Student Teaching Formal Observation #1- Reflection As I prepared for my lesson today, I had a mixture of feelings.

At first I was anxious and then I was extremely nervous with how my students were going to behave. As the day progressed from morning to lunchtime the students became more and more restless. I feared not only how they would behave during my lesson but how well they would grasp the concepts. As I planned the lesson I considered the best way to teach the information because each of my five second graders are on different mathematical levels and attain information differently. Since I was doing a math lesson my cooperating teacher encouraged me to stick as closely as possible to Go Math!, the math curriculum. Although Go Math! teaches the students the skills they need to perform on the state test, and is closely aligned to the common core, the method of teaching is pretty dry. As a result I based my lesson on Go Math! but also incorporated different components. I began my lesson by discussing one digit and two digit numbers. After allowing each of my students to identify either type of number I drew their attention to two digit numbers. I informed them that in order to recognize the value of each digit we needed to consider each digits place value. I focused first heavily on the ones place and then the tens place, questioning the students often. Most of my students seemed to grasp the concepts. Robert, Wesley and Akaylah grasped the concepts with ease, while Syeda questioned herself and Hector lagged behind. I began to find it difficult to keep Hector with the rest of the group since hes missed so many days of school, falling behind more and more each day. Since the majority had a strong understanding, I presented the base ten units and rods to the group. Using these manipulatives I showed them how to represent numbers, specifically the numbers in the tens place as either five tens or fifty and the numbers in the ones place. I allowed their students to draw models and create examples on a board. In order to check their

progress I then gave the group a worksheet. After reviewing the directions, I offered to let the group work in pairs but they chose to work alone. Again, Wesley and Robert flew through the work. As a result I had a more challenging enrichment sheet for them to complete. Akaylah and Syeda worked slower but completed the worksheet with one hundred percent accuracy. Hector on the other hand still lagged behind having some understanding but failing to complete the sheet. As the rest of the group worked on their sheets I tried to review the concepts with Hector and give him a one-on-one teaching opportunity. Together at the end I reviewed with the group what we had learned. Overall, I feel that my lesson went very well. I found it effective to not only explain the concepts of the ones place and the tens place but to reinforce them using manipulatives. Comprising both methods in my lesson allowed the students to gain a greater understanding because each method met the different needs of each student. I realized that by the end of the lesson some of the students were becoming restless and that it is important to end the lesson at that point rather than push them any further. I realized that maybe during the lesson I should give the students a moment to stretch and regain attention. Since they were becoming restless as I reviewed what they had learned, Hector, Wesley and Robert began playing with the manipulatives. In the future I feel that my lesson will end smoother if I remove the manipulatives from the table and have them clean up before reviewing. I feel that questioning the students frequently throughout the lesson not only held their attention but helped them understand the material. I also realized the importance of having higher leveled thinking worksheets to challenge those who work quickly like Wesley and Robert. Although I thought the students behavior would be a major issue during my lesson, I feel that they were all attentive and that almost all of them understood, grasping the material.