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Miranda Schuhle

Reflective Teaching Experience


Educating Students with Disabilities Part 1
Due 4/5/2016

The lesson I created used explicit instruction to teach a long division skill for higher
numbers. I taught this lesson to my class of 10 seventh grade students who perform lower than a
fourth grade level in math. The majority of my class has a specific learning disability in math
computation or math problem solving. The research-based intervention program (Do The Math)
that I am expected to adapt to my class frequently uses a model similar to the explicit instruction
model that Archer and Hughes describe. I adjust and change the lessons to fit my students and
align to our school expected standards. The explicit instruction model I followed uses I do,
We do, You do, starting from modeling, to guided practice, and then students are given the
opportunity for independent practice.

One of the elements of this lesson that I would normally leave out when planning is the
justification or relevancy of the skill. When starting a new unit I always will explain the purpose
and use behind a bigger skill, but I usually leave out the real life application of skills in math

class on a daily basis. During my guided practice section of the lesson I had a teacher assistant
student write the problem on the board as students worked through the problem. The teacher
assistant had prompts written on a sample problem to use in order to guide students through their
work. The student I chose usually struggles behaviorally and he did an amazing job. I think that
the guided practice was more engaging because students were involved and listening to one of
their peers rather than me.

A part of the lesson that did not go as well as I intended was my explanation of when to
divide, multiply, addition and subtract. Because students are asked to use all four operations
during the long division process, it is important that they know when to use each operation.
Because I am fluent in my basic math skills this is something that I do not have to think about
when figuring out problems. Once I saw where the missteps where happening, I back tracked and
explained further why we use each operation and tried to give my students quick mnemonic
devices to help them remember the steps.

If I were going to do this lesson over again I would give students an opportunity to
practice the new skill with a partner during the guided practice. The following day after teaching

this lesson I allowed students to work with their partners and guide each other through the skill.
The students that were strongest at the skill based off their independent work from the previous
day were the math mentors who received an additional review as they helped their partners
who were absent or struggled with the skill through a practice activity. My direct supervisor, my
schools Assistant Principal of Specialized Services, observed me as I taught the lesson. She and
I briefly had a conversation afterwards and she was pleased to see the level of student
engagement involved. She also was happy to see many students independent work show mastery
of the skill. One thing that she recommended for next time was for me to use the math
vocabulary more frequently throughout the lesson and to further the students understanding of it
she wants to see them use it when answering questions as well.

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