Teacher:

cook
Course: Math
/
/
Lesson goals: Introduce the not equal sign and compare numbers

Date:

Lesson objectives: Make sure the students understand the difference between two sets that are equal and
not equal using the equal and not equal symbol

http://youtu.be/O7e1g4xlpVo - first 10 minutes

st

Teacher Behaviors

five

minutes

2nd

five

minutes

Initiatory (talking)

1. Lectures or gives directions

2,3,4,11,14,1 1,3,4,6,9,10,
6,19,22,26,3 18,19,22,
4,39,
24,25,27,29,
31,32,33,35,
38

2. Makes statement or asks

10

rhetorical question

Initiatory (questioning)

3. a) yes/no question

b) short-answer question

6,13,15,21,2
3,25

7,16,23,30

7,17,20,23,2
8,30,31,36

13,20

3rd

five

minutes

Total

c) thought-provoking short-

5,24,38

2,5,12,17

answer question

4. Extended-answer question

Responding (teacher-centered)

5. Rejects student comment

6. Acknowledges student

18, 25

14

9,28,37

15

comment

7. Confirms student comment

8. Repeats student comment

9. Clarifies or interprets what

student said

10. Answers student question

Responding (student-centered)

11. Asks student to clarify or

elaborate

12. Uses student question or idea

Non-verbal Behaviors

13. a) Inappropriate wait-time I

b) Inappropriate wait-time II

8,14

27,32,37

14. Passive non-verbal behaviors

15. Annoying mannerisms

12, 29,33,35

16,21,28,34,
37

A teacher behavior assessment devised by Dorothy M. Schlitt and Michael Abraham (modified by Michael P. Clough)

Introduction
As a new teacher, it is difficult to take notice to your downfalls during a lesson, but by
using the Teacher Behavior Assessment (Schlit and Abraham), it is easy to identify major areas
that need improvement. Teachers should continuously assess themselves to make sure they are
asking the right questions to facilitate student thinking (Clough 2008). Student understanding
boils down to every single detail and questions used during a lesson, for example: content, tasks
and activities, materials, teaching models and strategies, and teacher behavior and patterns
(Clough). It is important that teachers continuously work on the areas they may not be attending
to as often as they should be. In the paper I have assessed a lesson of my own and used the
STATIC coding to identify areas that may need more work.

Research Based Practices

When it comes to the questions we ask students, we need to get them thinking; asking questions
that can be answered with yes or no is not going to benefit them as much as an extended answer
question. When students are asked more engaging questions, they tend to be more focused and
more engaged in what they are learning about (Clough, 2007). Teachers should avoid yes and no
questions and work on asking questions that begin with how or what (Clough). This makes
thinking more challenging and valuable for students, but it does take time for teachers to make
transitions to their teaching style by asking questions that require longer answers. Students may
not participate at first; they are not always use to questions that promote discussions, but
eventually if given enough wait time, students will participate. Asking extended answer
questions helps teachers evaluate students thinking patterns and it also helps students consider
misconceptions they may have, if the teacher provides the proper questions.
Wait time plays a big role while teachers interact with students as well. Teachers should
wait at least three seconds or more after asking a question to give students time to think and then
answer; this is called wait time 1 (Clough, 2007). Even after asking questions there is what is
called wait time 2; this means after a student answers, teachers should wait a few seconds before
moving forward (Clough). There are many benefits proven to be true using wait time that
include: the length of student response is increased, failures of students to respond decreases,
students answers are supported by evidence and logical argument, and student to student
comparisons of data increases (Clough).

Desired Interaction Patterns

The desired interaction would be student and teacher interaction during a lesson,

discussions, learning and student engagement. In order to get desired interaction patterns, then
some issues need to be addressed. Teacher patterns play a role in desired interaction depending
on behaviors, strategies, activities and content used (Clough, 2008). Teachers need to be aware
of the learner which includes: students thinking, self efficacy, prior knowledge, developmental
differences, and zone of proximal development. Teachers need to focus on their own mannerisms
as well as the students to acheive the full potential of desired interaction.
Actual Classroom
In the kindergarten classroom, students were learning about the not equal sign which was
a new concept to them. Through out the lesson, students were comparing sets and deciding
whether they were equal or not equal. After practicing examples together on the ELMO, students
were then asked if sets were equal or not equal and one student was called on to answer; the
students would agree or disagree and fill in the box with the equal sign or the not equal sign.
After about 6 questions of comparing sets of objects/drawings, students were asked to draw two
sets, on their own, that were equal and two sets that were not equal. The content of the lesson
was appropriate for the students becasue the previous day they were introduced to the equal sign;
they had been working on sets for quite some time, so comparing them was not very difficult.
After reviewing the coding sheet, there should have been more extended answer questions and
wait time 1 and 2(Clough).
How to Fix It
According to the Teacher Behavior Assessment, there was a lot of instruction and
directions given throughout the ten minute lesson clip. For kindergarten it is normal to guide the
students more often, but after seeing how often, then maybe some management in the classroom
should be addressed. There were several yes/no and short answer questions. Students should

have been asked to explain their thinking more, perhaps why the set was equal or not equal.
Students could have had discussions to compare data with each other. There should have also
been more clarification about student responses, asking the students to elaborate, use of a student
question or idea, and extended answer questions because according to the coding, it was all
lacking. Directions, wait time, and the type of questions asked should be addressed if this lesson
was revised.

Initial Interaction

SC

Revised Interaction

SC

Okay, will you take Directions,

your counters out? rhetorical question,
annoying
mannerism

Please take your

counters and put
them on your name
tag we will be using
them in our lesson
today about

Directions

Okay, who can tell

me what you guys
talked about
yesterday?

Who can tell me

what they know
about the equal sign
that we learned
about yesterday?

Thought
provoking/extended
answer question

annoying
mannerism, thought
provoking question,
wait time 1

Jason, do you
Short answer
remember what that question
was? (displaying
equal sign)

Jason, can you recall Thought

what symbol this is
provoking/extended
and what it means? answer question

The equal sign,

right?

Confirms student
comment

Yes, it is the equal

Ask student to
sign, can anyone/you clarify or elaborate
tell me more about
what they/you
know?

Okay, well I have

annoying

There is another

lecture

another symbol I
want to show you.

mannerism

symbol that is
similar to the equal
sign, but it means
not equal

Do you see it?

referring to the not
equal sign with the
line through it

rhetorical question

What makes this

symbol/equal sign
different than the
one we learned
about yesterday?

short answer
question

Yes, its equal?

confirming class
answer

rhetorical question

What makes it
equal?

short answer
question

So then we would
have our other sign
thats not equal

Lecture

What makes this set Thought

not equal and how is provoking/extended
it different from the answer question
last question?

Equal, are you

sure?

yes/no question

Please explain your

thinking

Thought
provoking/extended
answer question

Okay, lets look at

another one

annoying
mannerisms

Lets take a look at

the next question
and compare it

instruction

References

Clough, M. P. (2008). Professional Development: The Need to Assess Yourself Iowa Science
Teachers Journal, 35 (3).
Clough, M. P. (2007). Wait Just A Minute Iowa Science Teachers Journal, 34 (2).
Kruse, Jerrid. (2009). Learning Theories: Pillars of Teacher Decision-Making Iowa Teachers
Journal, 36 (2).
Clough, M. P. (2007). What is So Important about Asking Questions? Iowa Science Teacher
Journal, 34 (1).
Blosser, P. E. How to Ask the Right Questions. The National Science Association