Lesson Plan & Implementation:

Reflection and Analysis

College of Education

Reflection is a critical process for supporting your growth and development as a professional. At
the end of each lesson, you should reflect on the experience and analyze its effectiveness. This
part of the process consists of three parts: the reflection, the analysis and the content-focused
questions.

In order to receive full credit your reflection and analysis must include specific references to the
video with time correlations.  For this reason, complete a chart as you watch your video with the
following headings and focus your viewing on the student learning goal and/or teacher
instructional goal. 

Time Celebration/Struggle/Question: Claim about teaching practice

17:00 As part of “engage” portion, I could This would have helped engaged
have asked them to think about what my students as well as get them
an open number line was. They could to begin thinking critically about
have turned and talked with their what we were going to be
partners. I could have referenced the learning that day. Referencing the
number line on the wall and talked number line on the wall would
about similarities/differences/why. have been beneficial because
they are already familiar with
that. It would have helped them
process this new information.
18:30 Productive struggle/turn & talk in the When students engage in
beginning was good. It got them productive struggle and
thinking about the open number line collaborate with their peers, it
at the start of our lesson. helps them think critically about
new information and it helps
them to better process the
information.
19:20 When students kept using other Giving explicit instructions and
strategies, I redirected them to use expectations will help students
the open number line, which was focus on what you want them to
good. I should have been more direct focus on.
and explicit with my instructions and
said that we were only using the open
number line and no other strategies.
22:00 When students were sharing, I should When students are being
have been explicit with my respectful to those speaking and
expectations and had students put not being distracted by other
their pencils down and be respectful things such as playing with
to the student sharing. I should have pencils, they are learning and
also asked the student sharing to more engaged with the content.
stand and use their “loud and proud”
voice.
22:35 I should have started with single digit Scaffolding the information
numbers to explain the strategy in it’s would have helped students
simplest form. understand and process this new
information better.
23:10 Even though a student solved the Even when students do things
problem in a different way than I differently or don’t get the
expected, I still could have have answer I was looking for, I can
them come up to show it on the still use these opportunities as
document camera and explain their teaching moments and a chance
thinking. The class could have for my class to engage with one
agreed/disagreed. We could have had another.
turn and talks about how that strategy
is different than the open number line
strategy.
24:00 When I was doing work on the board, Good classroom management
I had my back turned to the class only works when you can see
which gave them the opportunity to your class to be able to prevent
lose focus and have more behavior behaviors before they occur. If
problems occur. I could have planned your back is turned toward the
out my problems better and class, you’re giving allowing for
completed them under the document the opportunity for unwanted
camera so I could keep my focus on behaviors.
the class and have better classroom
management.
27:00 Instead of introducing the hundreds Scaffolding the information in
chart on their rings at this point this way would have allowed for
during my lesson, I should have done better understanding of the
this at the beginning. I knew that the content.
class struggles with counting by tens,
so I should have reviewed this in the
beginning.
 29:00 When I asked to see their color cards One-on-one instruction is
and began to realize that they weren’t sometimes more beneficial for
focusing or understanding the students because then I can focus
content, I should have put them into on individual student needs and
group and started rotations. ensure they understand the
content.
33:00 I passed out the manipulative Manipulative can be helpful, but
because I thought they would be I should have modeled how I
helpful in checking their answers, but wanted them to use them first or
they were a huge distraction. Instead waited until they had grasped the
of using them to check their answers, content better.
students were using the strategies
they have already learned instead of
this new strategy they were supposed
to be practicing.

The Reflection: The reflection component should make you think about your overall impressions
and feelings that you had.

Questions to consider in your reflection:

1. What aspects of your lesson were implemented differently than you planned? Why did that happen?
2. If you were going to teach this lesson to the same group of students, what would you do differently? Why?
What would you do the same? Why?
3. What surprised you in your lesson?
4. Describe an instance or particular encounter that comes to mind. Why did you pick that instance? What is so
perplexing about that particular moment?
5. What connections can you make to your lesson today from your coursework, the literature, and any previous
lessons or experiences?

Originally I had planned for students to complete the assessment I had created for them,
but when I realized that students weren’t focused or grasping the content, I tried to be flexible
and review more simple problems instead. If I were going to teach this lesson again to the same
group of students, I would not teach it in a whole group setting. I would put students into groups
based on their understanding of the content, and teach in a small group setting on the carpet.
Something that surprised me in my lesson is how unfocused my students were and how hard it
was to get them to focus. This is the first math lesson I have ever taught and I realized just how
different it is than reading, writing, or science. You have to engage your students in a whole new
way and I haven't quite figured out how to master that. Even though I began my lesson with a
productive struggle, reflecting on my lesson, I would have began with a number sense activity
such as decomposing a number or an eliminate it to gain their focus and get my students thinking
with a math brain.

The Analysis: The analysis part addresses the lesson’s effectiveness – to what extent did the
students meet the objectives stated in your lesson plan and how do you know? Make 2-3 claims
about student learning and support it with evidence that you gathered from the lesson (video,
student work, observation notes, etc.).

Questions to answer in your analysis:

1. Which students achieved the learning objective? Which students did not achieve the learning objective? How do
you know? Which of the following helped or hindered your students’ learning – teaching methods, activities,
instructional materials, planned differentiation strategies?
2. How did any special considerations of accommodations affect the lesson? Discuss the outcomes you achieved
explicitly with any students eligible for ELL support, gifted instruction or IEP/504 accommodations—did they
meet your objectives? Why or why not?
3. Based on what happened in this lesson, what are the next steps? What do you plan to teach next to this class
based on the data you collected? Be sure to explain how you will use information from this evaluation in future
lesson planning.
4. Include artifacts representing student work that reinforces your narrative.

It’s hard to say who really achieved the learning objective after this first lesson because
we didn’t get to completing the assessment independently. After reviewing their papers, I can
clearly see those students who didn’t get it at all, those who made an effort, and a select few who
appeared to have understood the concept. Although, I can’t be 100 percent positive because they
never got the chance to complete the problems on their own. My teaching method definitely
hindered student learning. This introductory lesson would have been more effective in a small
group setting where I could ensure the students were focused and provide individualized
instruction. Based on the data I collected, my next steps would be to teach this lesson again the
next day, but in a small group setting. I would scaffold my instruction more and end my
instruction with a one or two problem assessment so I could clearly see which students achieved
their learning goals and which did not.

Students who achieved the learning goal:

Students who did their best, but need more support:
Students who were not focused at all:

Content-Focused Questions: Choose the section that aligns with your lesson content and
answer the questions accordingly.

Questions to answer specific to a mathematics lesson:

1. Analyze your use of mathematics vocabulary. Were you precise in your use of
vocabulary? Did you encourage precision in students' use of vocabulary?
2. Consider your mathematical explanations. Were you accurate in your discussion of
mathematics content?
3. Did you support student accuracy (in other words, did you correctly identify student work
as accurate or inaccurate)? This does not mean that you necessarily told a student they
were wrong, but that you recognized their lack of accuracy and took steps to support
their further learning.
4. Consider the extent to which you provided opportunities for your students to "do
mathematics." Which of the mathematical practices did you PLAN to facilitate and which
of those practices are OBSERVABLE in student behavior?
5. Consider how the mathematics was represented in the class. Were connections made
between representations (verbal, numerical, pictorial, physical etc.)?

I was precise in my mathematics vocabulary during this lesson, however, I was not
confident, nor was I confident in my explanations. I would feel much more comfortable after
having observed and taking detailed notes on a few more math lessons from my CT. As
referenced in my reflection, I should have taken more time to use student work as a teaching
point and for students to agree, disagree, and share why. I felt as though I did a decent job with
probing for answers and asking students why they gave a particular answer to get them thinking
more critically. Reflecting on my lesson, I realized that my lesson was not as student centered as
I planned for it to be and students did not end up doing much mathematics. I realized that I was
doing most all of the work on the board. In terms of mathematics practices, I did establish the
learning goal for the day in hopes to focus their learning. I planned on facilitating meaningful
mathematical discourse and asking purposeful questions. I also planned on supporting the
productive struggle. Honestly, I didn’t observe any student mathematical practices. Unfortunately
I don't feel as though I engaged them enough or could get them focused to be able to understand
the content sufficiently.