Lesson Reflection Guide

The following questions and prompts are designed to guide you in analyzing your lesson and
preparing for future lessons. Please type your responses using complete sentences. Provide
specific examples and refer to your lesson and classroom interactions to support your
responses.

1. Reflect (briefly) on how the lesson unfolded: Provide a narrative of how

the lesson played out so that I will better be able to visualize how you
viewed the lesson—especially if it took a different course than you
intended. [Brief Before; During; After]

The students came in from their lunch recess and I directed them to get their
iPads to do their daily ST Math application. It is required that students do around
20 minutes each day. I set up my centers while they were at lunch at continued to
make some finishing touches while they were on the iPads. I called their attention
and had the students put everything away to start the lesson. I asked about the
previous lesson because it was supposed to be a direct connection to the lesson I
was doing that day and the students remembered quite a bit of what they had
learned. They had some contextual background knowledge about the difference
that width makes when looking at containers filled with water. I explained why it
was important to have a standard unit of measure and that it was called a liter.
We went over the fact that one liter is equal to one thousand milliliters. I then
went on to the vase example which some students still had a tricky time with. I
called up volunteers to help me measure how much was in each vase, equaling
500 ml in each container. We discussed again why this was true even though they
looked different.
I then created my own 1 L bottle and showed them how to use the lines on the
measuring tools to tell how full their container was. I explained the activity and
gave them rules. If there was any rough housing or off task behavior, they would
end up sitting inside of the classroom away from the rest of the class who were
out in the hallway. I grouped them up and sent them to their first center space.
The students did the activity, with varying levels of excitement. There was quite a
lot of spills, luckily two of the groups were doing their experiments over sinks.
About every ten minutes I would switch the centers and ask how many students
still needed a turn to pour the water into the containers. When they were in their
third center I began to send students back into the classroom to get started on
their independent practice page. At the very end we took a few minutes to
discuss one of the more difficult problems and then it was time for their recess.

2. Describe a success: Specify what went well about how your lesson played
out--identify what worked that you want to remember.

Things that went well and that I want to remember for future planning are the
amount of different containers that I was able to get. I liked the groups of 1000ml,
500ml, and 250 ml. I also liked how hands on it was and the students really
appreciated being able to get out of their seats.

3. Describe a challenge: Identify what you found to be the most challenging

during your lesson and describe why, how you handled it, and what you
might do differently next time.
Things that did not go as I had hoped or that were less productive than I had
expected were the fact that I only had two sinks and one big bucket to work with
which made it impossible for me to have more than three groups. This was
frustrating for me and the students because they wanted to be even more hands
on and have more turns to pour the water. I just kept trying to move the students
along so that everyone would get to go and tried to keep the students on task. I
would try and take this activity outside on the playground next time I do it. I think
that getting six big buckets and having six groups instead of only three would
definitely make things go more smoothly.

4. Reflect on the Engage/Launch and Explore: Write about what you learned
about math, about students, about teacher moves, about encouraging
student communication, about using mathematical tools. In your response
include attention to at least 3 of the following. As you consider each
reflection question, the natural follow up to each question is, “What is my
evidence?”

a. Did I make sure students had enough information to do the problem

without giving away too much? Was the mathematical potential of
the problem left intact?
b. Did my students know what to do from what was said or asked?
c. Were the students intellectually challenged by the task? To what
extent?
 d. Did I provide time for students to think individually before students
heard thinking from others?
e. Did students present new strategies from those that I had
anticipated?
f. Did my questions help students to clarify, generalize, and extend their
thinking?
g. Did I attend to individual needs without giving away the challenge?
I definitely know that my students knew what to do from what I said to them
before we actually started the activity. I had a couple of students who were off
task, but that happens quite often in this classroom. Everybody stayed in their
group and got a turn to pour the water. Even when they were not pouring they
were engaged enough to want to watch their peers work. I did provide enough
time for students to think individually before they heard the thinking from others.
At the beginning I made sure to wait for volunteers to questions until I had the
majority of hands raised. I also gave time for individual thoughts and group
discussion on the theory of conservation. During the independent practice they
were asked to do as much as possible on their own before asking for help. This did
lead into me asking them different questions to help them clarify the original task
that they were given to do. While I walked around to each group I made sure to
ask questions that extending their thinking and encouraged them to use different
materials and different strategies. It was nice that my students wanted to learn
and that I was able to provide a hands on and minds on activity for them to learn
the basics about standard measuring of volume in liters and milliliters.

5. Reflect on the Summarize/Debrief/Explain: Write about what you learned

about math, about students, about teacher moves, about encouraging
student communication, about using mathematical tools. In your response
include attention to at least 3 of the following. As you consider each
reflection question, the natural follow up to each question is, “What is my
evidence?”

a. Did the focus/essential question help to guide when students were

ready for the summary?
b. How did the lesson go compared to what I had expected?
c. Did all the students or just some students understand the
mathematics? What is my evidence?
d. Did I have students actively engaged in the summary?
 e. How did the task I used provide students with opportunities to discuss
and reason about important mathematical ideas or solution
methods?
f. What were some productive teacher moves I used (and/or challenges
I faced) with regard to making student learning visible, creating a
productive math learning environment, supporting all students to
engage with the task; and/or keeping the work focused on important
aspects of the mathematics?”
g. What do my students know as a result of the lesson? Did the lesson
leave residue?
I was surprised at how well I was able to follow the lesson plan during
this activity. At first I was not sure how much information the students
knew about this subject and I was not sure how long it would take all of
them to be able to participate. But it all worked out and we were able to
finish at the exact stopping point I presumed that we would end at.
Students had to be actively engaged in the summary because it was an
independent practice worksheet and a class discussion on it. Each
student want to get finished with it so they did try their best and I did
get a few students to raise their hands and ask for help. For the most
part, the students did very well. Because of these small groups, my
students are able to use measuring cups to correctly reach a specified
amount of liquid. The lesson did leave residue and I know this because
they were able to do the worksheet with success. They took visual and
contextual information and were able to process it and learn in order to
complete a worksheet. I was able to come back the next day and saw
that they did carry the information that they learned into a new lesson
and activity.

6. Describe areas for future focus: As you think about getting ready for
teaching other lessons, describe 2-3 goals you have for yourself related to
teaching children mathematics. The following prompts are intended to
guide your thinking:

 “As a result of teaching this lesson, I am wondering about . . . “

 “Things that I believe I am doing well and want to remember as I

plan future lessons are . . . “
  “Ongoing or new goals that I have for myself as a result of my
experiences teaching children mathematics this semester . . . “

Things that I believe I am doing well and want to remember as I plan future
lessons are that students who are fully enjoying the content will be better
behaved. Fidgeting and talk outs are a big problem in my classroom but that is not
the case when we are doing hands on activities that fully engage them. I want to
remember to keep doing these even though it may seem difficult to manage at
times.

As a result of this lesson, I am wondering about another way in which I could

show this concept without creating such a mess. It took me almost half an hour to
clean up after the lesson was complete. Liquid is super messy but also necessary. I
want to think even more creatively when planning my lessons.