Assessment 4: BED 412
TERM 4- WEEK TWO
Graphing pre-test
The week before the planned graphing activities, the students were given a pre-test to see what they remembered about graphing. The pre-test involved the students receiving 7 counters each. The students are required to to use the provided sheet to tally the counters they were given and then graph the data accordingly. This gave me and the educator an idea of the level of understanding of tallying and graphing.
From the pre-test we organised students into two categories based on the data we received. The two groups are categorised as beginning and consolidating. The students in the beginning group are still working towards tally beyond five whereas the consolidating students are working towards graphing the data from the tally accordingly. Once an educator has an understanding of what the students know and understand, it will help the planning of lesson plans that are appropriate to the level of understanding of each individual student level of understanding of the topic (Tomlinson & Imbeau, 2011). |
Monday W2 mathematics lesson
ThreatsIf students are disengaged in their learning they may not meet the success criteria for the lesson. This would mean that the student would not have gained an understand of the concept taught in that lesson which could affect their achievement in the other lessons across the week.
OpportunitiesThis lesson gave the students the opportunity to gain the knowledge required to successfully complete the lesson that were planned for the rest of the week. The rest of the lessons this week require students to gather their own data using a tally and then they will be required to created their own graph showing the data that they have collected. It is important that a topic is introduced effectively to ensure that students are given the opportunity to achieve their fullest potential (Queen’s Printer for Ontario, 2010).
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SWOT AnalysisStrengthsThere were many strengths to this lesson. One strength was that the students were aware of the learning intentions for the lesson as well as the success criteria. This information gives the students can have an understanding of what they are learning and what they need to achieve for that lesson (Hattie, 2012).
Modelling was used at the start of the lesson how to interpret what the tally tells us and how we can graph the data from the tally onto a graph. Modelling to students can benefit them in the way that it gives the students and idea on how to complete a certain activity (MacNaughton, 2009). After creating the anchor chart with the students, as a class we gathered data 'Prep Tenylle’s favourite Ice-cream'. Using students favourite ice-cream as a topic was a strength because it was related to a real-life scenario. Relating lessons to the students’ interest can make a lesson more meaningful to the students, therefore students are engaged (CORD, 1999). Another strength of this lesson was that it was a hands-on activity. Each child was individually involved in creating the graph in the way that they had to colour in their own flavour of ice-cream that they liked. They also had the opportunity to place their ice-cream on the graph. Then as a class we could analyse what the graph was telling us and checked against the tally to make sure we transferred it correctly. We were also able to explore what was the most and least popular ice-cream around the group. Weaknesses A potential weakness of this activity is that it is a time-consuming process. Building a graph class meant that some of the students who coloured in their ice-cream quicker than others had to wait around for the others to finish. This mean there was opportunity for students to become restless and disengaged in that period of time.
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Tuesday W2 mathematics lesson
Wednesday W2 mathematics lesson
Thursday W2 mathematics lesson
SWOT Analysis of graphing lessons
Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday
Strengths |
Weaknesses |
Each lesson that the students engaged with started with a recap of what was discussed on Monday's introductory lesson to graphing. We discussed how a tally is used to record data. We also discussed that when transferring the data collected to the graph the numbers coloured on the graph need to match the numbers marked on the tally. Repetition of concepts generally helps students remember. According to Bruner (2000), "building repetition into your teaching is that it supports a number of highly important educational goods: self-paced discovery, ability to reflect, consistency and clarity of thought--these promote deep learning" (p. 1).
Each of the activities were modelled to the students so that they understood what was required of them as well as told what the learning intention was for that lesson. All three tasks were based around the same concepts that was discussed on Monday. All the students were given the same activities but for each student there were different expectations. For example, the students that have beginning concepts of tally and graphing will be focusing on collecting the data in the tally correctly. All these aspects of the lesson plans relate to quality curriculum. Quality curriculum involves the students being clear on learning targets, it helps students understand the through repetition and relates to students lives (Tomlinson & Imbeau, 2011). The three different activities allow the students to practice applying the new knowledge that they have learnt. All lesson plan activities required students to gather their own data. All the activities were activities that the students could relate to, such as tallying the different pets that the students have within the classroom and who like broccoli. These topics can make the learning that takes place more authentic as they can make connections to content learnt in class and the real world. Allowing students to independently collect raw data gives them the opportunity to build independence in the foundations of the concepts of collecting data and representing it (Booker, Bond, Sparrow and Swan, 2010). |
Many students finished the activity quicker than expected. I did not have additional work ready for the students to go on with. The students that were finished went on IXL maths to reinforce what we have been learning such as tallying and graphing. This was helpful in the first day but additional planned work would have been beneficial for the other days.
Thursdays numeracy lesson was unsuccessful. The students found it difficult to get past the tally stage. This was due to way the students were required to collect data was different to the other days. This made it confusing for the students which did not allow them to meet the success criteria for that lesson. ThreatsStudents that finish early and have nothing to go on with can be a threat. This is because the hours in a school day is short, therefore it it is essential that each student is doing something meaningful during all allocated class time. Not just activities that fill in time.
When an activity causes confusion to students it can really disturb the learning process which could lead to disengagement from the students. Therefore it is important to give students positive learning experiences. OpportunitiesI have learnt that in future when I plan lessons I need to accommodate for the early finishers. That way during my lessons students are engaging in meaningful activities at all times.
In future when students have difficulties with and activity I will ensure that I revisit the activity to clear up any uncertainty. Unfortunately , on placement i did not have that opportunity to revisit that activity. |
References
Booker, G, Bond, D, Sparrow, L and Swan, P .(2010). Teaching primary mathematics (4th edn). Frenchs Forest, NSW: Pearson.
Bruner, R. (2000). An informal column on teaching: repetition is the First Principle of All Learning". Virginia, U.S :University of Virginia Darden School Foundation.
CORD .(1999). Teaching Mathematics Contextually: The Cornerstone of Tech Prep. Waco, Texas: CORD Publications.
Hattie, J. (2012). Visible learning for teaching. New York, NY: Routledge.
MacNaughton, G. (2009). Techniques for teaching young children: choices for theory and practice. French Forests, NSW: Pearson Education.
Tomlinson, C & Imbeau, M.(2011). Managing a differentiated classroom: A practical guide. New York, NY: Scholastic.
Queen’s Printer for Ontario. (2010). The full day early learning. Retrieved from http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/kindergarten_english_june3.pdf.
Bruner, R. (2000). An informal column on teaching: repetition is the First Principle of All Learning". Virginia, U.S :University of Virginia Darden School Foundation.
CORD .(1999). Teaching Mathematics Contextually: The Cornerstone of Tech Prep. Waco, Texas: CORD Publications.
Hattie, J. (2012). Visible learning for teaching. New York, NY: Routledge.
MacNaughton, G. (2009). Techniques for teaching young children: choices for theory and practice. French Forests, NSW: Pearson Education.
Tomlinson, C & Imbeau, M.(2011). Managing a differentiated classroom: A practical guide. New York, NY: Scholastic.
Queen’s Printer for Ontario. (2010). The full day early learning. Retrieved from http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/kindergarten_english_june3.pdf.