As a pre-service teacher, I feel as if the subject that I am comfortable the most with is mathematics. Since my CT has been stepping out in the mornings to coach other teachers on Kagan structures, I have been given the opportunity to step up and teach 2nd grade math as a sole instructor. The flow of the lesson felt way more structured when using Kagan structures such as the one I used, Both-Record RallyRobin with students working with their shoulder partner during the problem sets. Students responded well to my directions, yet I feel as if a couple of times during the video there were instances where a confident tone would have alleviated some student responses. Overall, the lesson went very well, and if I could give a self-evaluation it would be an 8/10.
Some things done well were the question that I wrote for students on the board in large print, "What would we have to do to the numbers to make this inequality symbol switch?, 124>104" I gave students some time to talk with their partners, and then pulled sticks to get some whole class discussion going without the nervousness of being called on and having nothing to say. Kagan structures, when used properly, really open up doors for learning where otherwise there would be little opportunity to share quality ideas. Another thing that went well was the Brain Break between the sprints at the beginning of the lesson. Maybe next time, we could do a ball passing game where when the student catches a ball, they have to say a new type of animal.
For the sake of professional development, I will mention the three areas most in-need of improvement. During the video, I noticed that sometimes when my back was turned, or when the students had only one job of listening, there would be fidgeting with materials and pencils, and all sorts of other movement. Perhaps at the beginning of the lesson, students could do a small but effective brain break to get glucose to the brain as well as making the lesson more "user-friendly" for students who need to be engaged at all times. Maybe giving more specific directions less often and given students space to practice their mathematical reasoning over and over would be a good step for next time. The students wanted to get to the game that I had planned for them at the end of the lesson, yet the amount of time taken for Problem Sets kind of made it so that we only had time to do less than anticipated.
Some things done well were the question that I wrote for students on the board in large print, "What would we have to do to the numbers to make this inequality symbol switch?, 124>104" I gave students some time to talk with their partners, and then pulled sticks to get some whole class discussion going without the nervousness of being called on and having nothing to say. Kagan structures, when used properly, really open up doors for learning where otherwise there would be little opportunity to share quality ideas. Another thing that went well was the Brain Break between the sprints at the beginning of the lesson. Maybe next time, we could do a ball passing game where when the student catches a ball, they have to say a new type of animal.
For the sake of professional development, I will mention the three areas most in-need of improvement. During the video, I noticed that sometimes when my back was turned, or when the students had only one job of listening, there would be fidgeting with materials and pencils, and all sorts of other movement. Perhaps at the beginning of the lesson, students could do a small but effective brain break to get glucose to the brain as well as making the lesson more "user-friendly" for students who need to be engaged at all times. Maybe giving more specific directions less often and given students space to practice their mathematical reasoning over and over would be a good step for next time. The students wanted to get to the game that I had planned for them at the end of the lesson, yet the amount of time taken for Problem Sets kind of made it so that we only had time to do less than anticipated.