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.

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 I replaced 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

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 +

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.