This week was a little bit different
from most weeks. To start off, we
received feedback on the lesson plans we had created for a future math
class. Besides this feedback, we were
challenged to create a script on how a section of our lesson plan could play
out. This is what my partner and I came
up with:
[Teacher walks in and puts warm-up question on smart board (question above)]
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[Teacher walks in and puts warm-up question on smart board (question above)]
[Students work on question]
~3 minutes pass~
Teacher: Okay
class, wrap up your thoughts.
~1 minute passes~
Teacher: Okay,
so how many said the top left doesn't belong? [students raise hands] Who said
the top right doesn't belong? [students raise hands] Who said the bottom
left doesn't belong? [students raise hands] Who said the bottom right
doesn't belong? [students raise hands] Who found that maybe more
than one may not have belonged? [students raise hands] Why?
Someone tell me what they think.
Timmy: The
bottom right one doesn't belong because it's the only one going down.
Teacher: Right,
good observation. Who else had Timmy's answer? [students raise
hands] Good start! What other answers did everyone else get?
Tina: The
top right one goes through the middle!
Teacher:
Don't they all go through the middle?
Tina:
...no.
Teacher:
Well what do you mean by middle? I assumed you meant the middle line, so
the y-axis.
Tom: I
think she meant the origin!
Teacher:
Oh! Well, that makes sense then! Good job Tina and Tom! What
else did everyone get? What about the bottom left? Tyler, what do
you think about the bottom left?
Tyler: I
dunno... it looks like it's the closet to the bottom?
Teacher:
That's true.
This is where we got stuck. We wanted to help lead the student to the
answer, without actually giving anything away.
We realized that this is a common difficulty for many teachers. As teachers, we want to help students create
their own knowledge, but by already knowing the answers and being taught by
traditional methods, this can sometimes prove hard to do. This challenging activity will definitely
stick with me and influence my future lesson planning sessions.
Hi Miss Pettorossi,
ReplyDeleteI agree that it can be very difficult to anticipate how students may respond to certain questions. Since we (as teachers) are aware what we want the final answer to be, it can be very difficult to predict the different responses and mistakes that students can make. This was also difficult for Laura and I when we made our script. I like how in your script you led Tina to the correct terminology (i.e. “origin” instead of “center”) through asking leading questions. This seemed like it would be effective because you stayed away from just telling her the correct answer. This technique would have also been effective for when Timmy says the line is “going down.” Using leading questions would be beneficial for leading Timmy to the correct terminology of “decreasing” instead of “going down.” I agree with what you said regarding the difficulty of transitioning from the traditional methods of teaching to a more discovery method. I believe that although this transition can be quite difficult for some students, it is worth it overall because it results in a better understanding of the material. Great post!
Lindsey
Hey Heather,
ReplyDeleteMy partner and I also found this activity challenging because each student is going to react differently to a given question or scenario, so it is difficult to prepare for their responses. Sometimes what we want or expect them to say or do does not happen and then our whole plan has to change in a matter of minutes. I think the best we can do as teachers is prepare several different questions for each lesson and help guide students toward the answers we are looking for. In most cases, hopefully our careful preparation we put into each lesson will help further our students understanding of a subject.
Karlee