Reflection on Lesson

During this lesson, I added and infused a Catholic Faith component within the in-class
assignment. The purpose of this in-class assignment was to have the students recall important
concepts learned in previous units and combine them with new material. The lesson focused on
three important units, which included Number Sense, Measurement, and Linear Relations. The
assignment was divided into four parts, where each section focused on a new real-life situation
occurring at St. Basil-the-Great College. Each situation/problem involves students raising money
to help the less fortunate and donate to charities. The students were able to connect their learning
to real needs and improve their math skills while acting out of compassion. In our discussion, we
talked about an important verse from John 3:16 that states: For God so loved the world that he
gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Giving and receiving are essential of the catholic community life, where individuals show their
generosity and care for the poor. It was amazing to see some of the students talk about how we
should be helping others as Catholics. (See artifacts of students work attached)
The goal and aim for this Catholic lesson was to allow students to think critically about the
specific issues regarding homelessness, including inequality, in a local context. It also provided
the students with concrete ways where they can work together toward helping others in their
community. This catholic lesson plan focuses on connecting faith with all of life, including giving
and serving others. Students were able to reflect carefully on ideas and experiences where they
could help those in need. As a teacher, I provided them with the opportunity to explore
possibilities for active commitment and participation in their community. Through this
assignment, students traced and made connections between their faith and the learning goals for
the particular lesson.

I was pleased and excited to see the students using their previous knowledge from all three
units to answer the questions associated to each problem. The students demonstrated their
learning from the three previous units. As I was walking around the classroom watching the
students as they worked through the assignment I noticed a few students were stuck and puzzled
on a couple of the questions. Before I had the chance to offer my assistance to the students, who
needed help, other students in their group were able to help them. It was great to see several of
the students in my class helping each other. This really reinforced the morals and catholic values
associated with this lesson plan.
For next time, I will make sure that I prepare and decide on the members of each group
ahead of time so that there will much less talking going on. At some points I noticed the students
became quite talkative and strayed from answering the questions on the assignment. They moved
away from the topic of mathematics and began talking about unrelated topics, such as their plans
after class and on the weekend. I also noticed some of the groups consisted of mostly stronger
mathematics students and some consisted of mostly weaker mathematics students. I think for next
I would like to rearrange the groups so we have a mixed variety of students with different learning
abilities.
Overall, I feel this lesson went very well. The students were engaged in the group
activities and all were actively involved in their group discussions. It was wonderful to have been
able to listen to some of the students conversations regarding the importance of helping others,
especially around the Christmas holidays. (See students reflections attached) Many of the
students were able to relate the graduate expectation of being a responsible citizen to the three
fundraisers (food drive, basketball drive, and bake sale) occurring within their own school.