We were fortunate because we were able to do our lesson with the entire class. One advantage is that we were able to get more feedback. Another advantage is that I experienced the difference in classroom management from a smaller group compared to the entire class. I had a bit of difficulty getting everyones attention at the end. This showed me that I must be more assertive and speak louder, and simply waiting does not work.
We decided to do a jigsaw activity and one major advantage I realized is that it takes the pressure off the teacher. Rather than the teacher having to plan a lesson covering all the material, the students take over the teacher role and teach each other. The teacher still should walk around and engage with students but it was nice to have a break. Also, the students are more actively listening and learning at each group. They knew they had to go back to their triad and teach the others so this caused them to pay attention.
We should have allowed more time at the end for them to teach each other. We received a few comments on the feedback sheet stating there was not enough time here.
One area on the feedback sheet we received a low mark was connecting our topic to other areas of math. We perhaps could have brought this topic more broad and tied in other ideas.
We had many positive comments about using history (Babylonian, Greek), visuals (ancient tablet, cuneiform script) and relating to real like (base 60 numbering system). I really enjoy history and I worry with a lesson like this because some people find it dry, but I was pleased to see that some comments said that we made a dry topic interesting.
An area I could improve with my group was to involve everyone more since my structure was more lecture type than the other two. I asked for volunteer and when people hesitated I hesitated too! I should have had thought of a different method of engaging them if no one volunteered.
Overall, I am really pleased with out micro-teaching lesson. I have only seen this jigsaw activity in my other classes with humanities related topics or reading. I see now that this can work in a math class. But I must remember that there will not be 3 teachers.
A good lesson, and good, thoughtful reflection on it, Michelle! It is nice as a teacher to step out of the spotlight and work with kids in groups. It's good for both kids and teachers, as you've commented here! It does take some experience to figure out how long jigsaw groups will need, but pretty soon you'll be able to estimate this fairly accurately.
ReplyDeleteWell done!