Kolb EDUC 461 Fall 2014

Reflection and Self-Evaluation: Ways to Make Five

1) Whole Class:
a) For the impact on student learning, interventions of the lesson had modeling of each
activity that the students were going to be learning from. Interventions that were used
during this lesson was the students being part of the ways to make five. The impact with
the interventions on student learning was that most of the students were able to retain the
information of ways to make five as well as come up with ways to make five using the
students, fingers, and manipulatives. Another impact of student learning was that the
students were able to see the order of numbers that it was counting backwards and
counting forwards. One student saw that the orange and yellow squares made a staircase
with the pattern that they were going in.
b) Some instructional decisions that I made during this lesson was for the students to be part
of the learning. I had some students become part of ways to make five by starting out
with five girls and ending with five boys. This instructional decision was for the students
who were visual learners and they can see that peers are being used as manipulatives and
it is a real life problem plus the students were involved in the lesson. This action made it
less possible for behavior problems to arise in the lesson. A specific modification I made
during the lesson was to split into groups because it made it easier for monitoring and
rechecking students that were doing it on their own. Normally these lessons are done in
whole group but for the benefit of the students I suggested doing small groups because it
is easier to monitor and it is more individualized when it comes to students needing help.
c) When grouping was an issue, I could have done something to where I would have
students in centers and picked students of different academic abilities. The grouping
during this lesson was with 9 students per group. It was harder because it was more than
enough for students for a small math group but I believe it was manageable rather doing
it as a whole class. Any instructional strategies that I used during this lesson helped the
students actually visualize the addition problem as well learning more ways to make five.
For the most part, showing them by using their peers as well as incorporating technology,
such as the Elmo and SmartBoard, gave the kinesthetic and visual learners modeling and

seeing the patterns. Another instructional strategy I could have used to promote student
learning is having the students to practice writing the ways to make five on their white
boards when they came to the carpet. Some of the students were confused or couldnt
remember what number to start with first. The students would have benefited writing it
down with me as we were doing the activity on the Elmo or with the students. Keeping
the students involved throughout the whole lesson helped with not starting any behavioral
problems.
2) Individual Students
a) The high student that was chosen for the data analysis and one of the brightest in the
class was very successful during this lesson. She already knew some ways to make five but I
wanted to enhance more ways to make five as well as getting started to know addition facts
as well. She was the most successful because she already had previous 4K knowledge as well
as having help at home. Another reason she was very successful during this lesson is because
her behavior is excellent and she listens to the rules of the classroom. She is always on task
and it helps her to get ahead in the assignments we put in front of her. During the lesson she
counted along with me as we counted the students in front of them. She was also part of the
Elmo activity of how the colored squares were going to go and what numbers to start with.
At the end of the lesson, she was part of my group and she stayed with me even though she
could do this by herself. When I would go over it again for the students that would have
trouble, she would always answer the question I asked. This strategy told me that she was
paying attention and she knew what to do. I believe she was appropriately challenged for this
lesson. I believe this lesson for her started the way to making addition sentences and figuring
out different ways to make a number. She was able to figure out the pattern of the way the
numbers go and for future lessons to make ways of a different number. Another way I could
have challenged her was to write the addition sentence on her own after seeing the way the
addition sentence is written. As the future lessons come, addition sentences may become her
strong point.
b) The low student in the case did not have any previous K4 class but he did go to
Headstart before coming to K5. He has a hard time focusing on activity that he is not
interested in. For the lesson since I knew he was going to be the one that might need more

help, I wanted him to see his peers be the addition problem himself. I even got him to be part
of the Elmo activity on the SmartBoard which I thought would help him. As we got to the
actual post assessment of the lesson, he needed someone by him the whole time to make sure
he was on track. I tried a new method by saying a word like his favorite color then he would
come back and focus. I have tried times on him before and it has worked. He will only focus
if you are standing next to him the whole time as he doing the assignment. For this lesson, he
would start off with the wrong color or the wrong number first even though I went through
each one individually for the ones who needed the help more. I believe another reason why
he was having such a hard time with the lesson was because he is not ready for ways to make
a number. For the most part, he still having trouble writing his numbers and I believe with
him, I could have gone into more detail about the numbers and decide to see if he was ready
for the ways to make a number. I believe any other ways to help with his numbers is to
practice writing them. A method that I do with him is make the number on his back so he can
feel the motion of how to write the number on the paper. Another method I could work with
him on is to maybe have him come up and be part of the lesson and be part of the peers being
the addition problem or the ways to make five.
c) The middle student did about average when it came to the beginning part of the lesson.
She was having trouble coming up with ways to make five. I thought it would good for her to
come up to the front to be part of the students being the ways to make five. She did well as
we went the activity with the Elmo and the SmartBoard. She exemplified what she was
supposed to do and she was able to go through the worksheet without help. She did ask me a
couple of times to make sure she was on the right track as confirmation that she was doing
the work correctly. I believe she was appropriately challenged for this lesson. At first she
knew one way to make five but she could not think of any behind it. A way to improve her
fluency with ways to make up a number could be to using different manipulatives like dice or
dominos that make up those combinations. Another way is to practice the other combinations
before adding other ways to make another number. She could practice with me individually
or she could practice during her center time in math manipulatives. These practices will also
help her with other combinations to make a number and to help with fluency of addition
number sentences. I believe another way to help with her confidence is to show her how to

self-check herself before she asks me if she is right. She could use her fingers or other
manipulatives to help with self-check of her work.
3) Reflections on Other Lessons:
The first lesson was to identify and write the letter L. Student were connected to the
lesson because I had the students get up if they had the letter L in their names. This part of the
lesson was to also see if they could identify the letters in their first and last name which most of
them were able to do so. The selection of strategies I used during this lesson helped with their
writing of the letter. At first I showed them the right way and then I showed them the wrong way
to do the letters. The letter L is fairly easy to write; however, some of them could not write the
letter at all because they did not understand the hand motions of writing the letter. A
modification I made during the lesson was that I had a yellow marker for ones that needed help
with forming their letters. Another adjustment I made during this lesson was for the higher
students to draw something that begins with that letter. A couple of those students were able to
spell the word on the back underneath their picture. I believe the objectives were met during this
lesson. Most of the students were able to write the letters and it was good for the students to
relate the letter to their names by identifying it as well. The time and routines were well prepared
because the instructional time was maximized because I made sure that we did all of their daily
morning routines like the calendar and the morning meeting. At the end of the lesson, I learned
about these students that they need to practice more with writing their letters even the easier ones
to write. I also learned that they need to see the correct way first and then the incorrect way so
they know the expectations of what their letters should not look like.
The last lesson I taught had a mixture of math, science, and ELA and it was mostly about
seasons. This lesson took a lot of planning because it was going to depend if students brought in
one object that represents a season that they were assigned. If the student did not bring in an
object, I made sure I had some available so they can be part of the lesson that we categorize the
objects by making a life size graph on the floor. There were many assessments and strategies
used during this lesson. I had the students use turn and talk partners about something they knew
about a certain season and talk to their partners about it. Each person had to talk once and each
person had to listen to their partner. Another strategy I had was to reread a book that we have
read before. The students noticed we did read that book and it was to retouch on certain facts that

they may have forgotten about the seasons. During this read aloud, I wanted the students to take
notice of the clothing that each of the characters were wearing. I also wanted the students to tell
me what of the clothing is in each season. The students were going to have to pick their favorite
season, write why they like the season, and illustrate a picture of themselves in that season as
well as the correct clothing. I also wanted the students to put a lot of detail into their pictures as
well as write neatly and making sure they put a period at the end of their sentence. I believe the
students at the end of lesson told me why they liked the season they chose. They came up with
some great sentences about their season and it showed me they learned something their season as
well. I believe the objectives were met as well with the work the students showed for their
sentences and illustrations. Time was manageable even though the schedule was out of order for
the morning but this was a fun lesson for the students as well. After teaching the lesson, I learned
that the students retained more information from read aloud and the items from that season in
order for them to come up with a reason why they liked a particular season. The students had all
three subjects combined into one lesson and it worked very well. So this lesson was very helpful
in getting the students active and being part of the lesson as well as being interested in the lesson.
4) Professional Development
My student teaching experience has been amazing and I was very fortunate for having a
teacher that has had 30 plus years experience and students that were willing to learn and have
fun at the same time. I have learned many things throughout my student teaching experience and
I am glad that I got to be part of other classrooms and see how different grade levels work. I have
learned that planning my lessons and objectives for those lessons are my strong points in the
teaching field. Different assessments and activities are also strong points for me during my
student teaching experience.
There are two goals that need to improve or get better. I know these two goals only get
better with experience but I wish I would have had a better handle on it during my student
teaching experience. One goal is my classroom discipline during lessons and other activities in
the classroom. The discipline did get better as I went along but I felt it could have been better.
One way I plan to improve my discipline for my own classroom is to recognize positive behavior
more often and brag about them to others. Another way I plan to improve the discipline is to

have the students be involved in the lessons as much as I can. Having the students be part of the
lessons creates less behavior problems and more instructing time for them.
Another goal I would like to improve on is my transitional time between lessons and not
wasting small time intervals during times that the students could do something productive. The
transitions have gotten better as my self-confidence has improved the more I took over, but there
was always something the students could be doing something productive in the classroom. One
way to improve on easier transitions is to come up with ways to close a lesson properly or do an
extension of another core subject to the previous lesson. Another way to improve transitional
times could be to let the students ponder a question in their brains which initiates critical thinking
skills.
I also had the privilege of observing other classrooms during my student teaching time. I
have observed first grade, 4 year old kindergarten, second grade, special education, and another
kindergarten class. It was interesting to see what the different grade levels learn and the different
instructional strategies that these teachers use. Attached to the reflection will be the other
reflections of each of these classrooms. I was honored to be a part of the Long Cane staff for the
short time but it was a time I will never forget.