Monique Kartchner

Annette Knight
TTE 316: Teaching Mathematics/Technology for Young Children
Benchmark Lesson Analysis and Reflection Rubric
Summary of Lesson (from Introduction through closure):
With the students on the carpet facing me I began the lesson announcing
enthusiastically, we are doing math [and asking] what do we need to do before
starting math? Never having taught a math lesson in class I felt like a better introduction
to my lesson may have been explaining that I would be teaching math for the day, and
that we would be learning together. Another way I could have better introduced the
lesson would have been by reading the student friendly learning objectives that I had
posted on the wall and having a small discussion about them. This would have helped the
students have a better understanding of what the goal of the lesson and activity was
which would be that they would be able to describe and compare measurable attributes of
objects.
Following the introduction, I explained that we would be learning about the size
of different objects. I asked the students what a large, medium, and small ball would look
like if they were to show me with their hands and arms. From their responses/physical
representations of small, medium, and large it seemed like they had a pretty good grasp
on what these sizes looked like. I felt that engaging all the students in showing me what
a small, medium, and large ball looked like using their hands and arms helped to
emphasize these three sizes and gave them the opportunity to move their bodies which
has been proven to help students remember what is being taught.

After having elicited definitions of what small, medium, and large meant and
writing the definitions on the math chart, I was able to introduce the next two vocab
words that I felt would be more challenging for them to define. Giving them the
opportunity to talk to their elbow buddies and bounce off ideas of what size and
compare meant helped all of them have an opportunity to participate and talk. I asked
them to share with each other first what size meant and then what compare meant.
After the students had some time to discuss what these words meant I asked one girl what
size meant. She replied, Size means small, medium, and large. I then asked two more
students what they thought size meant. Because I received very similar answers from the
three students I summarized their answer and wrote the definition of size as, sizes are on
a scale from small too big. I found that when the students gave answers about what
compare meant they continued to revisit the definitions that we had discussed
previously about different sizes. To give them an example of what compare meant I
showed them the picture I had on the board with a small box with stripes, and a small box
with polka dots. Even after asking the students to tell me how the boxes were similar and
different they still thought that compare meant the same size or different sizes of
things. However, after talking more in-depth about the similarities and differences
between the two boxes we were able to come up with the definition of compare as two
things that have similarities and differences. Having the students talk to their elbow
buddies about what they thought the differences between the boxes were, supported the
students participation and learning from the discussion.
The next part of the discussion involved the use of five different sized boxes. I
introduced the boxes by relating the size of the box to the number that was on it. I

showed them that the largest box had the number five on it and put it on the chair. I then
had the students talk to their partners about which box would go next by saying, Which
box is smaller than this box (pointing to the larger box), but larger than the rest of the
boxes? The first boy that I called on knew that box four went next and was able to come
up and put it on top of the largest box. I then asked which box would go next. Once again
the student knew what the answer was and was able to put it on top of box 4. Seeing that
the students wanted to come up and put the last two boxes on the three previous boxes,
made me utilize the thumbs up, thumbs down strategy to give all the students the
opportunity to participate. They all put thumbs up for box 2 as the next box and thumbs
down for box 1, which was the correct order. I once again used the boxes to discuss
which boxes were small, smaller, and smallest and medium. Having real boxes gave the
students visual objects to compare and helped them to decide which box was small,
smaller, smallest, and medium. Seeing that the students were becoming antsy, and that
from the answers that I had received, that they understood what large meant I went into
the physical activity before the main task.
To smoothly go into the physical activity I asked if the students remembered
when they had lined up for school pictures at the beginning of the year. With some head
nods and other students who looked confused, I reminded them that they lined up from
shortest to tallest for pictures. I then explained that, The tallest student will be here (by
the white board) and the smallest child will be here (where I walked to). I then said I
wanted a straight line. To help them understand which students would go in-between the
smallest and tallest students I asked which height of students would go by the smallest
child which the class replied in a chorus, the smaller kids! I then asked who would be

by the tallest kid. And the students responded the taller kids! I then challenged the
students to get in the line from tallest to shortest all by themselves in two minutes. As
soon as I said go the students began to place themselves where they thought they went
and then worked together to see who was smaller and taller than each other. I had to
remind the students that they needed to be in a line. After a minute I saw that some of the
students were not comparing their heights with their peers so I began from the side of the
line with the shortest students and ran my hand above their heads until I saw that a taller
child was in front of a smaller child and asked the two students if the child in front of the
taller child was taller than him/her. With help the students we were able to get in line
from smallest to shortest. I then had the three tallest students stand in front of the class
who were still in a line and asked them which student was tall, taller, and tallest. I did the
same with the three shortest students. Because the size difference werent incredibly great
it seemed like they were a bit confused with who was tall out of the three tallest students
because they called the tall child small.
Following the physical activity we read When Bob Shops as a group. Having
one student come up and show me which object whether it was a bear, shirt, sandwich, or
umbrella was the desired size gave only four students the opportunity to participate. I
could see that all of the students wanted to be involved and come up. However, I only
had four different objects and only had prepared for four students to come up and point to
the item that should stay in the basket. Though only four students were able to come up,
the large pictures of the objects discussed in the book helped the students see which size
of the objects Bob wanted in his basket. In order to let four more students come up I
asked four students to come up and put the objects in order from smallest to largest. To

have all the students participate I had them all tell me in a choral voice what the sizes of
the objects were which supported their participation.
At the carpet I showed and explained to the students what materials they had at
their desk and what they would be doing. From there we transitioned from the carpet to
their desks to do the main task. They quietly went back to their desks. One excited
students comment, I have all of my own, communicated to me that by giving the
students their own materials made them excited to show me what they had learned and do
the activity on their own. Giving each student their own materials at their desks allowed
them to find the objects I was asking for. It also gave them the opportunity to decide on
their own which one I was asking for whether it was the small, medium, or a large object.
To ensure that the children understood which object I wanted, I also projected the objects
on the board. When they got to the step of finding the medium bat out of the small,
medium, and large bat they had, I asked What strategy could you use to find the medium
bat? One child replied, The medium is in the middle! I said, Yes, I can see that you
put your three bats in order from smallest to largest and the bat in the middle is the
medium sized one. When I asked the students to take out their small, medium, and large
juice boxes and then to put the large juice box in their bag I asked one student, How did
you know that the juice box you put in your bag was the large one? I asked the other
students to listen to her answer so they could learn another one of their peers strategies.
She said, It was the largest out of the three so I got it and put it in my bag.
After getting the seven desired objects I asked for the students to put the items
that they did not put in their bag in the middle of the table. Though many students
understood this direction, three students at one table did not understand this direction and

took out all the items from their bag and poured them out into the middle of their table.
Though this made it very difficult for them to move onto the next step, the teacher aid
was able to work with them using all of the items they had poured out onto their table.
Once my mentor teacher and I had collected all of the extra materials I asked the students
to pour the items they had in their bags onto their tables. I then asked them to find their
smallest item and put it at the beginning of the line. I also asked the students to be quiet
so they could hear my instructions. As I watched the video I realized that this could have
been a time when I let them put their items from smallest to largest with the knowledge
they had gained throughout the lesson rather than relying on my demonstration. By doing
this I could have also encouraged them to work with their group members to figure out
how to put them in order, and to let the students that understood the concept of putting
them in order have the opportunity to work ahead at their own pace. Though this could
have been presented in a more interactive way, I realized that because I had been walking
them through each step of the activity I became comfortable doing this and didnt give
them the opportunity to do theirs on their own. Though it would have been better to let
the students put their items in order, I could see in the video that some students were
checking their answers or making sure they were on the right track by looking at my
example.
During the lesson I felt that all of the students finished around the same time so I
did not do an extending activity. However, if I would have let the students do the main
task of the activity on their own or as tables, I feel there would have been some students
that would have finished before the other students. If students had finished before their
peers I feel that having them write in their journals about a small, medium, and large

object that were important to them would have been a good way for them to come up
with items on their own.
When the students finished gluing their items in order, I told them that I was very
proud of them for following directions and completing the task. Having one student come
up and say the names of the objects from smallest to largest and then having all the
students say the names of the objects helped the students review the vocabulary and apply
it to the work they had just completed.
During the main task or independent practice I noticed that the students didnt
have much of a chance to reflect on their thinking as they were just trying to complete the
task. However, during the conclusion I found out what they had learned and the
importance of connecting the topics discussed to something that was familiar to them. I
first asked them, Why do you need to know the sizes of things? I let them ask their
elbow buddy and talk about what they thought. Because they thought I was still talking
about small, medium, and large, I tried to come up with something that would relate to
them. I rephrased the question and asked Why do we need to know that I am the largest
and (the smallest girls name) is the smallest? When I asked a student he repeated what I
said rather than saying why it was important. I then said, Knowing that I am larger than
the (smallest child) makes me know that I cannot step on her because I would really hurt
her! Would it be okay if I came up to her and asked her to pick me up? One child said,
No, you are too heavy. Though I didnt call on the girl who was recorded saying, I can
carry my little sister because she is smaller than me displayed that she was able to apply
my example to something that related to her. I then asked the students, When you go to
the shoe store what size of shoe do you ask the salesman for? One child responded, I

ask for my size which isnt too big. If I got the biggest size it wouldnt fit me! I then
said, Thats right! You need the right size. I then moved onto talking about the size of
clothes. I asked, Do you think this child (pointing to the girl sitting in front of me) and I
wear the same size of shirt? They all responded, no! I then asked the student, When
you go into the store, what size of shirt do you ask for? The girl responded, I ask for a
medium shirt. I then said, Lets think of one more example, when you go to
McDonalds do you ask for the biggest hamburger, the largest fries, and the largest
drink? The students all shouted out, No! I then asked, But why not? One child
announced, Because I would get a tummy ache. Comparing things that mattered to
them, made sizes of things come alive, and I could see that they finally understood why
knowing the sizes of things and being able to compare them was important to them.
Childrens Mathematical Understanding:
1) What students understood about mathematical concepts and what helped them
understand
At the beginning of the lesson I could see that the students were able to simply
define and illustrate using their hands and arms the relative size of a small, medium, and
large box. The activity using the five boxes also communicated to me that the students
were able to put things in order from large too small (refer to quotes from summary).
However, when we got to the part of defining size and compare the students were
unable to relate these definitions to things that made sense to them. In Childrens
Mathematics: Cognitively Guided Instruction, it explains that we can make problems
easier for children by making the action or relationships in the problems as clear as
possible (Carpenter, Fennema, Frank, Levi, Empson, 1999, p.11). To help the students

better understand what compare meant I showed them a picture of a small box with
polka dots and a large box with stripes and asked them how the boxes were the same and
how they were different. One child commented one box is small and the other one is
large, while another student announced the small one has polka dots and the other one
has blue stripes. I then communicated that they were just doing the action of comparing
which involves looking at similarities and differences. By making a clear relationship to a
picture made what compare meant more comprehendible to the students.
The three activities before the main task including, putting the boxes in order
from largest to smallest, lining up from smallest to largest, and putting the items from
When Bob Shops in order from smallest to largest, gave the students three
opportunities to engage in describing and comparing measurable attributes of objects and
placing them in order from smallest to largest or largest to smallest. Reminding the
students about when they lined up in order from smallest to largest for school pictures
helped them to understand the mathematical concept of comparing their heights to their
peers and then lining up from smallest to shortest. One strategy from Teaching Student
Centered Mathematics relays this strategy as it explained that bringing up lessons that
were taught previously and showing similar content helps students make mathematical
connections to symbols or numbers related to the situation, story, or their prior
thinking(2014, Van de Walle, Lovin, Karp, Bay-Williams, p.58).
2) What the teacher did to support, extend and clarify students thinking
As the students were doing the main task I asked supporting and clarifying
questions to have students explain what they knew about the problem as well as to
remind the students to use relevant strategies they used before. As stated in the summary

above I asked one student how they knew that the juice box they put in their bag was the
large one and to explain to me how they figured it out. The child explained,
It was the largest out of the three (pointing to the three juice boxes), so I got it and put it
in my bag. This helped the student make sense of her action and ensured me that the
child understood the problem. I supported the students during the main task of the lesson
by reminding them that the medium sized bat was the one in the middle of the small and
large bat (2008, Jacobs, R., Ambrose). Reminding the children to use a strategy we had
used before during the group discussion helped them find the medium sized bat and other
objects later in the lesson.
During the conclusion of the lesson I first gave the students the example of shoe
sizes and the importance of knowing ones shoe size. Then I extended their thinking by
asking them to solve a similar problem using shirt sizes. Asking them if one of the
students and I wore the same shirt size and why it was important to know our shirt sizes,
gave them the opportunity to use more sophisticated strategies to explain why. One girl
showed a more sophisticated understanding about why knowing different sizes is
important by saying, You cant get the same size of shirt as me, it wouldnt fit!
3) What was hard for students to understand and an analysis of why that content
was hard
The students had a hard time understanding what compare meant. Chapter one
of What Does Being Smart in Math Mean? explained that children do not think that they
are smart in math because they think that only those who are quick and accurate with
computation or giving answers are smart in math. This misunderstanding leads to feelings
of doubt, and the intellectual resources and skills that they do have to solve difficult

problems are not recognized. The chapter also explained that this narrow vision of
smartness as computational speed communicates an incorrect image of what math is and
of what it means todo math (Featherstone, 2011, p. 15). As I was teaching this part of
the lesson I forgot about the importance of congratulating students who made an effort to
understand or try to explain what compare meant. Instead I got into the mindset of just
wanting the correct definition and did not support the students as much as I could have
done. From this understanding and revisiting what I learned from this chapter I realized
that the students had a difficult time understanding what compare meant, because we
had not talked about it before in relation to size, and because they were using the words
we had just defined including small, medium, and large to define this new word.
One way that I could have made this new content not so hard would have been by
explaining that we were now going to define a word that did not relate to the definitions
they had previously given me.
4) A discussion of what students learned
From the work that I collected from the main task I could see that the majority of
the students were able to listen to the directions of finding the sizes of the items that the
teacher wanted and then were able to put them in order from smallest to largest (refer to
pictures of work at the end). From this I could see that the students learned how to
compare the three different sizes of seven objects they received and then find the small,
medium, or large object that I asked for them to put in their bags. Comparing the seven
different objects that were in their bag and then putting them in order from smallest to
largest displayed that they were able to then compare more than three items and put them

in order which showed they understood the concept of smallest, smaller, small, medium,
large, larger, and largest.
During the concluding discussion I found that by giving the children the
opportunity to discuss shoe size, shirt size, and McDonald menu items, all which were
important to them, along with allowing them to discuss their ideas in their desired
language, gave them the opportunity to express their ideas to the best of their ability and
to support their mathematical reasoning (2014, Van de Walle, Lovin, Karp, BayWilliams, p.62). From this discussion I felt that the students learned why knowing the
size of things and how to compare them is truly important to them both in class and in
their daily life.
Additional Equity Analysis (Second Lens):
Power and participation: I selected this lens because I feel that while watching my
teaching in the recording that I found more examples and evidence of encouragement for
a range of students with different perspectives to participate and some issues of power
that I wanted to more deeply explore. I conducted my analysis by focusing on 1) who
participated, and how I encouraged or invited different students to participate; 2) who had
the authority of knowing during the lesson; 3) seeing whether differences in perspectives
were recognized and valued; and 4) taking note of issues of power and participation and
how it may have influenced the students learning.
1)

At the beginning of the lesson I found that the three most vocal students in the

class were trying to define what small, medium, and large meant. However, as I
introduced the boxes I could see that more students became interested in what these
words meant and how to apply them to put the boxes in order. Giving the students time to

discuss what box would go next with their elbow buddy made me confident in calling
students that may have initially seemed confused. I called on two students who usually do
not raise their hands to stack the fourth and third box on the largest box.
I purposefully did the activity where all of the students lined up from smallest to
largest so that all of the students would be encouraged to participate. As I let the students
line themselves up according to height, I listened to some of their exchanges. One
confident little girl who was obviously shorter than two other children put herself on the
taller side of the line than them. When asking the taller boy who was standing by her if he
was taller than her, I could tell that he was struggling with telling her that he was taller
than her. Finally, he looked down on her and said [girls name], you are supposed to go
on this side of me. Im taller than you. At the taller end of the line there were initially
four students fighting to be the tallest. I went over and explained to them that all of them
could not be on the wall as it was supposed to be a wall. I helped to determine who was
the tallest and then heard a quieter boy state Im next showing that he was
participating.
2) I endeavored to have the students have a certain extent of authority for driving the
lesson. However, as I watched the recording of the lesson I found that even though I
asked many questions and gave the students many opportunities to discuss and respond, I
found that it usually came back to me telling them whether their answer was correct or
incorrect rather than using the parts that they understood to explain the concepts I was
wanting them to understand in more depth. I also found that I did not use as many open
ended questions as I had initially planned on, which made it so I was in a higher authority
position than them. In Childrens Mathematics: Cognitively Guided Instruction it

explains that, A CGI teachers role is active. CGI teachers continually upgrade their
understanding of how each child thinks, select activities that will engage all the children
in problem solving and enable their mathematical knowledge to grow, and create a
learning environment where all children are able to communicate about their thinking and
feel good about themselves in relation to mathematics (1999, Carpenter, Fennema,
Frank, Levi, Empson, p.101). When I have the opportunity to teach mathematics in class
again I will find more ways to create a learning environment where I give all of the
students an opportunity to communicate their thinking and help them feel confident with
their ideas.
3)
In Teaching Student-Centered Mathematics it explains the importance of
communicating the value of childrens identities and modeling shared power (2014,
Van de Walle, Lovin, Karp, Bay-Williams, p.57). During the concluding discussion one
boy intensely stated, Even though the banana was smaller on our piece of paper, bananas
are really bigger than macaroni and cheese! I recognized his comment and said Yes,
[boys name] you know from your own experiences that bananas are bigger than
macaroni and cheese boxes, but from the pictures I gave you the banana was smaller than
the macaroni and cheese box, good observation!
Another example of when I recognized and valued a different perspective was
when we were putting the four items from When Bob Shops in order. I called on one of
our students who has an IEP to come up and decide which item was medium. When she
came up she pointed at the shirt and said, That goes in middle. I replied by saying,
Yes, that goes in the middle, and then extending the question to the class by asking, Do

any of the other items go in the middle? One boy raised his hand and said, The
umbrella goes in the middle too. Rather than dismissing the girls answer I recognized it
and then asked for the whole-class to engage in the discussion as well (p.57).
4)
When deciding on what items to use for the main task I chose to use items we
have talked about in class as well as Dulavin candy which is a recognized piece of
Mexican candy. I purposefully used these items so that, children [could] see themselves
in mathematics and see that mathematics is a part of their culture (2014, Van de Walle,
Lovin, Karp, Bay-Williams, p.59). Using familiar items distributed the power of the
teacher and gave them materials that they could connect with.
Though I endeavored to incorporate symbols and experiences that represented my
students in the mathematics that we were doing, I also found that there were times when
the desire to have power over the activity stifled the amount of participation and
decreased student learning. One issue had to do with the group activities that I had
planned. Though the activity with using boxes was both hands-on and gave the students
the opportunity to see real objects, it only allowed for four of the twenty-one students to
come up and put the boxes in order. This was an issue because all of the other students
were so anxious to come up and put the boxes in order. After completing the lesson my
mentor teacher explained to me that one way to have all of the students participate would
be by giving them all white boards and dry-erase markers and having them write the
number that they thought went next on their board. She said that if I told them to keep
their number a secret until I asked them to reveal their answer that the students would
have been even more likely to participate which would have increased their participation

and learning. I ran into a similar problem when I could only allow about five students to
come and pick the size that Bob wanted at the store and then to put them in order. I
could have used the white boards for this activity as well and asked for them to write the
number they thought Bob wanted. Using my teachers suggestions in future lessons
will help to distribute the power more evenly, which will increase participation and
student learning.
4) Extending Your Thinking:
There were some considerable problematic features during the lesson that were
most noticeable due to some of the students comments and their thinking during the
lesson. The problematic feature that was most obvious during the lesson was during the
whole group activities that only allowed for a small number of students to participate in
the presented activities. During the box activity the majority of the students were patient
and able to stay calm even when they didnt get called on to come up or give an answer.
However, when we got to the activity involving the book When Bob Shops the students
began yelling out, I want to come up, You havent chosen me yet, There isnt
enough for all of us. During this portion I could feel a sense of urgency from the
students body language and comments and a desire to come up and engage in the
activity. One way that I could have given all of the students the opportunity to engage in
the lesson would have been by questioning the children in a way that both elicit[ed] their
thinking and help[ed] them in problem solving (1999, Carpenter, Fennema, Franke,
Levi, Empson). By doing this I will be able to better understand my students thinking
and structure mathematical learning in the classroom both in a more welcoming and
positive environment and help students to develop and understand their mathematical

thinking. As explained in the previous sections students clearly communicated through

their physicality and comments that they were not receiving enough opportunities to
express their ideas and be involved in the whole group activities I presented. Preparing
lessons with activities and discussion questions that encourage all of the students to
participate will help them to stay calmer during the lesson rather than thinking about how
and when they will next get to participate. Over time they will understand that each of
their ideas is valued and will feel that their thinking is also driving learning in the class.