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Kate Hannum

Observation 2

For my second observation, I taught a math lesson on two step


word problems that use all four operations. I based it on a page out of
the students current math textbook. It was the second-to-last skill in
their unit, and it was supposed to lead into their first exposure to using
variables. There were two kinds of problems presented: one that
required a simple addition or subtraction step before a multiplication or
division step and one that referred to quantity as two- or three- times
as large as another quantity.
I prepped a thorough slideshow presentation, starting with
differentiated small group work and then full-class problem solving
together, followed by individual work. I made sure to include extension
activities to keep the students engaged throughout the entire lesson.
However, the day before my lesson, I found out that my teacher
has already worked on the skill with the kids. Theyd already done the
problems Id selected for practice, but my teacher said they needed
more help with it. I updated my presentation and planned to reteach.
On the morning of my lesson, I corrected their homework from
the previous evening. Nearly every student got one of the problems
wrong according to the book. I decided to work through that problem
instead of another one Id planned to work through. I rewrote the

problem and the proper solution and planned to utilize the document
camera for the first time to project it.
Overall, my lesson went well. Group work went relatively
smoothly, the students stayed engaged, and seemed to work through
some questions. Still, there were some difficulties. When I had a group
come up to share their process, I noticed that theyd come up with an
incorrect answer. I am not 100% comfortable with the skill itself, and
thought theyd calculated incorrectly, when, in fact, theyd confused
their process. My CT stepped in to clarify this, thankfully.
Another challenge was pacing. I was hesitant to cut the group
work short because the students were all very engaged, but still
werent finished. They took much longer than Id expected. Because of
this, I went way over my 40 minutes. I need to become comfortable
with re-engaging students even if they havent finished their
exploration yet. Direct teaching may be the key to enabling them to do
their work independently.
The biggest problem occurred because of my impromptu decision
to re-teach their homework problem. We went through the steps, but
the students were not getting it. It wasnt until after the lesson that I
was able to step back and realize, with Debbies help, that the problem
was worded badly. I learned a huge lesson: before assuming that all
your students have done something incorrectly, check yourself: is the

problem bad? Did you set them up for success? Did you give clear
expectations?
After the lesson, I met with a few students over lunch who selfidentified as struggling with the skill. My teacher recommended using
the reteaching resources that come with my schools math
curriculum. They were so helpful! They clearly broke down every step,
using extra practice problems to isolate gaps in content knowledge. In
the future, if Im teaching a skill that I dont feel very comfortable with,
Ill probably skip to using the reteaching resources to make sure that I
understand it inside and out.

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