Link to Video of Lesson:
Description of Assignment:
For my Literacy in Education pre-licensure course, my classmates and I were instructed to create a lesson based on a vocabulary word that is relevant to the overall unit that we have been planning all semester. The unit that I have been planning revolves around factoring quadratic equations, thus the vocabulary term that I chose to use was factoring. The lesson was supposed to be fifteen minutes long and could be about one word, parts of words, or a group of words. Since there are so many ways to factor, I decided to solely present the definition without any further calculations to conserve time and connect a new topic and its definition to topics that were previously discussed in class (ex] factoring is like undoing FOILing).
Tagged PCs/Mission Statement:
Performance Criterion 3.1: Candidates design learning environments that support individual learning marked by active engagement.
Performance Criterion 3.2: Candidates design learning environments that support collaborative learning marked by positive social interaction.
Performance Criterion 6.1: Candidates implement multiple methods of assessment to monitor learner progress to inform instructional practice.
Performance Criterion 7.2: Candidates plan instruction by drawing upon knowledge of learners to meet rigorous learning goals.
Saint Michael’s Mission Pillar Tag:
Our graduates are creative and integrative educators.
They are adept at both discipline-based and interdisciplinary teaching methods, using
They are adept at both discipline-based and interdisciplinary teaching methods, using
emerging technologies, social interaction, and imagination to support students’ achievement of rigorous academic standards. Understanding the connection between intellectual and emotional-social growth, they help their students gain self-knowledge and assume responsibility for their own learning.
This lesson was definitely more collaborative than some of my previous teaching episodes. I believe I really tried to draw in on what my students already knew to better steer the lesson to their strengths as well as highlighting their differences. Each student had a different educational background and learning style, so I tried to harness these differences and prepare a lesson that is personalized to what the students already know in order to steer them towards what they need to learn. I also created a learning environment that was collaborative, frequently having discussions as a group, asking for student input, and having students talk amongst themselves. I tried to engage students as often as possible so not only would they not be bored, but they would be more invested in the learning and take responsibility for acquiring new knowledge. Finally, I tried to create a lesson that included various forms of assessment: pre-assessment and formative assessments (exit card).
Personal Teaching Reflection:
Two elements of my teaching that I was trying to improve on in this lesson were time management and saying “um” throughout my teaching. In terms of saying “um”, I have really narrowed down the amount of times that I said it (I only counted four), and this fosters a presentation that displays elements of confidence and ease. Time management is probably my most prominent teaching weakness where I often omit major parts of lessons due to a misjudgement of time use. However, during the planning process I consciously attempted to ensure that I would use all of the time that I have efficiently and effectively. I struggled with the decision of whether or not to implement calculations into my presentation, and determined that there was not sufficient time to delve into the various ways to factor and that solely the theory was enough to get the ball rolling. This proved to be effective, and I am sure that the students know the ideology and the reasoning as to why we factor, which is essential to foster an overall student understanding of the topic. I am sure of this because not only could you see the A-ha moment in the student’s faces, but not one exit card showed any sign of confusion or misunderstanding. Each student clearly conveyed the concept back to me in their own words, using pictures, or through the use of equations and relationship to the FOIL method. Math vocabulary is essential to understanding the “why it matters” of math and relate mathematical topics to each other. Keeping a math vocab notebook with examples is also useful to have a dictionary of math concepts. In the future I will continue working on time management, saying “um”, but also begin working on my overall clarity in relaying concepts. Math is challenging to explain, and in order to ensure that all of my students learn to the best of their ability, I must make sure that I am sufficiently explaining all elements of a mathematical concept, as well as providing a sufficient amount of examples and definitions of important terms.
