I thought it was really cool that before the teachers were just observing in Tracy's classroom that they all meet and had some time to learn about and hear about what they were going to be observing during that lesson. They were provided with background knowledge on the overall classroom performance with math. I really liked that they actually took some time to look at and try the math problems themselves. I think this is something that some people forget to do, it is important to make sure what we are asking them to do is doable and makes sense. Without doing the math problem themselves maybe the teacher would not have realized how hard it really is for some students to draw pictures for some of the problems. It was interesting to hear her explain how the students just see the numbers and automatically just start adding, they are not taking the time to read the actual problem at hand. This was interesting to me because I never really would have thought that they would just skip the reading part of the world problem. I could understand if they misunderstood the message but just not reading it at all is something new or me to keep on my radar. Tracy really stressed that she wanted her students to make sure they knew what they were writing down and if what they wrote down made sense. She explained how she wanted the students to understand how their numbers, pictures, and words need to all make sense and connect together. This is something that the students were having some difficulty with. I also really liked how she said that she tries to avoid using the word "wrong" because she realizes that this can discourage students to keep thinking and trying. I really agreed with her on this point. Yes there is such thing as a right and wrong answer but we as teachers need to keep our students motivated to learn and show them that they are headed in the right direction. If we just say "No, wrong" well maybe they were wrong but they were close... and now that student has lost their drive to keep going.
Tracy asked the observers to document any muttering they heard among the students. She stated that this would help her to better understand the students thinking process later when they were shared with her. I thought that was a really cool request from her, because it is hard to catch every students side conversations and outside thoughts. Having more people in the room can make this an easier task.
2) The lesson including student debriefing, along with success and misconceptions and student work
I really like how much time she spent with the students walking them through the different thinking and processing skills that this math problem was asking them to use. This was the first time that I saw a math lesson start out on the carpet. This really stuck with me because I feel like a lot of teacher always think that math needs to be done at their desks while you stand at the board and write on it. I think doing it the way that Tracy did sets the students up for a better thinking palate. They are sitting at the carpet and have that time to think and verbalize their thoughts. Then when they go to their desks they get to use those thoughts and turn them into process skills and thoughts.
I also really liked how she pulled examples from students in the classroom and how they all knew to respect each other's work. This is something that Tracy had to have worked with them on before hand and this is something I would like to do with my future students as well. I think it helps them really notice there is more than one way to think and process problems and by seeing it done amoungst their peers with hopefully stick with them better. I also like that while see what doing that she used post it notes show the students what was where and to make the students really be specific with what they were saying they were seeing.
When Tracy asked them to look back at their work, I thought it was a really cool idea that she used photocopies of the original work of the student and also asked them to use a different color pen. This allowed the students to see their base and how they need to build and improve from what they have already provided. This is also some thing I want to use with my students. More often than not I have seen where a student just erases all the work they have done when they know it is wrong, instead of building off what they have discovered. It actually drives me crazy when I see students do that...
I liked that she then provided the students with some new and different math problems to see if they could apply what they just learned to accomplish a new task. This is something important, because instead of just ending the lesson with "oh yes now they get it more", Tracy built on it and made the lesson to come to "let me make sure they understand it more by having them show my and apply what we have discussed through different but similar problems". I loved that!!!
3) The faculty debriefing and implications for instruction
I found it really powerful that Tracy was able to be an accurate reflector of the lesson. She stated exactly what she thought and how the lesson went. I found it very cool that she was able to right off the bat notice what did not go as well as she planned and also how the lesson formed into a little bit of a different lesson. I think as teachers we need to always be able to look at a lesson and understand that it is okay for that lesson to be morfied a little bit as long as the overall main goal is still on track. Which is what I would say happened with Tracy's goal. She wasn't able to get through as much as she had wanted, but that is because she needed to spend more time on certain specifics with some students to make sure they understood and we comprehending the problem. As teachers we need to recognize when we need to slow the pace down to make sure we are keeping all of our students on track.
4) Explaining your thoughts on the overall use of the video.
I found this video to be really useful. I have provided my individual comments on specifics throughout my entire reflection. I learned a lot from this video and can not wait to incorporate these math techniques in my future lesson as well. I would also just like to comment on the fact that Tracy used outstanding Math vocabulary with her students. This is so important! Students need to know the proper way of speaking the math language and they are never going to learn that if it is not being used around them. Tracy did an excellent job with that!!!
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Nice job! Thanks Lauren:)
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