Elementary Education Literacy with Mathematics Task 4 Commentary Final

TASK 2: INSTRUCTION COMMENTARY Respond to the prompts below (no more than 6 single-spaced pages, including prompts) by typing your responses within the brackets following each prompt. Do not delete or alter the prompts. Commentary pages exceeding the maximum will not be scored. You may insert no more than 2 additional pages of supporting documentation at the end of this file. These pages may include graphics, texts, or images that are not clearly visible in the video or a transcript for occasionally inaudible portions. These pages do not count toward your page total. Which lesson or lessons are shown in the video clips? Identify the lesson(s) by lesson plan number. [ Due to district regulations I am not allowed to record my students, the instruction I can provide commentary on is my lesson #2 decomposing two-digit numbers in addition. This lesson is with two small groups. Each group is taught for 25 mins, which included instruction and independent practice] Promoting a Positive Learning Environment Refer to scenes in the video clips where you provided a positive learning environment. a. How did you demonstrate mutual respect for, rapport with, and responsiveness to students with varied needs and backgrounds, and challenge students to engage in learning? [I demonstrate respect for each of my individual students by first demonstrating respect to each individual student. I do this by calling students by their first name and responding to each statement or question in which they may have. By getting to know each student, I was able to identify their strengths and weaknesses when it came to math, and ask myself some question such as if they like math? If so what did they like most about mathematics? This was very useful information especially since the class is virtually this information will help me to engage all students. I am responsive to all students as I called on different students each time by their first name. I would address a student who are not staying on task. I also promote a positive environment by bringing forth humor to the classroom and relating the lessons to real life examples as best as possible. This build rapport because then students will share how something relates to them or will make a joke relating to what we are working on. For examples during the decomposing process a student was having a hard time calculating four plus four and I told a joke I believed would help all student remember four plus four the joke was "why didn't the two four's feel like rating dinner? Because they already eight." Another time that I show rapport for the students is redirecting their behaviors and answers as well as allowing them time to rethink what they just said if they were incorrect. I allowed the student to correctly say and identify their answer confidently. To challenge all students, I asked them to solve the problem individually and model how they got there answer. This encourages them to think deeply into what they have learned. Engaging Students in Learning Refer to examples from the video clips in your responses to the prompts. a. Explain how your instruction engaged students in developing an essential literacy strategy and related skills. [I ask students to show to write the equation we will need to solve. I call on one student to model for the class how to solve the problem. The students get excited about this portions, because they are confident in their decomposing skills and they feel as if they are instructing the class. I can see students raising their hand in excitement and pump their arms in excitment when they are called on to model the equation. Some students state that decomposing is fun and they want more practice problems to work on. I ensured that each student was given the opportunity to partake in each activity. Each student was engaged in the content of the lesson as each student had a job to do within each activity. Students had to be aware of what was going on in case they were called upon to solve a equation. b. Describe how your instruction linked students’ prior academic learning and personal, cultural, and community assets with new learning. [While addition a concept that can relate to every student’s everyday life as well as a concept that will carry on with them throughout their adult life, I wanted to encourage students to think beyond just equations when solving a two digit word problem they can apply decomping to help solve any two digit equation in any form. In each activity, students used prior learning to sort to find the sum of the ten and ones place whether they are able to solve it in their heard or use their fingers, as long as they are properly following the steps to decomposing.d. As we continued to solve equations I encouraged students to think about how they could add number of bigger value by putting the bigger number in the head and adding up by the smaller number, and when they are adding a two digit number that have a zero in it they already know that zero plus zero is always equal to zero. For example when adding the ten place the two numbers were 30+ 20, when a student sees this they become intimated but I remind, but one they realize they just need to know the sum of 3+2 they became more confident in added bigger numbers. Deepening Student Learning during Instruction Refer to examples from the video clips in your explanations. a. Explain how you elicited and built on student responses to promote thinking and apply the essential literacy strategy using related skills to comprehend OR compose text. [ When the equation is shown, I state to students “ this looks like a hard one who thinks they can solve this equation without skipping a step and decomposing?” I also get them excited by letting them know whoever is solving the problem is allowed to share their share so the class can see the steps they are taking to solve the equations, This gets student excited because they are not allowed to share their screen with the class that is a privilege only the teacher is allowed to do. Explain how you modeled the essential literacy strategy AND supported students as they practiced or applied the strategy to comprehend OR compose text in a meaningful context. [ This learning segment is typically hands-on learning for the students. Decomposing is something that is difficult for students to grasp solely through direct instruction, but since the class is fully virtual I had to make it as interactive as possible, but having students show their work step by step instead of just watching me solve the problem, and then the complete independent practice. I also use a whiteboard that they can see me write on to show that I was following their instruction when I choose a student to solve the equation. Analyzing Teaching Refer to examples from the video clips in your responses to the prompts. a. What changes would you make to your instruction—for the whole class and/or for students who need greater support or challenge—to better support student learning of the central focus (e.g., missed opportunities)? Consider the variety of learners in your class who may require different strategies/support, such as students with IEPs or 504 plans, English language learners, struggling readers, underperforming students or those with gaps in academic knowledge, and/or gifted students. [Overall, I wish that I would have used different interactive methods such as fun music videos about decomposing at the beginning of teaching the unit. This would have helped more especially with my students that have a harder time grasping math concepts. This would have prompted students to do think about place value instead of me having to go over finding place value over again with them. I firmly believe, however, that respect and rapport towards the students and the respect towards the educators in the classroom are at an ultimate high. With that, I would hope that students feel comfortable asking questions and being themselves during mathematics instruction. I moved throughout the lessons at a fast pace to ensure that students are focused and energized throughout each lesson. During mathematics instruction, my student with IEP’s meet with the special education teacher. This is a huge benefit to my students because they are learning and going over the same lesson just modified so they can grasp the math concept and have enough time to work on the math concept without feeling rushed. By lesson four, students should have become familiar with them decomposing two-digit addition problems step by step. As I continue to evaluate myself as a teacher and grow in my teaching abilities, I hope I can continue to find ways to improve my teaching and help students grow and become more successful in mathematics and in other subjects as well, not only mathematics ] b. Why do you think these changes would improve student learning? Support your explanation with evidence of student learning AND principles from theory and/or research. [These changes would greatly improve student learning in numerous ways. One of these ways would include students simply taking the opportunity to ask questions and express how they feel about something. This would have helped me to understand where the miscommunication or confusion maybe. This would determine where and how students need to be instructed. This would help me greatly; however, it would also help the students to ask questions about previous knowledge or previous lesson material which may be beneficial to all students. Working in small groups helps students to experience interpersonal relationships and teamwork.