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Jessica Siegel

Lesson Reflection 2

April 12, 2013

I taught this math lesson on April 4, a day when my cooperating teacher was

absent, and there was a substitute. The lesson was taught right as the students returned

from gym until it was time to line up for lunch. The objective of my lesson was for

students to be able to write and solve addition sentences using the proper math

terminology. I also to introduce story problems and for students to be able to recognize

the structure of story problems.

I used the smart board for my lesson, which made it interactive. I activated

students prior knowledge by asking them what they already knew about addition.

Students gave examples such as, 2 and 2 makes 4 and said that addition is joining two

numbers together. I told the students that we were going to learn new math words to use

when we add. Next, I asked students if they thought they could make a math problem out

of a story. As expected, the students looked somewhat confused, so I said that wed try it

out. I had a story problem written out on the smart board, that had the numeric

representation of the numbers shown instead of the written out form of numbers. For

example, There are 4 red birds and 3 yellow birds on a branch. How many birds are

there in all? I asked the students how we could write this as an addition problem. I then

had students create the math equation, 4 and 3 makes 7. I erased the and replacing it

with a plus sign and erased the makes replacing it with an equal sign. As I was doing

this, I was telling students that the addition problem still means the same thing, but that

we are using symbols instead of words now.

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The lesson did not go completely as planned. The students were a lot more

talkative than usual because there was a substitute all day and because it was one of the

students birthday. Students were also more talkative because they had just returned from

gym where they were loud and rowdy. Since the lesson was the last thing before lunch

and recess, they were thinking about seeing their friends and playing at recess, which

made them somewhat more distracted and more likely to talk.

Although its sometimes hard to tell if every single student is engaged, I believe

all but a few were completely engaged. The use of the smart board immediately grabbed

their attention and caught their interest. The students havent been using the smart board

for very long in the classroom, so its a treat anytime its used. I was extremely pleased

that every time I asked students to volunteer to write on the board, all hands went up.

This proved to me that the students were engaged. I was surprised that even though not

all students understood the concepts right away, there was still so much participation.

I know for sure that all of the students now understand what plus and equals

mean. It definitely helped to take what they already knew (2 and 2 makes 4) and then

show them that I replaced and with plus and that Ireplaced makes with equals. I

explained to the students that plus and equals were the real math words and the

words that older kids and grown ups use.

To informally assess students while we were all sitting at the rug, I was walking

around looking at students white boards. From these observations I was able to see if

students were setting up the math equations properly and if they were using the plus sign

and equal sign correctly. I was also able to informally assess the students that volunteered

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to show their work on the smart board, as well as hearing students conversations and

listening to their answers when I asked a question. I heard some students telling the boy

or girl sitting next to them that they were doing addition, or that plus means adding.

My cooperating teacher asked that I have students complete a specific worksheet

relating to what I had taught them. After all students completed the worksheet, I was able

to assess based on their written responses. I noted that almost all of the students

understood what I had taught, except for a few of the lower students. There were few

mistakes on the worksheets.

For the lower students, as I was walking around while they were completing the

worksheet, I spent time conferencing with them. I conferenced with most students, but I

spent more time with the lower students. When I prompted them, they were able to

answer questions about addition and the use of plus and equal. This proved to me that

they retained at least some of the information from earlier, which was great. Even the low

students met the goal of my lesson and showed proof of their understanding. The higher

students in the class needed very little help and flew through the worksheet.

This lesson was an introduction to topics that the class will continue to work on

for quite some time. I felt as though the lesson should have ended nicely and perfectly,

however, students need more time to completely grasp these new skills. The students all

have a firmer understanding of addition, however they need more time to work on story

problems and need more practice using the words plus and equals.

If I were to do this same lesson a second time, instead of erasing the and and

makes in the equation when replacing them with + and =, I would first write the +

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underneath the word and and I would write the = underneath the word makes.

Students will have an easier time understanding that the symbols are the same as the

words that theyve been using and that they mean the same thing. Also, since the students

were so antsy, I would have the students take a quick break and do 10 jumping jacks to

get their energy out. If I had done that, the students may have been more cooperative

throughout the lesson.

If this were my classroom, the next lesson I would do would be another smart

board lesson. I would ask students if they remembered what we learned the day before

about addition. I would reintroduce plus and equals and continue from there. I would

begin the lesson with a story problem that has 3 and 4 makes 7. I would ask the class

what we can do to make the answer sound even better. I would rewrite underneath the

answer, 3+ 4 = 7 stressing the use of plus and equals. I would also write plus

underneath the + and equals underneath the =. I would then scaffold the students with

the story problems. I would go through a few of them together as a class, then have them

work with a partner on the story problems, and then have them work on their own. After

some examples on the board, I would create a new activity for students to do to work

with addition, such as a game with a number line, or I would allow students to read and

flip through some mathematical childrens books.