My Reflections for Week 3 of Practicum

Formal Observation 2 (3N2 - Solving Geometric Problems Using Pythagoras' Theorem) 13/03/13

1. What happened? What did I do? What did others do?

·         For this lesson, I used a guided worksheet together with some self-created manipulative to help students apply the Pythagoras' Theorem to solve geometric problems.

·         Students were generally able to catch the concepts quickly and they were able to see the right-angled triangle within a different geometric shape (e.g. square / rectangle / trapezium) and thereafter use the Pythagoras' Theorem.

·         The manipulative helps the students to visualize how the right-angled triangle can be separated from the geometric shape better.

·         However, students were generally able to understand the concepts and several of them were engrossed in solving all the other questions ahead of my pace.

·         As a result, some were not paying attention to their friend's presentation of solutions. Rather, they were trying to complete their worksheet.

·         While the faster students were able to solve the questions, some of them are weak in their presentation. I reminded the students to pay attention to these details.

·         Some were so fast that they felt bored after a while.

2. Why did I think things happened this way? Why did I choose to act the way I did?

·         I underestimated the students' speed and ability to solve these type of problems.

·         I thought that the students would require more scaffolding in order to see how the Pythagoras' Theorem can be used to solve such problems.

·         As this class consists of students who have varying learning abilities (mixture of NA and NT transfer students), i.e. there are pockets of students who are able to learn much faster, it's still important for me to scaffold the mathematical concepts to the class as there are students who are slower and require more guidance.

 

3. How might this change my thinking, behaviour or interactions with others?

·         I should be more familiar with the students' learning abilities and be aware that the higher ability students would need something more challenging in order to not lose their attention during class.

 

4. What do I want to remember to think about in a similar situation? How do I want to act?

·         I should perhaps give clear instructions that when someone is presenting their solutions and when I am explaining to the class, everyone should stop their work and listen in order to not miss out on any important details. I should remain quiet until I have caught everyone's attention.

·         Knowing that some students have already completed their worksheet, I can set aside additional textbook questions for these higher ability students to solve. This would prevent them from feeling listless or bored during class as that might trigger them to talk to their classmates.

 

Formal Observations 3 & 4 (3E2 - Similar Triangles) 15/03/13

1. What happened? What did I do? What did others do?

·         For the lesson trigger, I used real geometrical solids to stimulate students to think of the difference between congruent and similar objects. However, I mistook congruent pyramids and told the students that they are prisms.

·         As I wanted students to ponder about the main property of similar triangles, I asked students two questions verbally and repeated them several times. Students took a while before they could see the difference between these two questions.

o    For similar triangles, are the corresponding lengths between the two triangles the same or are the ratios between the corresponding lengths the same?

·         I had a slight difficulty with the projector. Due to the limitations of the projector layout and the lack of a visualizer, I had to project a softcopy of my worksheet on the whiteboard using the projector. However, it was still a bit too small and I should have increased the font size of my worksheet even more to make sure that all students are able to see it.

·         Some of the students were not so responsive and started to lose focus during the lesson. I went to them to wake them up and asked them to pay attention.

·         There were several students who were asking questions regarding the concepts of similar triangles. One of them was about putting the unknown in the denominator. I mentioned to the class the convenience of putting the unknown in the numerator as this would less likely to result in careless mistakes. However, I should have demonstrated the steps involved when the unknown is in the denominator rather than just saying it verbally.

·         When I am explaining / checking the students' solutions on the board, some students would not be listening and would be trying to solve the questions on their worksheet. This is especially common for the highly motivated students. Most of the time, I would just ask them to look up but their attention would not be for long.

·         There was insufficient time to complete all the questions which I planned to go through in class. This led to a rush closure.

 

2. Why did I think things happened this way? Why did I choose to act the way I did?

·         Regarding the font size of my projected worksheet, I merely asked one or two students at the back of the class if they could see. However, I should have been more conscious and made sure that they could see clearer by maximizing my screen size.

·         I wanted to cover more questions in my worksheet with the class as the students needed to be exposed to more questions before they could work on the rest of the questions independently. This led to me giving the class a rush summary / closure when the bell rang.

 

3. How might this change my thinking, behaviour or interactions with others?

·         I need to ensure that all students are paying attention in my class. I must not close an eye or assume that all students are listening or are able to see what's on the board. This would put them at a learning disadvantage.

·         It is important to pay close attention to the students' questions and address them in detail so that they are clear of the mathematical concepts. Explanations should be expressed clearly on the board in black and white so that students are able to see the workings themselves rather than doing it verbally. This would allow the visual learners to learn better.

 

4. What do I want to remember to think about in a similar situation? How do I want to act?

·         I must avoid having any blind spots whenever I write on the whiteboard.

·         As most students are both visual and auditory, I need to write down the mathematical concepts and explanations clearly on the whiteboard and explain to the students verbally, especially when it is to answer / clarify their doubts.

·         Ensure that when I am checking the selected students' workings presented on the whiteboard, all students are looking up and paying attention. This is important as students are often trying to solve the problems on their own and may miss out important details (e.g. common mistakes) that the teacher would like to point out. This could be done by remaining silent until all eyes are focused on the whiteboard.

·         Be more mindful of the time and ensure that I have at least 3-4 minutes before the bell rings to do a proper closure.