Teacher: Alexia Gruhn Observation#: #3 Date: 1/27
Lesson Reflection Form
Please respond to the following questions as you review your lesson. Please send your
responses to me with your lesson plan and video of your teaching.
Lesson Title: Hands On Equations #1 and #2 1/27
1. As I reflect on the lesson, to what extent were students productively engaged?
With this group of students, I found it challenging to keep them engaged throughout the entire
lesson. One of the students was cooperative and followed along. One of the students left to use
the bathroom and when he returned, it was a challenge to get him to participate. The third
student was engaged in the beginning, but as we began doing harder problems, I started to lose
him.
I had a much easier time with the second group of students that I did this lesson with. They both
were attentive and volunteered answers and were engaged the whole time. They both used
critical thinking skills and brought in what they have been learning in their math class.
2. Did the students learn what I intended? Were my instructional goals and identified standards
met? How do I know?
With two of the students in the first group, I believe that they understood the goals of the lesson.
However, the third student I feel like grasped the overall concept but would need more work and
assistance to fully understand the lesson. I had all of the students fill out a worksheet, and an
exit ticket. Two of the three filled out the exit ticket with the correct answer, the third left it blank.
With the second group, the two students both seemed to fully understand the lesson and I feel
the goals were met. On their exit ticket, they both came up with the correct answer, and both
were able to make good progress on the worksheet they were given. They both applied
previous knowledge to this lesson.
3. Did I alter my goals or instructional plan as I taught the lesson? If so how and why?
I altered my lesson between the first group I did the lesson with and the second group. The
lessons were given back to back, so any altered parts were done in the moment as I was
delivering the lesson. I also had different feedback and participation to influence what direction I
went with the lesson as well. The second group had ideas that I really liked that lead me to
teach the content a little differently. I did not show how I can remove pawn pieces (variables)
from both sides to make the equation still balanced but simpler to work with. One of the
students shared that idea early in the lesson, which let me incorporate that idea into the
teaching. I also picked different problems to do for the students exit ticket. I picked a simpler
4. If I had the opportunity to teach the lesson again, what would I do differently? Why?
I would use the example of removing a pawn from both sides to find the value of the variable if I
taught this again. I would encourage the students to use their manipulatives more, because
most of them just watched me use the manipulatives, but didn’t actually move them on their
own.
If I taught the first group again, I would do a better job of making sure they fully understood the
basic equations and concepts before moving onto more difficult problems.
I would also have more questions prepared to ask the students that would extend their thinking.
5. How do you feel you did in giving feedback to students while you were teaching in the areas
of answering their questions and providing information on their progress?
When it came time to do the worksheet, I was able to walk around and ask each student how
they felt with the material.
I feel like I was also able to redirect the students if their answer wasn’t quite there yet and lead
them to a different way of thinking.
6. Any other comments you would like to share?
I noticed I say “so” a lot when I am teaching- it’s definitely something I need to work on.
One of the students after the lesson told me she really enjoyed the lesson and liked having a
lesson that was hands on.