elementary School

University Supervisor:

Lura Raney

ALTERATIONS
Did you depart in any way from your plan? If so, how? Why?
In the original lesson plan, the pattern blocks were just going to be on the table for students who were
having troubles visualizing the new 2D shapes they were creating. However, I noticed that in the first Math
class the students needed an opportunity to play/explore using the pattern blocks prior to the independent
practice. By giving the students some time to explore the 2D shapes on their own, it let them focus more
once we started to work through the independent practice.
INSTRUCTIONAL DELIVERY Respond to these questions for each aspect.

Instructional
Strategies

Student
Grouping

Were the following aspects of your

instructional delivery effective for all
students? Why or why not?

What would you do differently to

improve the lesson?

I think that my instructional

strategies were effective for the
students. I helped define the
vocabulary words through
repetition. I would throw
questions out at the students in
order to continue enforcing the
terms.
Since the students are in the dual
language class, they are grouped
in ELL and native English speaker
pairs for math. These pairs are
quite effective because the
students are used to working with
their partners. The ELL students
depend on their partners to help
them read the math problems.

I would continue to reinforce the

terms through the next lesson.
These need to be repeated a lot so
the students understand the
different 2D shapes color.

I did not alter these pairs for this

lesson and do not plan on altering
them for future lessons.

I have noticed that two tables are

a bit rowdier than the others while
I am teaching. One of the tables is
in the back of the classroom, so it
appears that the students think I
do not see them off task.
I think that if this behavior
continues in my other lessons,
that I might ask Mrs. Worthey if
we could switch some of the
partners seats around.

Student
Activities

I think that the student activities

worked well because there were
multiple. I had the students work
on their daily math routine, video
clip, free play, directed
independent study and DOL. All
of these were kept in a reasonable
time frame in order to hold the
students attention.
Having the multiple activities also
let the students discover the LO
in different ways.

Materials, Resources,
and Technology

I think that the materials,

resources, and technology were
all effective for the students. The
pattern blocks were a great
manipulative to include in order
to visually support students. The
video did a great job introducing
the LO and giving examples for
the students. I also liked the
independent practice worksheet
because it walked the students
through different level problems.

To improve this lesson in regards

to the student activities, I would
perhaps create a different DOL.
The students were instructed to
create their own new 2D shape on
a sticky note in this lesson. I think
that this was a good DOL, but
that there is room for some
changes. I think that I could
create a worksheet with 5
questions in order to more
thoroughly test their knowledge
from the lesson. I would include
questions that aligned with
information the video presented,
as well as more questions similar
to the independent study
worksheet.
I would add perhaps a Brain Pop
video to provide another visual
source for the students. They
really seem to focus when it is not
just me talking at them, so
another video visual would be
helpful to reinforce concepts.