Jacqueline De Jesus

11/3/16
CT observation reflection 2
I was really excited to complete this lesson because it included all sorts of activities
including whole class review, individual work, and group work. For this CT observation the
lesson that I taught was introducing the concept of putting a fraction into its simplest form in
order to generate an equivalent fraction. In the lesson, I reviewed the homework with the
students, introduced the notes on simplest form and engaged in a small discussion, showed the
students how to solve a problem, had them do one on their own in order to form their groups, and
then released them to practice simplifying fractions in their selected groups. Two of the three
groups were led by adults.
After watching the video of my lesson, I can clearly see how much I have grown as an
educator over the years and specifically in this one semester. Since my collaborating teacher
really involved me in the classroom and always gave me detailed feedback, I was able to use this
feedback to be stronger. In my video I felt that I looked more confident and comfortable while I
was teaching. Although I feel that this lesson was really strong, after analyzing my video and
discussing the lesson with my CT there are a couple of things that I can do on my behalf to make
the next lesson I do better.
In the very beginning of the lesson, I can be seen asking students to take out their
homework from last night. I thought that it was important to check their homework to truly
assess their preparedness for the lesson on simplest form. At about 1 minute and 32 seconds into
the video I ask the students, What should I see on homework. This was important because it

allowed the students to explain to me their expectations which includes finding the answer as
well as showing the work needed to arrive at that answer. I then selected a name stick and asked
that student to bring their homework under the projector. In showcasing students work, I am
giving students the opportunity to learn from one another. At about 4 minutes and 41 seconds
into the video, I can be seen calling on various students to critique or justify the answers on the
homework. This was great because it allowed me to see if all students were understanding and
not just the student whose paper I collected.
When done with the homework, I asked the students to put their homework away and
take out the reading notes on 6.3. At about 7 minutes into the video, I gave students the purpose
of the lesson by saying, Today you will learn how to put a fraction in simplest form, which will
help you in creating equivalent fractions. In doing this students were now aware of what they
were going to be learning and why it was important. I then continued by engaging in a small
discussion on what it meant to simplify a fraction, the ways it can be done, and how to know if it
was simplified all the way. After this small discussion, I modeled to students how to do a
problem on their notes page. This can be seen at 12 minutes and 53 seconds into the video. While
I went through the problem, I had them copy down everything that I did. This was beneficial in
that it showed students how to correctly work through a similar problem, and my expectations of
them when completing these problems.
I then told the students to try the next problem on their own. At this time, I went around
to each student assessing their individual strengths and weaknesses to be able to group them in a
manner that would benefit them for this particular lesson. On a sticky note I wrote down which
students were to work with the classroom teacher (those struggling the most), those that were to
work in my group (which had a fair understanding of the content), and those that could form the

student led group (or these that had a good grasp on the material). This was very good because it
would target all of the various needs of the students. Before releasing the students to the group,
at about 30 minutes and 21 seconds, I tell the students which groups they are in, where their
locations are, but also give them clear expectations of the types of things I want to see happening
in each group. This informed the students completely so that there would not be any lingering
questions and the students could focus on completing the rest of the problems in their groups.
Some other things that I did well in this lesson was using an attention getter. When I saw
that students were getting out of hand or too loud, I used the attention getting strategy that my
CT normally uses. This can be seen throughout the entire lesson. I also did a good job at
facilitating the group the group that I led. I encouraged the students to justify their answers,
explain their reasoning, and critique their peers. I also would have the students all share their
answers before I did a final review with them that would thoroughly explain the simplifying
process.
While the lesson went great overall, there are a couple of things that I can improve on.
For one thing, I can work on the types of questioning I use in the lesson. I saw in the video
plenty of instances where I would ask an open ended question, like Did everyone get that? or
Does everyone understand the directions?. These questions were often left unanswered by the
students and I simply had to move on without knowing if all of the students were ready or not.
For this reason it is important that I learn to be more specific in my questions. I also need to
work on my behavior management process. Although I addressed the behavioral issues with the
individual students, I did not take any action that would show them that I am not going to
tolerate this kind of behavior. As a result, they kept misbehaving and I just kept responding to
them in the same manner. This is something that I know that I have to work on because I tend to

feel bad when giving someone a check. However, I know that sometimes it is necessary and
absolutely has to be done. My CT also explained to me that sometimes redirecting students, or
complementing those doing well is not enough. From this I learned that one has to choose which
behavior management is best for certain situations or works best with specific students.
If I were to do this lesson again I would work on my questioning technique and well as
my behavior management skills. If I have to speak to the same student more than once, then I
will give them a check. I would also prepare something a bit more challenging for the student led
group because they went through the lesson notes before the other two groups. This is why it is
important to have additional things prepared for those students that master the content quickly.
All in all, the students did very well in this lesson. I know that students understood and
met my objectives for this lesson because they were highly engaged and participating throughout
the entire lesson. I also felt that students enjoyed doing the group work. In completing this
lesson, I learned that I am growing and becoming a better educator every day. I enjoyed teaching
this lesson and cannot wait to teach the upcoming lessons.