- This topic has 1 reply, 2 voices, and was last updated 3 years, 5 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
-
Objectives: Mrs. Talbot has been focused on the following objectives for the past three weeks. The students are clearly moving closer to her end goals for them. Her goals for her students include (1) learning how to solve multi-step equations, (2) becoming more familiar with the relevant terminology, (3) understanding the what order to apply the steps, and (4) practicing showing good work.
Warm Up: Mrs. Talbot begins every class with her smartboard open to a plethora of information for the students. She starts class by walking through each item on the board. Below is an example of what her board would look like:
The amount of time Mrs. Talbot spends going over the information on the board totally depends upon how quickly the students are able to remember to turn in their homework and take out their assignment notebooks. Her afternoon class takes significantly longer to get on tasks after the bell to start the class rings.
Motivational Strategies: During class on Wednesday and Thursday, Mrs. Talbot told her students at the beginning of class that after she gets through the lesson they can begin their homework. Students know that they need to pay attention and stay on task because then they can finish their homework using class time instead of their free time outside of school. When Mrs. Talbot made this announcement, there was an obvious hush that fell about the class as they stopped talking to their peers and turned to Mrs. Talbot at the front of the class.
When Mrs. Talbot does examples in front of the class, she asks her students to solve them with her. Sometimes she will invite students to stand up once they have solved the problem. Students are eager to be the first to stand so their peers see that they are good at math. This means students take the problem seriously and work to solve it.
Activities: There haven’t been a huge variety of activities within a single class, but each day varies. An average class consists of
20 minutes – informational lecture
Mrs. Talbot either introduces new topics or reviews information from previous classes. She is very intentional about tying the topics into real-life concepts. For example, she uses a scale to help show students what it means for an equation to be balanced.
15 minutes – working through examples with class participation
15 minutes – student independent work time.
Mrs. Talbot and I circle about the room, answering student questions.
A class may also have group activities. This would take about 15 minutes, and after each group finishes the activity, they can begin their homework.
Closure: Mrs. Talbot concludes the lesson before class ends because normally she gives students time to work on their homework. She will conclude the lesson by pointing them to the next assignment. She may note problems that have been difficult for previous classes and will offer helpful suggestions.
Follow-Up: Mrs. Talbot lets students know what’s next on her smartboard at the beginning of class. Because of the fairly rigid and predictable flow of math classes, students are never confused on what’s happening next. They know that tomorrow they will continue learning about math and will have another assignment.
I believe that Mrs. Talbot’s structure is very intentional. She has her smartboard pages prepared in advance for her lesson. She has the assignment already listed on their Moodle-equivalent before class has started, and if the assignment is listed online, then she has print copies available for students to take as soon as they walk in the door. Mrs. Talbot is very aware of where each student is at in her class. She refers to the students who are behind as needing “more TLC.” After she finishes giving her lesson to the entire class and students begin their independent work time, she will speak with the individual students in need of TLC. Mrs. Talbot is able to successfully anticipate students questions. She addresses by (1) including common mistakes in her lesson, (2) grounding new material in knowledge the students already have, and (3) explicitly stating, “But Mrs. Talbot, what about _____.” However, because Mrs. Talbot is tied to state standards, she has little freedom to deviate her lesson plans to include every personality in the classroom. I believe the success of her lesson relies much on her students’ willingness to listen and follow along. Mrs. Talbot models the enthusiasm she wishes for her students and is eager to answer student questions.
I have been helping a student in the class who has been absent the previous weeks. She is significantly behind her peers, and it is obvious that she is frustrated with her lack of understanding. Because she struggles to keep up with the class material, she isn’t trying to catch up. This means she stays behind. She has found herself in a negative reinforcement cycle. Because there are 20 other students in the class, Mrs. Talbot can’t give her the TLC she needs. The student is unlikely to seek help herself because it seems that she has resigned to the fact that she is just “dumb” and will never catch up. This is heartbreaking. Her conclusion is totally false. She is absolutely capable of understanding the material, but the school system is just not set up to help students like her succeed. I can’t help but think about who this pessimistic mindset will continue to negatively impact her academic success. What safety nets are in place for students like her?
-
Hi Angela,
Similar to you, I also felt like it is hard for teachers to use strategies that emphasize one-on-one help. It feels like in large class sizes, the teachers sometimes has to default to students’ intrinsic motivation, which is problematic considering that not everyone is able to have that motivation for school. I admire Mrs. Talbot modeling the enthusiasm for her class and it seems to be working for math and how students react to wanting to answer the math problems Mrs. Talbot poses. I wonder how you will apply what you like from Mrs. Talbot’s teaching to your own lesson plan :))
-
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.