Reflection of Teaching

From teaching this lesson, I learned a lot about teaching and about my students. First and foremost, I learned some more about how to format and organize my lessons. Before being exposed to the unit planner, I just took a chapter out of the book and taught it straight through. I often wondered what some teachers’ rationales were for skipping around in the book. I now realize that many of the existing textbooks do not exactly have the most effective sequencing for my particular group of students. I also learned that students are more efficient when they are allowed to collaborate and speak with one another, but it is only effective if the teacher is closely monitoring students. I also learned that no matter how well you plan a lesson or a unit, there are many factors that could cause it to need adjustment. It is important to be flexible and not worry too much about the need for change as the lesson unfolds.   

This lesson could be changed to be more effective for these students. Honestly, these students seemed to already know most of the content that we were covering that day. This was fine, because it served as a great review toward the end of the chapter, getting students ready for their upcoming project and test. I wish that I would have been able to create an enrichment activity that could extend their knowledge. One thing that I like to do as often as possible is connect mathematics to the real world. This creates more interest, buy-in, and engagement because the students see the value of what they are learning. I do this in most cases, but sometimes it becomes difficult or too complex for the students to gain a clear and complete understanding. I would have liked to have included the real world application of using polynomials like these to model roller coaster designs. I think students would really enjoy this application. Unfortunately, I did not have time to get to this application, so if I were to teach it again, I would set aside some time for it. I might include it in the warm-up, the following day’s lesson, or even incorporate it into their upcoming project.

What I most enjoyed about teaching this lesson was the collaborative aspect of it. Often during lecture, students become bored or distracted. This can occur if a student already knows the material or if the student does not understand enough material to follow along. It is difficult to determine how much of the information students are retaining while lecturing. Additionally, it can be exhausting to stand up in front of the classroom and speak all period, five or six periods a day. With collaborative learning, students who know all the information can assist those who do not. They can explain the material to their peers in their own words, eliciting more understanding. While they are collaborating, I can move around the room and help the students who need it. This is especially important for students who need differentiated instruction and need more one-on-one instruction. I can assess students in smaller groups and determine where they are stuck as a unit to nudge them in the right direction once they have exhausted all other avenues. I also like that I can check in with students individually as needed, building rapport.

I assessed these students in several ways including the exit ticket the day of the lesson, a project, and a traditional test in later days. Overall, students did well on all three of these assessments. This tells me that they are understanding the material as presented to them. Unfortunately, not every single student passed each of these assessments, which means that I could have done a better job appealing to their learning styles or differentiating instruction to meet their needs. Some of these students will be good candidates for reteaching. Despite a few poor performance, the majority of students did very well and and I pleased with the results.