I am currently a teacher of the visually impaired at a public high school. I work in a SELPA classroom and have about 12 students on my caseload. I support my students in most every subject and I am their primary teacher for mathematics.
I have taught the Geometry unit on right triangles to some of them, but for the unit plan from week two, I totally revamped the entire process. I practiced the pre-assessment from Day 1 with five of my students. Two of them had already taken geometry, two of them are currently in a geometry class, and one of them has not yet taken geometry and is in an algebra 1 class. After doing the pre-assessment practice with my students, I continued to the Day 1 lesson.
The lesson had to be adapted in major ways for students who are either blind or have low vision. I have taught students who are visually impaired for five years now, so that part was not difficult and the student are all academic students with visual impairment being their only disability. This lesson just took some extra preparation to teach it to my students. I have some tactile examples of acute, obtuse and right triangles that I was able to use to get some points across. So the reflection from this lesson will be as accurate as possible.
We followed my Day 1 lesson plan all the way through. All of the students were already familiar with the idea of the Pythagorean Theorem, but a few of them did not know that it can also be used to classify triangles as acute, obtuse, or right. We went through the interactive lecture and I informally assessed each of the students' understanding with direct and strategic questions. We worked together through some guided practice problems as well. The student centered activity is a group activity, so the five students did it together. I had adapted the application problem to included a tactile representation of a volleyball net. The students who had been exposed to this type lesson before knew exactly what to do and lead the group, sometimes to a point of dominating the students who may not have quite understood the concept of making sure the triangles had right angles.
Since the students were helping me out with this field test, I reduced the number of practice problems for homework to only 10. They really liked the idea that they only had to correctly answer 7 to get "full credit." (I may start this idea right away in my regular classes.) All of the students actually received full credit. A couple students were confident and only completed 7 problems. The rest completed all the problems and got at least 7 correct.
REFLECTION
I was very comfortable teaching this lesson. I have taught this content before, but not in this particular way. Fortunately, I already have a rapport with these students. They have been with me for as long as they have been in high school, so it went pretty smoothly. Some things that went well:
- using a video clip as a motivator
- adapting the lesson for special needs students
- making sure to include a real life application
- the new style of homework. assigning more problems that necessary for full credit. Students loved this.
What may need to be re-evaluated:
- the group activity was dominated by two students. The other three did not get to participate very much. In observing and conducting an informal observation, it was impossible to tell if these students were really comprehending how to apply the lesson to a real life situation. In the future, I would consider letting the students work out the problem on their own for a couple minutes and then entering into groups to discuss and compare their solutions.
Friday, April 22, 2016
Field Experience - Pre-Assessment Practice
I am currently a teacher of the visually impaired at a public high school. I work in a SELPA classroom and have about 12 students on my caseload. I support my students in most every subject and I am their primary teacher for mathematics.
I have taught the Geometry unit on right triangles to some of them, but for the unit plan from week two, I totally revamped the entire process. I practiced the pre-assessment from Day 1 with five of my students. Two of them had already taken geometry, two of them are currently in a geometry class, and one of them has not yet taken geometry and is in an algebra 1 class.
Since my students are blind, I had to prep them for the Wizard of Oz clip that I planned to start the unit with. The clip is mostly verbal, so not much was lost on them. The part where the scarecrow "gets his brain" and states the Pythagorean Theorem was clear. Students seemed engaged by the movie clip.
I presented the students with two basic Pythagorean Theorem problems. Three of the students are blind and two have low vision, so I had Braille graphics and large print versions of the problems. The students were not able to complete the problems on 3x5 cards, so I have them complete the problems as normal. I also listed the Pythagorean Theorem formula above the two problems for the ones that had never been exposed to it before.
I collected the answers and was prepared to talk about me "Favorite No's" with the group. The problem was that only one student got an incorrect answer. As a group, we talked about that problem and the mistake that was made. The student made the same mistake with both problems. The formula is leg^2+leg^2=hypotenuse^2. In each instance, the student mixed up a leg with a hypotenuse and got the wrong answer. The other students quickly noticed this and talked about the correction.
I also talked with all the students about always making what I call a "does that make sense" check. When you have a number answer, it should "make sense" when compared to the numbers you started with. In both instances, the incorrect answer was a large amount off of the other two numbers. This would be a signal that something in the calculation was incorrect.
There is not necessarily a rubric for this pre-assessment. It is an informal assessment that can identify specific students that need help with a certain topic. It can also gauge the overall understanding of the class as a whole. The teacher must be able to think quickly on his or her feet to find an incorrect answer that can be talked about that will benefit the entire class and not make a certain student feel inadequate or dumb. The answers are not only informal assessment. The teacher should use the class discussion to assess the class's understanding as well.
The pre-assessment did it's job, but there were some problems in this field test. First, since the group was small, it was obvious in the discussion who had contributed the one incorrect answer. Fortunately this was a group of good friends, so there was no discomfort or embarrassment. In another setting, if it was obvious who made the incorrect answer, it may be disheartening to the student who contributed it. There are two caveats to this problem. In a regular class size of 30 or more, it would not be obvious and there would likely be more incorrect answers to choose from. Also, over the course of a year in a class, the teacher can create an atmosphere in which the students know that an incorrect answer is perfectly okay. They should not be discouraged, but eager to learn. If the teacher fosters this atmosphere, the students won't worry about it.
It was good to see that 4 out of 5 of the students already had a grasp of how to solve a pythagorean theorem problem. The assessment could have been more difficult, but it was meant to be a basic review so that more difficult problems and real life application could be presented in the actual lesson.
Overall, I wouldn't change much about this assessment. I think the problems are things that would be solved by being in a classroom atmosphere all year and by being in a larger setting. It will take practice to use this "Favorite No's" activity well, but I think it is well worth it.
I have taught the Geometry unit on right triangles to some of them, but for the unit plan from week two, I totally revamped the entire process. I practiced the pre-assessment from Day 1 with five of my students. Two of them had already taken geometry, two of them are currently in a geometry class, and one of them has not yet taken geometry and is in an algebra 1 class.
Since my students are blind, I had to prep them for the Wizard of Oz clip that I planned to start the unit with. The clip is mostly verbal, so not much was lost on them. The part where the scarecrow "gets his brain" and states the Pythagorean Theorem was clear. Students seemed engaged by the movie clip.
I presented the students with two basic Pythagorean Theorem problems. Three of the students are blind and two have low vision, so I had Braille graphics and large print versions of the problems. The students were not able to complete the problems on 3x5 cards, so I have them complete the problems as normal. I also listed the Pythagorean Theorem formula above the two problems for the ones that had never been exposed to it before.
I collected the answers and was prepared to talk about me "Favorite No's" with the group. The problem was that only one student got an incorrect answer. As a group, we talked about that problem and the mistake that was made. The student made the same mistake with both problems. The formula is leg^2+leg^2=hypotenuse^2. In each instance, the student mixed up a leg with a hypotenuse and got the wrong answer. The other students quickly noticed this and talked about the correction.
I also talked with all the students about always making what I call a "does that make sense" check. When you have a number answer, it should "make sense" when compared to the numbers you started with. In both instances, the incorrect answer was a large amount off of the other two numbers. This would be a signal that something in the calculation was incorrect.
There is not necessarily a rubric for this pre-assessment. It is an informal assessment that can identify specific students that need help with a certain topic. It can also gauge the overall understanding of the class as a whole. The teacher must be able to think quickly on his or her feet to find an incorrect answer that can be talked about that will benefit the entire class and not make a certain student feel inadequate or dumb. The answers are not only informal assessment. The teacher should use the class discussion to assess the class's understanding as well.
The pre-assessment did it's job, but there were some problems in this field test. First, since the group was small, it was obvious in the discussion who had contributed the one incorrect answer. Fortunately this was a group of good friends, so there was no discomfort or embarrassment. In another setting, if it was obvious who made the incorrect answer, it may be disheartening to the student who contributed it. There are two caveats to this problem. In a regular class size of 30 or more, it would not be obvious and there would likely be more incorrect answers to choose from. Also, over the course of a year in a class, the teacher can create an atmosphere in which the students know that an incorrect answer is perfectly okay. They should not be discouraged, but eager to learn. If the teacher fosters this atmosphere, the students won't worry about it.
It was good to see that 4 out of 5 of the students already had a grasp of how to solve a pythagorean theorem problem. The assessment could have been more difficult, but it was meant to be a basic review so that more difficult problems and real life application could be presented in the actual lesson.
Overall, I wouldn't change much about this assessment. I think the problems are things that would be solved by being in a classroom atmosphere all year and by being in a larger setting. It will take practice to use this "Favorite No's" activity well, but I think it is well worth it.
Sunday, April 10, 2016
Introduction
Hello,
My name is Nate Slaymaker. I am currently a teacher of the visually impaired. I am trying to earn my single subject credential in the area of mathematics. I want to make a difference int he lives of students and I have chosen the education field as the path to do just that.
My personality type is INFJ. I like helping people. I have an analytical type of brain which seems to fit with teaching math. But math is not really a passion of mine. My passion is actually teaching students. I enjoy math, but I really look forward to using the teaching platform to teach into students lives.
I already know that I connect well with students. I know that many students have an aversion toward math. I hope that the trust that I will build with students will help them to see the uses of math, its importance, and motivate them to become lifelong learners.
I fell within the balanced range of both active/reflective and sensing/intuitive teaching and learning styles. I learn toward visual and sequential learning and teacher. It will be important for me to not only cater to my own preferences in learning, but to remember that I have a diverse population to teach.
My name is Nate Slaymaker. I am currently a teacher of the visually impaired. I am trying to earn my single subject credential in the area of mathematics. I want to make a difference int he lives of students and I have chosen the education field as the path to do just that.
My personality type is INFJ. I like helping people. I have an analytical type of brain which seems to fit with teaching math. But math is not really a passion of mine. My passion is actually teaching students. I enjoy math, but I really look forward to using the teaching platform to teach into students lives.
I already know that I connect well with students. I know that many students have an aversion toward math. I hope that the trust that I will build with students will help them to see the uses of math, its importance, and motivate them to become lifelong learners.
I fell within the balanced range of both active/reflective and sensing/intuitive teaching and learning styles. I learn toward visual and sequential learning and teacher. It will be important for me to not only cater to my own preferences in learning, but to remember that I have a diverse population to teach.
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