Reflection on Group Micro-Teaching

             

           After group micro teaching, we were engaged in peer and self evaluation. I believe that it was an effective way to see our strengths and weaknesses objectively. I think that using something tangible (ping pong balls), we were able to incorportate participatory activities into the lesson. By transporting ping pong balls using their hands only, students did the actual experiment and saw what happened as the number of participants increased. They seemed to have fun and be engaged in the activity. For those who might find it hard to analyze data, it could be helpful in organizing processes and their thoughts as they were participating in activities. Moreover, I think that the indication of application worked well since we clearly explained how to read/ interpret the graph and match it to the real-world meaning. Also, closing was good as we recapped our lesson, but it could have been better if we had students tell us what they have learned.

            However, I believe that we did not really check-in on learners’ prior knowledge before we started the lesson. Since some students might not know how to plot a point on a graph, it could have been better if we demonstrated how to plot first two points on the board first and let them do the rest by themselves. Moreover, we did not really introduce any specific form of assessment as the lesson went through. We could have had students discuss more deeply in a group and present their ideas to the class as a way of checking for their understanding. Over all, I realized that thinking is an important part of the learning process, and I would always have to think about how to promote critical thinking in students.

Lesson Plan: Group Micro Teaching

Lesson Plan: Group Micro Teaching
Topic	Data Analysis
Grade level	Grade 9
PLO	- collect, display, and analyse data to solve problems
Materials	20 pingpong balls, 2 boxes, and graphing paper
Opening (1 min)	Overview of the class, recap of last lesson
Body 5 min	Pingpong balls transportation activity ( 6 times )
5 mins	Individual work: Student: Draw a broken-line graph representing the data. Teacher: Circulate
2 - 3 mins	Discussion: Teacher asks questions about the data What is the number of people required to maximize the efficiency? Why does the amount of time increase after __ number of people What conclusions can be made?
Closing 1min	Recap of keypoints: - Collect the data - Draw graphical representation - Analyse the graph

John Mason's Thinking Mathematically: Diagonals of a Rectangle (p.166)

On squared paper, draw a rectangle three squares by five squares, and draw in a diagonal. How many grid squares are touched by the diagonal?

Exit Slip - Dave Hewitt's Math Classroom Video

          What struck me most about Dave Hewitt’s math classroom was how engaged students were in activities. The teacher made a good use of a classroom to get students to understand better and strengthen their visual/ spatial thinking. Also, I realized that I would have to use wait time well during class time. Oftentimes, I found it hard to wait in silence for students to answer questions in class. However, considering the fact that students need time to think and organize their thoughts, I should implement a longer wait time. In addition, by using a bracket to show multiplication or a horizontal line to show division, the teacher could also reduce confusion that students might have made while solving math equations. Therefore, based on what I have seen in the video, I will try to incorporate such teaching strategies/ practices into the classroom in order to develop students’ mathematical/ logical thinking.

Reflection: Dave Hewitt on what is arbitrary and necessary in the math curriculum

        According to Hewitt, being arbitrary means that something has to be memorized to be known and is informed by someone else/ other sources such as TV, books, etc,. However, something that is necessary does not have to be informed by someone else, and it is learned through awareness based on the arbitrary things. For example, mathematical terminology, names, and symbols are arbitrary since students have to accept them the way they are in order to communicate within mathematical community. However, mathematical properties and relations are necessary since they depend on arbitrary things that students have already become aware of.

       This idea might influence how I plan my lessons since I would have to consider how to create/ introduce activities for students to become aware of the necessary things using arbitrary things. Rather than explaining problems based on my awareness to students (“received wisdom”), I would have to introduce appropriate activities for them to find out relations by themselves. In other words, while helping students remember names or symbols that they have memorized before, I should also help them understand relations and properties/rules better and let them know why things work the way they do. This is because students should be the ones who do the math in math class, not a teacher.

Exit Slip: SNAP Math Fair

I realized that there were a wide range of topics presented by students at the Math Fair. Students were asked to choose any artifacts in the museum and create their own problems or revise the problems given to them by their teacher. I think it was a good way for presenters and participants not only to learn cultures and history but also to improve mathematical/ logical reasoning. All students seemed excited about explaining their problem to me and helping me solve their problem. From the participant’s point of view, I could clearly see what was working well and what wasn’t. Most of the math problems were presented on display boards with backstory, hints, and solutions. Moreover, at each station, there was something tangible to help participants understand problems better. Especially when I had to remember the order to find the answer, I found it helpful to have something to write on to keep track of numbers. Over all, I enjoyed participating in problems and realized that Math Fair would be very helpful in boosting student’s self-confidence and their familiarity with numbers and math.

Reflection: The Math Fair Booklet

Yes, I would run a SNAP Math Fair in my practicum high school. I strongly believe that it is a great way to develop students’ creative/ cooperative skills and confidence level by making their own problems and sharing their thoughts with others. While trying out each other’s problems, both presenters and participants will gain self-confidence by explaining how to solve problems and giving suggestions. Moreover, while creating math problems, students also can improve their logical/ mathematical reasoning skills. Since Math Fair is intended to develop problem-solving skills, it allows students to solve challenging problems, which promotes critical thinking. Therefore, I would like to help students overcome math anxiety throughout Math Fair event because it is non-competitive and builds self-confidence, which is the most important factor in learning.

If I can imagine doing so, I would probably have in-house version first in my class, so students have opportunities to look at other’s problems and share their opinions with others. Then, I will ask another math teacher if she can let her students participate the Math Fair my class is holding. After the event for about an hour and half, I will make my students write some pros and cons of their problems they have found during the Math Fair. This is because it makes students reflect on their own math problems and apply a broad range of ideas for creating problems.