Tehya Baxter December 4, 2012 Three Part Math Lesson Reflection: Counting Fingers Grade Level: 2nd I took

a lesson from Marilyn Burns About Teaching Mathematics: children determine how many fingers there are in their classroom altogether. My objective allowed for multiple entry points into the lesson: Given the option to use base-ten blocks, snap cubes, thousands charts, and white boards, students will be able to determine how many total fingers are in their classroom as measured by their participation (both verbal and non-verbal) in partnered exploration and a concluding whole-class discussion. The lesson centered on the Common Core standard 2.NBT.2: Count within 1000; skip-count by 10s and the California Content standard 3.1: Students model and solve problems using repeated addition and counting by multiples in order to do multiplication. The introduction was the most successful part of my lesson. In order to get students engaged, I gathered them on the rug and explained that before we could start our math exploration for the day, we needed to figure out a very important number: how many people were in our classroom. I allowed students to share ideas about how we could count; some suggested counting by ones, others by twos, and others by tens. Then, I asked if a student was willing to try counting the class using their strategy. Kayvion enthusiastically volunteered and stood at the back of the classroom with his hands in his pockets, trying to count sporadically until announcing that he had lost his place. I asked the class if they could help Kayvion come up with a way to keep better track of who he had already counted. Adrien suggested counting by rows but because people werent seated in straight lines, he lost count as well. Gavin suggested pointing to people and having them stand up, but after using that strategy twice to double check, we still had two different numbers. Nicolas realized that people were standing up before they

had been counted, so Adriana suggested tapping people on the shoulder. After using this strategy twice with two different students tapping in each count, we were finally able to agree that there were 24 people in the room. Even though I had expected this part of the lesson to only last a few minutes, it ended up taking close to ten minutes. Students were so invested in making sure that they had taken everyone into consideration that I let them continue working and bouncing ideas off each other until everyone was satisfied with our class count. I could tell that students were engaged because they were very invested in making sure we had the correct number. Asking if they were ready to move on resulted in a chorus of No!, wanting to double check one more time that we had the correct number (so we did). My CT confirmed how I felt the launch had gone: You had a nice hook and intro to get the students engaged. Before the lesson, I felt a bit intimidated. I am so impressed with how my CT teaches math and so grateful to be in her classroom observing her and learning from how she conducts her number talks and problem solving explorations that I knew the children (and my CT!) had high expectations for a challenging but engaging lesson. During the lesson, I felt very confident until the concluding five minutes. I really enjoyed being able to circulate between groups while students were working and seeing the enthusiasm they had in sharing their strategies (and the motivation exhibited by students who finished early to follow through with the challenge I gave them to find a second or third way to solve the problem). After about ten minutes of exploration, I gathered the children back on the carpet in a circle to share their strategies. As I helped children clarify and rephrase their thought processes, I became aware (as I had suspected) that this is where I need the most improvement: more flexibility and knowledge with which to facilitate a rich strategy discussion that keeps all students engaged and also pushes each child to a higher level of thinking. After the lesson, I felt that all things considered, it had gone as

successfully as it could have. It was really nice to be able to debrief with my CT, who began with asking me how I felt it had gone and then confirming that she also thought it went really well. Her feedback was invaluable in knowing how I could improve in the future. I confirmed what I was already aware of. I need the most improvement in the conclusion of the lesson: being able to help students clarify their ideas and push them forward to the next higher level of thinking. My CT offered really helpful suggestions in how to tailor the wholeclass strategy sharing and the wrap-up by altering what questions I was asking and by finding a better way to explain the key mathematical principles being covered. Even though students recognized that every time a person entered or left the room, we needed to add or take away ten from our finger count, they were stumped when I asked them how many fingers we would have if we had 29 people in the classroom and 3 more people came in (most felt it was 330 but struggled to explain themselves). My CT explained that if I had written up the pattern the children had already discovered (25 people 250 fingers, 26 people 260 fingers, 27 people 270 fingers) they would have been able to answer the question; they had the concept but just needed that visual representation to solidify and express it. She also suggested having students complete each others strategy explanations to keep them all engaged when sharing. In future math lessons, I will apply the same rich hook to get students engaged and the same amount of structured exploration, but I will provide more focus to the final discussion. Even though my CT and I discussed the lesson plan (as well as modifications and extensions) in depth before I taught it, I hope to have a specific conversation regarding this wrap-up before the next math lesson I teach in order to get her input on how best to explain, represent, and facilitate a discussion about the primary math principle being covered.