Close Analysis of Math Mentor Video

Mentor Video: Addition & Subtraction Word Problems with Unknowns Pre-Lesson
Grade: 2
Time Table:
In her pre-lesson reflection, Mia Buljan anticipates challenging her students to be more
explicit about their strategies to break larger numbers apart into tens and ones. She anticipates
students’ misconceptions, hoping to uncover them through talk and sharing. She understands
that her students are revising their thinking and are able to explain how their thinking changed,
that their “conversations are more mature, now that they’re 7!”
 0:00-0:33 – Pre-Assessment Reflection: The teacher explains what the students already
know in relation to the subject, objective criteria, and standards. She also discusses what
her students’ strengths and weaknesses are, and what they need in order for them to grow.
The teacher’s reflection was very informative. Her explanation reflection really gave me
a good idea of what her previous lessons had focused on and the type of activities she
included. I was able to understand the chronology of the math concepts she described,
which is important for my future math lesson planning.
 0:33-1:08 – Reflection of Student Behavior: The teacher reflects positively on the
strengths of student behavior in previous lessons in math. She further explains why these
strengths are important for the right math mindset. I realize that this connects exactly
with what you said in class once that will stick with me forever; “you learn more from
your mistakes than your successes”. This is true for both students self-reflecting and
teachers reflecting on the students. I know that this is something I do quite often after
lesson planning, but I often forget that I am not just reflecting on myself and the
effectiveness of the lesson, but also the common behaviors exhibited by students.
Knowing this ahead of time can improve the effectiveness of future lessons because they
can be molded around the positive behaviors of students and make little to no room for
negative behaviors. (not all classrooms, nonetheless children, exhibit the same
behaviors!)
 1:16-2:33 – Addressing Range of Ability Levels: The teacher identifies the range of
ability levels in her classroom and their individuality, need for differentiation, and
suggestions for supporting all students. She emphasizes the importance of making sure
that students understand the tools before they practice. This is definitely an idea I want to
carry with me when I teach my future math lessons (or any subject for that matter)
because we have similar teaching values.
 2:33-3:20 - Current Lesson Objectives: At this point in the video, the teacher describes
her current lesson plan and her unit plan over the week. Her main goal is to “invite
students to try different methods of counting”. This is a strong and effective goal when
learning about basic math skills, because it is an idea that develops over time as students
learn more complex math concepts.
 3:20-5:18 – Advice for Math Educators: The final portion of the video was very
enlightening, for she shares the idea that math teachers must “attend to precision”. The
teacher does this by addressing mathematical fallacies and using proof. She asks us,
“what is proof?” and “what does this look like?”, while asking the students questions like,
 “what makes this a square?”. Her main goal that I picked up on was to push kids away
from the form of representation they are comfortable with.
Goal Statements:
1. I WILL…treat my students with equity… SO THAT…all students in my class reach
their highest potential during math instruction.
2. I WILL…attend to precision…SO THAT…students become more comfortable using
different representations and methods of counting.