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Observation Assignment 4

1) What do you think the objective is?

Students will determine if a given function can be written in standard form by examining the equation of the function.

Students will write linear functions in the standard form of Ax+By=C and identify the A, B, and C of their newly written function in standard form.

2) What level of Bloom’s Taxonomy is that?

Objective 1 falls under Analysis.

Objective 2 falls under Application.

3) How will you assess it in 10 minutes or less?

A short quiz with the following questions would be appropriate.

1. Can y= 3x+2 be written in standard form? If yes, what is the standard from and what are the A, B, and C from the general formula of a linear equation written in standard form?

2. Can y=2/x - 4 be written in standard form? If yes, what is the standard form and what are the A, B, and C from the general formula of a linear equation written in standard form?

3. Can y=x/3 + x -1 be written in standard form? If yes, what is the standard from and what are the A, B, and C from the general formula of a linear equation written in standard form?

The first question is worth 5 points, with 2 points given to the correct yes or no answer and 1 point given for correctly identifying each of A, B, and C.  The second question is 2 points for a correct yes or no answer, since the answer is no.  The third question is 2 points for a correct yes or no answer, since the answer is no.

Observation Assignment 3

The high school classroom I observed is very unique in the fact that the students are not allowed to enter the room until the teacher greets them and shakes their hand.  Each student is personally greeted as they enter the room helping to create a positive relationship between the teacher and the student.  The students have assigned seats in this class.  The desks are set up in groups of four and all the students come in and take their seats after greeting the teacher.  A few of the students immediately get up after putting their belongings down and talk to one another until the teacher is done greeting everyone as they come in.  The teacher brings the students back to their seats and gets their attention by counting down from five. 

            The class begins with the teacher telling the students that they will be working on a review sheet in groups on the same topic from the previous day.  The teacher hands out the worksheet to all of the groups then tells them that she will be coming around to check their homework from the night before.  While she checks the homework she also uses this opportunity to take attendance.  As she goes from group to group, the students who are not having their homework checked begin working on the worksheet.  There was no mention of anyone being absent from the class before this one and all the students arrived on time so I was not able to observe how the teacher would bring any students up to speed on the material being covered. 

            The teacher continually moved from group to group throughout the class period providing assistance, answering questions, and checking answers.  When a student had a correct answer she would praise the student for a job well done and then challenge them to explain how they arrived at their answer or ask a related question to ensure their understanding of the problem.  When a few of the more boisterous students got out of hand she would go over to them and steer them back on task pointing out that their behavior is most likely negatively affecting the other groups’ productivity.  There were a few times when the teacher wanted to address the whole class because a common problem between the groups had arisen.  Again she asked for the class’s attention and then used the counting down method to get them focused. 

            Before the end of the class period, the teacher got all of the students’ attention and wrote the homework for the night on the board, asking them to write it in their planners so they would not forget.  The students were dismissed at the bell and they left in the usual high school fashion of a bit of swirling chaos.  The students took their belongings and walked over to their friends all talking and joking around as they moved on to their next class.

            I think the classroom management had a positive effect on student learning.  The groups were organized so there was one high scoring student, two average scoring students, and one lower scoring student in each group.  This was done in the hopes of everyone being pulled closer to the high scoring student as they work together.  Her tactic of pointing out how a student’s misbehavior could hurt others’ learning also worked quite well.  Most students do not want to be intentionally rude to their friends so all it takes sometimes is to point out what they are doing for them to want to stop on their own.  I also really like the idea of greeting all the students when they enter.  This way no student feels overlooked by the teacher and I think it makes a strong step towards building a classroom community.  I feel that this is definitely something I would like to do in my own classroom in the future. 

SED 406:  Observation Assignment #2

In this observation assignment, your goal is to reverse-engineer a lesson plan. Watch the class, and write the lesson plan that teacher is using.

Do this by OBSERVATION, even if the teacher is willing to share their lesson plan with you. This is about improving your observation skills, not getting ‘the answer’.

Lesson Plan Template for SED 406 and 407 part 1 = planning
Teacher Candidate: Bryan D’Amico	Subject: Algebra 2	Grade(s): 10
Name of Lesson: Relations and Functions
Learning Objective(s), including Bloom's taxonomic level: (label A, B, C, *D) *optional Students will identify the domain and range of a relation using only the set of points given. Students will determine if a relation is a function by representing the relation as a mapping. Students will decide if a relation is one-to-one, onto, both, or neither using either a graph, a mapping, or a set of points.
Student Standards (GSE or/GLE or Common Core-in draft for math/science- list which): HSF-IF.A.1 Understand that a function from one set to another set assigns to each element of the domain exactly one element of the range.
Teacher Standards (professional society and/or NETS  and RIPTS-list which): Teachers have a deep content knowledge base sufficient to create learning experiences that reflect an understanding of central concepts, vocabulary, structures, and tools of inquiry of the disciplines/content areas they teach. Teachers create a supportive learning environment that encourages appropriate standards of behavior, positive social interaction, active engagement in learning, and self-motivation.
Rationale: Why this lesson? How does it fit into the curriculum and context?  Is this the introduction, conclusion, or somewhere in the middle of the unit of instruction? This lesson is very important since every subsequent math course uses functions and the concepts of domain and range.  This is the introduction to a new unit.
Materials/Resources needed, including technology: Smart board, notebooks, textbooks.
Accommodations and Modifications (special needs and learning styles) For example:  Dr. Kraus has poor vision and needs written material to be at least 12 pt. font.  He also reads two grade levels higher and needs appropriate reading material.   N/A
What content resources support this knowledge base? (list at least 2)
How confident are you in this topic as you start this lesson? Teacher was confident in the subject matter.

(Boxes expand as you type)   Lesson Plan Template part 2 = action
Bell-ringer: How will you get students seated, and ready for academic work? (without your voice) Students get textbooks and are provided with note sheets with examples to fill in.
Anticipatory Set: How will you introduce the material, interest the students, show relevance of topic? Introduced as a refresher for the purpose of building up to new concepts.
Phase (change as needed)/Time	Teacher action	Student action	Questions/Assessments
Intro/5 min.	Ask students to find answers to questions in the textbook	Students use the textbook to provide answers then volunteer their answers	What’s a relation? What’s a function? What is the domain of a relation? What is the range of a relation?
First Example/10min	Give first example on the   smartboard using a set of ordered pairs	Students raise hands and answer questions.	What is the domain of this relation? What is the range? Is this relation a function?
Second Example/10min	Give first example on the   smartboard using a set of ordered pairs	Students raise hands and answer questions.	What is the mapping that represents this relation? What is the domain? What is the range? Is this relation a function?
Next Topic/5min	Explain the concept and definition of one-to-one, onto, and being both	Students take notes and can ask questions.	Why can functions be onto?
Third Example/6min	Set of ordered pairs and points on coordinate plane as an example on the board.  Show out the mapping	Students raise hands and answer questions.	Is this relation one-to-one, onto, both, or neither? What is the domain? What is the range? Is this relation a function?
Fourth Example/3min	Place a set of ordered pairs on the board.		What is the domain? What is the range? Is this a function? Is this one-to-one, onto, both, neither?
Closing/2min		Put away books
HW/Application/	Exercises from section 2.1 in textbook #1-3,11-13
Review and Reflection: How will you review for students who are still having trouble?  Provide more examples
Extension: What will you offer to students who have mastered this? N/A
*Closing: How will you review the material, and draw conclusions? (may be listed above) There was no concrete closing.

	Lesson Plan Template pt. 3 = reflection
WHAT?	What went well?    Good examples and student participation was high.
	What area of weakness needs addressing? Need a stronger introduction and conclusion.  More differentiation of material.
	Which objectives were met? What is the evidence? Most of the students met all 3 of the objectives.  They did well answering the question during verbal informal assessments.
	Which students did not meet objectives? Possibly the students who stayed quiet.
	Was time managed appropriately? Yes everything that was planned was gotten to by the end of the class period.
	Did any teacher mannerisms or actions detract from the lesson? Some hiccups with the smart board distracted the students a bit.
	*What were the strengths and weaknesses of classroom management? The lesson was engaging enough to gain control of student behavior.  Need to call on a more varied sample of students.
SO WHAT?	Was the lesson engaging? The lesson was engaging.  All the students worked on the examples when prompted and a majority offered their answers verbally when called upon.
	*What did I learn from my peer observation (address at least one aspect)   I learned that while direct instruction works well for most lessons such as this, that I might want to try more indirect methods as an introduction to capture the students’ interest.
NOW WHAT?	How will this experience influence your professional identity?   This experience makes me believe that the focus in the classroom should not be placed on lecturing and individual practice.
	How will it influence how you plan/teach/assess in the future?  This will influence me to come up with more indirect instruction lessons for as many topics as I feel comfortable with and then push myself to create indirect lessons for topics I didn’t think could work in that way before.

Observation Assignment 1

I did my observation at Times Squared Academy, a charter school in Providence.  The school is located on Fillmore Street, next to a low income area.  It’s made up of two large buildings which house students in kindergarten up until grade 12.  The school is very focused on the success of its students and trying to inspire them to go on to further education.  On the walls in the hallways are posters about how to complete the common app, examples of college requirements, and statistics about the SATs.  Times Squared has a safe and structured atmosphere, with staircases labeled as up or down and all the students dressed in khaki pants and maroon polo shirts.

            For some students in the 10^th grade, their second class of the day is Algebra II.  Their room on the second floor is decorated with pictures of fractals, brightly colored curtains, math posters on solving equations, a giant calculator, and a gold colored cap and gown.  The desks are arranged in two rows forming a giant U all facing toward the smart board in the front of the room.  Behind the U are two computers for the students to work with and a large cabinet filled with math books from every subject the school teaches.  There are twenty two students in this class, most of which are black or Latino.  There are only four Asian students and two white students, who happen to be twin sisters.  The majority of students are also female, with less than ten male students in the class.  None of the students have any disabilities that are apparent.  The students in the room all have varying skills in the subject but all of them have at least the basics down. 

            The teacher greets each student individually as they enter the room, shaking their hand and asking each how they are doing.  The teacher begins the lesson in the front of the room and stays there for the majority of the class working on the smart board.  She uses the smart board as an endless chalkboard; being able to move between pages of notes and never having to erase anything.  The lesson is presented in a question and answer format with the students starting a new topic this morning.  When the teacher asks them to figure out the answers to four questions at the start of the class all the students begin to look in the book and write down their answers.  Both the boys and the girls volunteer to give their answers for the teacher to write on the board and they are called on in equal proportions.  Most of the classroom is vocal whether they are asking or answering questions.  All of the students also seem very comfortable with their teacher.  The students are not afraid to ask her to pause the lesson for a second when they do not understand something so they can get a better grasp on what is happening.  The only students who did not participate at all were the twin sisters.  They seemed much shyer than the other students.  At one point in the class a girl asked a question of the teacher.  Instead of answering, the teacher asked the students in the class to raise their hand if they knew the answer.  The teacher then told the girl to ask someone in the class to answer her question.  In this classroom it was not all about listening to the teacher but about taking responsibility for your own learning and helping your fellow classmate.

            I think I would feel very comfortable in this school.  All of the children seemed friendly with one another and willing to help out if someone didn’t understand something.  As someone who greatly enjoys the STEM subjects, the mission of the school would have been greatly aligned with what I wanted to get out of my high school education.