Stephen Sutton

Elizabeth Beese
Case 3 Equations

As someone who is in math education I think that I would be able to teach

this lesson, but in talking with the other members of my group, they did not think
that they would be able to with the math background that they have. Even for me, I
think it would potentially be difficult, though doable. The biggest problem is
knowing what inverse operations are, before someone is able to teach them, but
once someone understands what they are, it is not a very difficult concept.
The substitute is told to use google maps to show inverse directions so that
the students can understand inverse operations. The substitute, then is forced to
come up with a place to find directions to and from, and come up with an
explanation about how inverse operations are similar to inverse directions. The
substitute teacher also has very little idea of what the students have previously
learned, and therefore does not know what to expect them to already know and be
able to do.
There is only one section that specifies how much time should be spent on
that section of the lesson. The quiz specifically, but also the rest of the procedure
section would be improved if there were times or at least a general idea of the
length of each section so that the substitute can keep a good pace of the class.
One of the objectives is that the students should be able to correctly use
order of operations, but yet almost all of the lesson is focused on the inverse
operations, with the only activity involving the order of operations being an
explanation of what it is at the beginning of the lesson. Another aspect that could
be improved is that the teacher could leave alternative ideas in case the students
are not understanding the concepts at first.
The objectives as a whole are poorly written, especially in the regard that
they are not measurable. With a quiz at the end of the lesson, it is clear that the
teacher has a way of assessing them, but there is no indication of what type of a
grade will demonstrate that the students have sufficiently learned the material. The
learners do not know what is expected of them, and the substitute does not have a
way of knowing how well the students have mastered the material.