Wow, what a day today was! I started in a grade 2/3 class again today with math and p.e. In my own grade 7 class I did language arts before recess, math after recess and then some socials at the end of the day.

The math lesson was an important one because it was the last in the unit, and introduced a new concept to students – experimental probability. Being the last lesson, it was my goal to keep reinforcing important terms and ideas from the rest of the unit; for example, favorable outcome, sample space, tree diagrams, etc. Which is why I kept asking the students repeatedly what each was, to give examples, touching into that consolidation piece I spoke to my f.a. about today. Thinking back to the lesson, I had thought of it initially as reinforcing. Now that I think about it, repetition of key ideas and terms is essentially helping to consolidate this important information.

I also noticed the desk change has really helped students’ attention levels and general participation. For example, when we started the lesson, I had them note down the key ideas while I reviewed them orally. And the class was pretty much completely silent. This is something my s.a. noticed and pointed out to me afterwards. And, I realized, wow I did not even have to ask them to quiet down for this part of the lesson – they were focused on their own. I feel like the desk change definitely contributes to this because compared to before, the students are grouped completely differently. For one, the groups are now a mix of both genders. And, over the last couple of weeks, I had noticed which grouping of students was just detrimental to attention levels so I had separated them in the new seating plan. Also, I have brought the students who use to be too distracted to participate closer to the front. And I noticed today, a couple of the students who used to be facing away from the front or more near the back and are now facing forward, near the front – they were participating more and more focused. And my students who always were focused and participated before, I moved them around to different areas because they will participate regardless of where they are seated.

For myself, I really wanted to work on my waiting time today. So really allowing for thinking time in order to get more students to offer their ideas and answers. I think in the past I have just wanted to get through as much content as I can. But I have realized that if I just try to get through the content, I may actually be putting the students’ learning at risk. So, in the last couple of days I literally even make myself look at the clock to actually allow enough waiting time. And instead of asking for hands up right away, I will ask them to “think about it,” or to “discuss with a neighbor.” This way, they know they do not have to answer right away, and they can actually think about what I am asking. Coming back to the piece on getting through as much content. I have recognized that I need to always try my hardest to ensure there is some time – even if very brief – to close the lesson in a way where I reinforce what I have just taught. I always have this in my lesson plans; however, sometimes I have to skip out because of limited time. So, this will be a part of my goals for the upcoming days to even spend a quick couple of minutes reviewing key aspects – again for that consolidation.

In terms of my upcoming math lessons, I will definitely be using the strategy of having students close their books so that I can be more sure of their attention. And wording my control statements in a way that is student-centered. So, “it is really important for you to pay attention if you want to really understand this math,” instead of “I need you to pay attention.” In a sense, this gives the students a reason to pay attention, which will benefit them. Along with this, I plan on bringing up the post-it notes in a new manner. Sort of adding humor, “I really want your post-it note, I love post-it notes!” I have used humor before and it really does help catch students’ attention – especially those who tend to zone-out quickly.

A challenge in today’s lesson was the Smart board not working. However, I have had this happen to me before as well and then I do need to change quickly to the white board. But, this just is another example of things not always going according to plan. And, I have noticed that, as a teacher, I need to respond to these kind of issues calmly but quickly because interruptions like these can completely throw off students just as much as the teacher. Coming back to the humor piece, last time this happened, I sort of included the students in it and made a joke about the Smart Board so that I could maintain their attention while I moved over to the other board. In my opinion, these kinds of situations are great learning moments for me, I’m faced with a challenge and I need to make the situation work.

In the end, I thought the lesson went well because students were understanding the new material. This was reflected in their input throughout the lesson and in their formation of probability word problems. When circulating to see the students’ word problems, I made sure to spend a little more time checking in with the students who did not participate as much just to ensure their understanding. I think the students enjoyed this unit and forming their own word problems was a fun way to end the unit!