1

Pulaski Heights Middle School PBI Teach Reflection

Mason Cox

Throughout the week from 05/15/2017-05/19/2017, Joni Everett and I taught in an eigth

grade math class at Pulaski Heights Middle School (PHMS). The lesson plans for these days

can be found in our Teach Week of our PBI Unit: Safe and Accessible Sidewalks. We taught

three consecutive periods, the first two periods were basic algebra classes. The third class was

a higher level algebra course.

As most secondary educators/teachers understand that there are mistakes that can be

made within a lesson and in very rare occasions that a lesson plan goes exactly as planned.

Every lesson has been tweaked in one way or another in order to allow students to have a

better understanding of the materials given to them. As well, we had to improvise based on

students participation, attitudes during the lessons and additional activities for the higher level

class.

We taught close to the end of their semester, so students were anxious to be done and

ready to be done with the semester.

05/15/2017

For the first day, we started off with having the students convert a few different

measurements into SI units, focusing on length. These conversions consisted of:

1. How many cm are in one mile?

2. How many cm are in a foot?

3. How many feet are in a meter?

 2

These conversions allowed the students to work within groups to solve these problems

with what they know. They were able to use the materials at their tables, which consisted of

calculators, rulers and scratch sheets of paper.

After the students worked on these three problems, Joni and I handed out the NIST

Metric Pyramid sheet. This pyramid was cut out and folded from the sheet to stand by itself.

After making these pyramids we had a discussion over the work the students have done

regarding the conversions. Once the discussion was over, the students were then told to work

the same problems using the pyramids and observe whether or not their group got the right

calculations beforehand. We then had a class discussion on whether they obtained the same or

different answer compared to the first attempt.

Before ending class, Joni and I gave out one question to the students:

1. How many inches are in a fourth of a meter?

This question was used as both their exit ticket and their pre-assessment. Their results showed

us whether or not they were capable of using the information on the pyramid to answer this

situation.

The only change that we made during this day was to add additional questions for the

third class we taught.

The questions we added for third class were:

1. How many centimeters are in five eighths of a mile?

2. How many meters are in 39 yards?

3. How many feet are in 1,384 centimeters?

05/16/2017

From the first day, we were already losing the students participation and attention. To

bring these back up, Joni and I decided to conduct a game of Jeopardy. To start the class off,
 3

we wanted to see if the students retained the knowledge of SI units taught in our first lesson. To

do so we handed out a worksheet with several questions regarding the units of measurements

and conversions; however this worksheet also introduced mass/weight.

The students were to work in their groups and were able to use their calculators and the

pyramids made on the fifteenth. After students worked on the questions given, we obtained a

class discussion over the questions.

From the discussion, we decided the students had a good understanding on how to use

the tools provided to participate in the Jeopardy activity.

Before starting the game, Joni and I had to place a few rules:

1. Students are able to work within their group.

2. The question must be read before answering.

3. The group that raise their hands first after the question is read is able to answer first.

4. The answer must be in the form of a question.

a. Example - Q: What color is the sky?

Incorrect Answer: Blue

Correct Answer: What is blue?

5. If the group answered incorrectly, answered not in question form or does not answer the

group would lose points depending on category chosen.

6. The group that answers correctly collects the points and is also to choose the next

category.

The categories contained different questions regarding mass, length and SI metric units.

To let the students be more involved and increase participation, we also included the categories

of superheros and music artists.

 4

The activity came out to a success; however Joni and I had to tweak the rules to control

the students outbursts. Throughout our time at PHMS this day we had to add the rules:

1. Only one person may answer from each group, while another person in each group will

raise their hands.

2. Two math questions must be answered before choosing the additional categories.

3. If your groups voice/outburst is louder than our voice, you will lose the points.

05/17/2017

On our third day in the class, we went over basic volume and area. This lesson was

benchmark based. Joni and I walked the students through making a foldable to take notes of

the formulas of these shapes. The materials covered on this day were:

1. Area of square/rectangles

2. Area of triangles

3. Area of circles

4. Volume of cubes/rectangular prism

5. Volume of triangular prism

6. Volume of cylinder

When covering these formulas, we wanted to see what the students knew so for each

shape we asked the class what their thoughts on the formulas were. In the first two classes the

students didnt know what the formulas were; on the other hand, the third class had a good

understanding of the formulas.

After discussing the volume and area of the different shapes, the students were given a

few example problems to work out. The students were able to work within their groups, use

their calculators, foldables and their pyramids to solve the problems provided. Once solving the

volume/area of the given shapes, they were to convert the calculate units to SI units.
 5

05/18/2017

For the fourth day of our teach week, we opened with telling the students that we would

have a large portion of class outside. This excited the students and sparked their interests.

Before allowing the students to step out of the classroom, Joni and I had to set a few ground

rules:

1. Feet stay on the ground

2. Stay in the area told

3. Use materials responsibly

4. No running

5. Stay in your group

Each group was given a yard of string, one ruler, one marker, a yard/meter stick and a

scratch sheet of paper. Each group was given an object located outside in front of the school.

These objects consisted of:

1. An electrical box

2. The PHMS sign (with or without border)

3. Sections of named bricks

4. A bench

5. Side walls of stairs

The students were to work in their groups to measure the dimensions of the object

needed to calculate the estimated volume and a face area based on the shape. The students

were able to choose to measure the dimensions in either centimeters or inches. Once finished

measuring, the class went back into class and calculated the volume/area(s) based on their

measurements with the use of their foldables.

 6

We followed this procedure with the first class; however we noticed that it gave them too

much of a leisure time. To prevent this in the other classes, we had the groups rotate and

measure each object.

05/19/2017

For our final day teaching, we needed to record our teaching. Once setting up the

camera, we ran into some complications. Our mentor teacher did not want us to record the

students because of the unknown fulfillment of waivers from the students. Also, with the setup

of the classroom we could only record audio of our teaching. We should have prepared for this,

but we did what we could in order to record the lesson.

We started off by telling the students to convert their volume and area. If they measured

their objects in inches they were to convert their calculations to centimeters and vice versa.

The students were able to work within their groups and use any materials to convert their

measurements, such as their calculators and pyramids. While working on their conversions,

Joni and I observed the students work and answered any questions and guided the students

into the right direction. Afterwards, we had a short discussion over the approximated

volume/area(s).

Once finished, we ended class with a few games of Kahoot. The first obtained questions

regarding the material covered throughout the week. This Kahoot was used as a

post-assessment. After the first, we ended the last day with a fun Kahoot quiz topics, chosen by

the students, such as superheros and movies.

What have I learned?

Throughout this week of teaching, I have learned that a lesson plan is a great foundation

or plan for teaching a lesson; however one must be able to improvise and adapt in order to

allow students to obtain better understanding of the material. I have also learned that teaching
 7

material similar to ours needs to have a larger time scale in order to make sure students

understand it.

While teaching, I have noticed that some students in the class did not want to participate

at all and instead wanted to goof off. This allowed me to learn more regarding classroom

management skills in order to keep the students in line and on track. Additionally, this taught

me to prepare ahead of time to make sure if anything would happen I would be more prepared

to confront the situation.

What would I have done differently?

In the beginning of the week, we did not know that our third class was a higher level

math course compared to the other two. Joni and I were amazed when comparing the different

intellectual knowledge of the classes. If we were notified sooner, we would have been more

prepared for this class; however we had to improvise during this class throughout the week.

For the lessons we taught, there should have been more length timewise to make sure

that everyone understood the material. We were compressed with time and wanted the

students to participate in the fun activities that were prepared. For this to happen, and since we

were compressed for time, Joni and I had to teach at a faster pace than needed.