Kolb ECED 429 Spring 2014 Lesson 2 Reflection Lesson Two: Tuesday February 25, 2014 (Problem Solving

Strategies/Adding Money through Estimating Sums) Whole Class Part A: The second lesson I taught dealt with more than one concept but I intertwined them together by making a point in the beginning of the lesson. I wanted the students to see that a problem is solved in different ways. I wanted the students to find strategies that worked best for them. In the beginning of the lesson, I had the students join me in singing the coin song that they have been doing for the past week. I even had the students review with me the touch points of the coins and as well as telling me the counting pattern of the nickel, dime, and quarter. The first part of the lesson was get the students engaged of what we were going to do today as well as a review of what the previous knowledge the students should know. I had the students do a problem of the day which was pulled up on the Smart Board. I read the problem out loud for the students who could not see the board or needed to hear it to work the problem. Before I had the students start working on the problem, I mentioned to find other ways to get to the answer because there is more than one way. Some students used the number line to find the answer or they came up with a math problem to find the answer. I told the students to hold on to the idea you can solve problems in different ways because I wanted them to apply that to adding money. The class was taught two ways to estimate the sums with adding money and most students found the first way to estimate sums easier than the second way. The first way was that the students started out with the greater amount and took out the dime and then added it. The other way was separating the numbers by tens and ones which I found easier. Most of the students were able to do the first way more than the other way. The point that I made during the instructional time was that students had to find strategies that were easier for them to solve a mathematical problem. During the activity time, I had my low students partnered with each other because I realized that being partnered with high students that they were doing all the work. One of my low students is really good in Math so he did not have a problem in helping his partner. With my two other lower students, I went to check on them periodically and I realized they were not comprehending the activity. Part B: Pertaining to the lesson, there are some ways that the lesson could have gone better. I realized that the concepts were hard for me to teach because I am used to the old fashioned way of adding money. Another problem was that estimation and adding money are two different concepts and intercepting them was hard to do. The students understood that estimation was a guess or rounding to the next number or staying the same. What I found easier was that having the students try all different ways to get to the answer.

I also wanted them to apply those strategies by playing the game we had planned. I decided not to use real objects because I felt it would get too chaotic and there was not enough time for me to get set up with real objects. I put the students in pairs but then I realized my mistake was that the students were sitting in their desks and I should have had them placed in different parts of the room to get their wiggles out. Another problem I ran into was that two of my low students were not getting the lesson or the activity and I also realized I was not giving them the attention they needed. I should have made time to sit down by them and walk them through it again. We did not get to Smart Board math games because of time and the game was taking longer than expected. I also did not collect physical assessment or handouts from the students during this lesson but the lesson is on video. Individual Students High Student: My high student that I chose explained to me that she was not good at Math and I told her that is fine because there are some people that are not. She found the second way easier when it came to the two ways to estimate sums. She did excellent in her classwork when I came around to check on everyone and she had most of the answers correct. She even showed me how she did the word problem as well. She did it using the number line and counted one less than thirty-nine and one more than thirty-seven which got her the answer thirty-eight. She implemented that understood the lesson and during the game, she and her partner had the most success in deciding if they could buy both toys from each row. She worked out the problems using the second way of estimating sums and it showed me that the second way worked best for her where as her partner liked the first way better. Medium Student: I believe my medium student had a lot of trouble grasping the concept. He showed me the way he worked out the problem of the day and he used the number line as well by showing me that he counted one less than thirty-nine and one more than thirty-eight. During the lecture of estimating sums by adding money, he did not understand the second way but he understood the first way better. I told him to stick with that way if it worked for him better. During the game, he would ask me if he was right, instead of me telling him he was right, I asked him, I do not know. Are you right? He deflated a little bit but then he went back to think about his answer and then I came back over to take a look at it and gave him a thumbs up. He showed me that he can think about his answer and realize that he can do the problem confidently without asking if he is right. He was able to demonstrate that he understood a problem solving strategy that was better for him. Low Student: My low student seemed to be the one having more trouble than any of the other students. He got the idea of adding money but the estimation of it was confusing. He did not find neither strategy best for him and he decided to stick with the old fashioned way. I did not want to confuse him even more but I did try to give him more attention during the game and during the

classwork. He was still not grasping the concept so it showed me that he needed more one on one time with me to grasp it. The way he did the word problem was that he used the number line to help figure out the answer was thirty-eight. Reflection on Lesson: What instructional decisions did I make before and during the lessons and why? As the first part of the engagement was to review the touch points of the coins and the coin song which tells the students the value of each coin. I had the students do a problem of the day which was pulled up on the Smart Board. I read the problem out loud for the students who could not see the board or needed to hear it to work the problem. Before I had the students start working on the problem, I mentioned to find other ways to get to the answer because there is more than one way. Some students used the number line to find the answer or they came up with a math problem to find the answer. I told the students to hold on to the idea you can solve problems in different ways because I wanted them to apply that to adding money. During the lesson, I taught them two different ways to estimate their sums with adding money. The students found the first way easier because of the dime being taken out. The second way was too long for the students because when they added the two numbers, they broke it up by tens and ones and adding the tens place and then the ones places. I made the decision to go ahead and let the students do the classwork in any of the methods that were taught to them because the point of the lesson was for the students to find a way to solve the problem that was easier to them. Based upon student performance, discuss the instructional decisions for the next or future lesson. If I were to teach this lesson again, I would have to look at it and do the problems myself the night before so that way I can teach it to the students. During the lesson, I felt as though I did not know what I was talking about. I looked at the lesson the night before but I did not do the problems so I could teach the strategies in an easier way to the students. Another decision I should have made is when the students play math games is that I should have had them placed around the room so they can get their wiggles out because I noticed the students were tired of sitting in their desks during the game. Another way the lesson could have been better was to have the students show the other students of how they solved the word problem of the day. I explained to the students that they had to show me what they did and they did not so it was hard to get assessment evidence that way. The last way I think could have been beneficial was to get physical evidence of their assessment but I did not get physical evidence. How did you engage or motivate the students successfully? First, I started off the lesson by talking to the students about money. I asked them if they could sing the song that they learned for a couple of weeks now. I also started off by asking touch points of the coins which were their values. At first, the students could not remember the song except the one for value of a penny. I had the lyrics in front of me and I started to sing them and then the students sang along.

What instructional mode was employed? In the beginning of the lesson, it was whole group instruction for the song and the word problem of the day. For the whole lesson, it was whole group instruction for the estimation of sums with adding money. Then after the lesson was over, I put the students in partners but then I realized I should have let them go anywhere in the room since it was a game. How effectively did you use instructional aids? I used the Smart Board and the computer for the whole lesson. I had the students come up to the board to try out the problems and we would work through them together. Were the students actively or passively involved? For the majority of the lesson, the students loved the fact they could come to the Smart Board and write down their answers on the board. For the game, some were a little of both. I had the students in their desks for the game and I realized at the end of the lesson I should have had them seated anywhere in the room so they all could be actively engaged. Did you present the information in a clear and logical manner? How so? I had to look over the night before how to do the methods that they had down. I was already confused about how to do the methods until I did them again before the lesson. I was sure I had the information down. Once I got to do the information for the students, at one point I confused myself when I was trying to do it backwards. It did not work. I believe that this lesson was confusing to the students when I was teaching it, some of them did understand it. How effective were the materials and resources you used for the lesson? The materials I used did help the lesson a little bit more. At least I had the worksheet that showed how to do everything worked for me just in case I got lost myself teaching the lesson. The Smart Board helped out so much better because it let the students get up and use technology and the other students could see it. Were you able or could you relate the lesson content to the lives of the students? For this lesson, I was not able to relate it back to the students. The only I really could relate it back to the students was to have them realize there is more than one way to solve a problem. Describe any discipline or classroom management techniques used during the lesson? Were these techniques effective or would you employ a different technique the next time? A classroom management technique I used during this lesson was having the students work in partners for the math game. Unfortunately, it did not work out to the best of its advantage because the students were still restless. I should have had them placed all around the room to get their wiggles out. Reflect on your interaction with the students. Would you describe your treatment of the students as being fair, respectful, and ethical? How so? During the lesson, if students had questions, I would help them in a respectful way. I did get some questions like Did I do this right? I would say I do not know. Are you right? It gave the students more time to be engaged and had them to really think about it. Were you able to summarize the lesson and relate it to the following lesson or homework assignment? They did have a homework assignment on this lesson. I was

able to relate it back to them by having the students practice it in class. I also told them to find which method worked best for them when doing the homework. Was your estimated time allocation for this lesson as noted in your lesson plan accurate? If your time varied, what factors contributed to this variance? When I got into the lesson, I did not think it would take a whole hour to do the lesson. I was able to get the information but I think this should have been a two day lesson. I also think another problem was having so many students come up to the board and try the problems. The timing was fine to my teacher but I still felt like it was too long for a math lesson.