Lesson Self- Assessment 3

Name: Lauren Checker

Lesson topic: Mathematics
Date: 10/14/15
School/grade level/ number of students: Manitoba Elementary/3rd grade/10 students
Name of Cooperating Teacher: Maya Richards
Planning and preparation:

When creating my plan I was thinking directly about the learners and how I
could most effectively get the students to meet my objectives. When planning
I created an interactive SMART board activity that would guide my lesson.
The students were previously exposed to the board because they use it daily
during mathematics. When considering how I should create my SMART
board lesson I knew there had to be lots of visuals and chances for
engagement within the story problems I created. I planned to have the lesson
start off with recalling what an array was and thinking about how we can use
multiplication to find out how many objects are in the array. I then had it
planned to scaffold my lesson based on student understanding. I thought that
the visuals I created dealing with multiplication and division in story
problems would be beneficial to the students. I knew that some students were
still learning how multiplication and division worked so I tried to
differentiate between the two by providing these visuals. I planned many
opportunities for engagement by planning to ask essential questions,
participation on the SMART board, turn and talks, and partner work.
I adjusted my plan for diverse learners in a couple different ways. During the
lesson I took the time to think aloud about how I could solve a story
problems that has multiplication or division. I underlined key terms from the
problem that helped break it down for students who might be overwhelmed
by the whole story problem. I also provided visuals for the students who were
not yet comfortable with multiplication and division. Some examples of these
are pictures, tally marks, and grouping boxes. After the lesson I was going to
use candy for the students to practice with, but I altered this based on
behavior. Once the children were back at their seats I used bingo chips
instead for the students to use as manipulatives. This allowed them to use the
chips to combine or divide evenly based on the story problem.
During the actual lesson I tried to think aloud more than I had planned for. I
thought this was beneficial for the students getting the key information out of
the story problem. Like I said above, I had a candy activity planned for the
students but I thought on my feet and knew that this could cause disputes
because of the environment and expectations set by the classroom teacher.

Classroom environment:

From the very beginning I encouraged children to participate in my lesson.

We began by all counting by 5s. I thought this was a good icebreaker and to
get the children beginning to think about math. During the lesson I provided
opportunities for the students to think about answers. I asked essential
questions such as what is the difference between multiplication and
division?, and what is a story problem? I also provided students chances to
try problems on their own and then share with the group. I thought this is
when the children worked best. The children are used to working alone and
not being able to talk so when I give them a direction like this they are
familiar with it. In my lesson I tried a turn and talk. While the children were
not accustomed to this strategy I thought overall it worked. During the lesson
the students were very chatty and there were some disputes between
children. Because the children are not used to sitting in front of the SMART
board they were a bit on edge. Prior to beginning the lesson I set
expectations, but the children had a difficult time because of lack of routine
in the classroom. Clear expectations, classroom community and responsibly
for themselves is not something that is commonly practiced. With that being
said, the children had a harder time responding to one another during the
lesson. I reinforced negative behavior by saying things such as 1, 2, 3, eyes
on me, we need to be focusing on our learning, and we need to be
respectful and responsible. I am glad I had built in opportunities for active
participation. The students were definitely engaged and eager to come to the
SMART board and be volunteers, but they lacked a bit of respect for each
other. I believe it would be beneficial to have lessons focused just on how we
interact with one another, how we sit during a lesson, how to ask a question,
how to do a turn and talk, etc. Even though I cant necessarily change the
whole classroom environment there all little techniques I can try and use to
refocus the children.

Instruction:

I believe that all of the strategies I used during my lesson had a definite
purpose. From the beginning of the lesson I tried to engage students by
having them count by 5s to get there math brains working. I then tried to
connect what they already knew about arrays to what the lesson would be
about. Before we even looked at a story problem I had the students talk to
each other about it to get them to do some of the thinking. I called on
students to read story problems and we walked through them together. I used
the underlining technique and visuals to help students understand. I thought
that my instructional strategies were beneficial to the childrens learning. I

had an appropriate amount of scaffolding and chances for students to

practice throughout.
I knew that all of the needs of learners were met during their
individual/partner time with their activity sheets. The students grasped what
I was teaching fairly quickly so for many of the students this was a review.
For the lower students I think they really benefited from the lesson. I gave
bingo chips to the students I thought would need it. I saw them using these
manipulatives accordingly based on multiplication and division.
If I repeated this lesson I would create more opportunities for challenge. This
would reach some of the higher students more. I also wouldve had the
students leave their math notebooks and pencils at their desks so that they
werent a distraction during my lesson. Knowing what I do now about how
the children interact with one another I would even possibly arranging
seating.

Assessment:

My informal assessment really guided me through this lesson. During the

lesson I had the students participate in a turn and talk. Two students
werent sure how to explain it, but everyone else seemed to know. Because I
was only teaching 3rd grade I was able to keep a better eye on those students
and check for understanding throughout. I also learned a lot from listening
to student responses. When students would raise their hands and give me
answers I knew that they understood. I even tried to call on some students
who didnt have their hand raised. I did this in a non-threatening way
simply by asking what are your thoughts. I was also informally assessing
when students were answering problems in their math notebooks. Some
used visual representations while others could just write the multiplication
fact. This allowed me to see where students stood in their learning. I gained
the most insight from looking at the students work on their activity sheets.
This allowed me to see if students met my objectives. After reviewing those,
it was clear students understood how to read story problems and obtain
important information to solve.

Professional responsibilities:

I benefited from Nancys feedback on my lesson. She gave me some of her

insights after observing my lesson. Some tips would be to have the students
leave their supplies behind, increase difficulty if students are understanding,
address fairness issues, and many more. I definitely understand even further
how crucial classroom environment is to learning. I learned that routines
and expectations must be set before students can reach their full potential.
In future lessons I think I will develop a set attention getter (Nancys idea)
so that students know when they shouldnt be talking. While I tried an
attention getter in lesson today, possibly having the children decide might be

what works best. Nancy also suggested that the students struggle with
having a sense of identity in the classroom. When creating future plans I
definitely want to think about this and how I can help students. The children
work best when working alone so I need to think about how I can improve
upon this strategy for the benefit of the students.
Reflection:

I learned that students need a set environment for success. When students
dont have expectations set they will test you. Its difficult as a field student
to change how the students behave and treat one another. Although, I can
begin to practice these techniques for my own teaching someday. I learned
the power that comes from taking the time to set expectations and selfidentity in the classroom. When I have my own classroom I want the
students to feel safe, comfortable, and most importantly- part of a
community. I will have mini-lessons on these topics from the beginning of
the school year so that students will know and not have to guess what is
acceptable and what is not.

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