Reflections on Teaching

Our unit consisted of several parts, but after administering the pre-assessment to our students,
Abbey and I saw the need to break it down into smaller pieces. After consulting with Mrs.
Erickson, we decided to focus primarily on 1) classifying triangles by their angles and sides and
2) identifying lines as parallel, perpendicular, or intersecting.

Wednesday, March 15: Pre-assessment

The primary purpose of today was to introduce us, get to know our students, and gauge
their present level of performance. We knew the importance of building rapport was great
so we made played get-to-know-you games and team-building exercises. After we felt
like we had built rapport and put the children at ease, I introduced the pre-assessment and
explained the purpose. We were in the gym alongside several other groups and it was
very noisy and distracting to our students. Abbey and I had to remind them repeatedly to
stay on task. Overall, I think today went well. If I did it again, I would find a quieter
place to administer the test so the scores would be more reliable.

Monday, March 20: Lesson 1

After studying the results of the pre-assessment, it was much easier to understand the
present levels of performance of my students. None of them did very well on the pre-
assessment, so that told me that I needed to shorten the amount of material we would be
working on. I knew it would be better to have the students master two or three content
areas rather than shoving a bunch of material down their throats and not retaining
anything after we left. This first lesson was to introduce classification of triangles. We
discussed that triangles can be classified by their sides and their angles and the names for
each. In the last five to ten minutes of class, I handed out a post-assessment to get a better
idea of their mastery.

Wednesday, March 22: Lesson 2

Abbey and I co-taught this lesson. I began by reviewing the material from last class and
refreshing their minds. Then Abbey introduced identifying lines as parallel,
perpendicular, or intersecting. We administered a pre-assessment to gauge their current
level of understanding and they performed better than we had anticipated. After the pre-
assessment, we gathered back to the kiva and began a discussion about the different kinds
of lines. Abbey modeled what each set of lines look like and how to tell them apart. We
were in Mrs. Ericksons classroom alongside another group and it was too loud and
distracting for our students and us.

Monday, March 27: Lesson 3

Looking back to our last two lessons, Abbey and I observed that our students were
beginning to get overwhelmed with the content. We thought it would be wise to have a
review session of triangles and lines instead of introducing new material. We took our
students outside to give them a change of scenery and get them excited to review lines
and triangles. We played a few different games to actively help them remember. If I
could do it over again, I would spend more time planning.
Wednesday, March 29: Post-assessment
Today, we administered the post-assessment. I felt confident in my students that they
understood the material and they would perform significantly better than they did on the
pre-assessment. Our post-assessment is not exactly identical to our pre-assessment
because after analyzing the data throughout our time at Lincoln and recognizing the
strengths and weaknesses of our students, we understood our students better. My
students scores did in fact improve and it made me feel so proud.