Cameron Mettenbrink

K-12 Learning Activity

11-10-17

Table of Contents
Summary 1

Classroom Context 3

Pre-Assessment Analysis 6

Lesson plans 12

Lesson 1 12

Lesson 2 15

Lesson 3 15

Lesson 4 17

Lesson 5 18

Post-assessment Analysis 19

Summative Reflection 23
Summary
In this student learning project the topic covered will be second grade differentiated math. The
overall goal of the learning cycle is for children to understand what place value is and to
correctly use place value. The learning cycle will be broken into five lessons that will take place
over the course of 5 school days with one extended weekend that will take place between lessons
3 and 4. The objective of each lesson are as follows:

1. Ones, Tens, and Hundred

Children represent numbers to 200 and identify patterns involving place value.
2. Draw Quick Tens and Quick Hundreds
Children represent numbers to 200 in different ways.
3. Represent Numbers in Different Ways
Children represent numbers using numerals, expanded form, and number names.
4. Combine Ones, Tens, and Hundreds
Children solve ten-based word problems and will add 1, 10, or 100 to a given
number.
5. Compare and Order Numbers Within 200
Children compare and order two numbers using <, >, and = symbols.

Each lesson will feature a variety of teaching methods in order to meet the needs of individual
learning styles. There will be homework sent home for children to provide independent practice
over the skills taught in each lesson. The overall goal of the homework is to provide independent
practice as well as involve the parent/guardian. The first lesson will feature a mixture of
kinesthetic learning through the use of finger flash counting, use of manipulatives, visual aids, as
well as direct instruction. The second lesson will continue to feature the use of manipulatives and
direct instruction, but will have added focus on drawing place value on white boards. The third
lesson will feature mainly work on whiteboards as students learn how to write in expanded form.
The fourth lesson will mostly consist of practice problems for drill and consistent routine. The
final lesson will have students compare numbers using a variety of mediums such as
whiteboards, practice problems, manipulatives, and verbally. Students learning will be assessed
by having students complete a short pretest that will reflect a piece of each lesson. At the end of
the 5 lessons students will be given a quick quiz similar to the pretest to assess student growth.

The project will feature 24 students. Of the 24 students 14 are boys and 10 are girls. The
classroom environment is unique in that it has 12 identified gifted students paired with 12 high
ability learner students. Given that the class is split between high ability learners and identified
gifted students, this study will feature 2 students to be spotlighted. The 2 students being
spotlighted are:
 1. Spotlight 1
a. Male
b. Identified gifted in math
2. Spotlight 2
a. Female
b. HAL (High Ability Learner)

The curriculum consulted is Math Expressions Grade 2 Volume 1 Teacher Edition. Math
Expressions is a complete K-6 elementary mathematics program that is used in both urban and
suburban classrooms. Students using Math Expressions show substantial increases in test scores
as well as in broader measures of understanding. Math Expressions features a unique
combination of traditional pedagogical approaches and standards-based teaching.

Math Expressions identifies 5 crucial components of a mathematics classroom. The 5

components are helping community, building concepts, math talk, quick practice, and student
leaders. The 5 lessons that make up this student learning project will feature pieces of all 5 of the
Math Expressions touchstones.

Classroom Context
I am a student teacher at Morley Elementary School in Lincoln, Nebraska. The grade I was
assigned to student teach is second grade. My cooperating teacher has been teaching for 11
years, but I am her first student teacher.

At Morley, it is common practice to have students travel to different classrooms for reading and
math to fit their learning abilities. The second grade classroom I am assigned to has the
differentiated math students. The students in general have a positive attitude towards math
because they have always had an easier time in math when compared to the class as a whole.
Many of the students attempt to think outside the box in order to find new strategies or
differentiate themselves from the group.

Having a large group of high ability students in math does create a relatively competitive
environment because every student wants to be the one to stand out. The culture of the room
fosters creativity and encourages class discussion through whole group math talk. An
observation I have noticed is that with the class consistently looking for opportunities to be
creative the students commonly will make mistakes attempting to show a different strategy rather
than staying with a strategy they have mastered to solve a problem.
For this group of students I have noticed that homework is almost always completed, turned in
on time, and checked by an adult at home. The students show a great amount of responsibility in
doing their homework and making sure it is checked prior to turning it in. It is apparent that each
student has an adult at home who is able to assist them with their homework and make sure the
student is not doing independent practice incorrectly. The parents of these students encourage
their students academic work and place an emphasis on education which helps to empower the
teacher.

The chart below displays the ethnic background of the student body of the entire elementary
school. The second grade class that will be showcased in this study has a student population
which reflects the student body of the entire school. Morley Elementary School is a
neighborhood school that is tucked into a residential area. Most of the families in the
neighborhood have been established within the neighborhood. This helps keeps the mobility rate
of the school relatively low when compared to other schools in Lincoln. In addition, many of the
parents stay actively involved with the school. Diversity in classes is much more evident in lower
elementary grades because the school has recently started gaining more ethnic diversity.
The chart below shows the percentage of the student body who receives free and reduced meals.
As you can see in the chart Morley Elementary has a significantly lower percentage of students
receiving assistance in comparison to other parts of Lincoln and the rest of the state. This is due
to the location of Morley and the services or lack of services Morley is able to provide. Morley
does not offer ELL services so many first generation citizens opt out of Morley. Morleys student
population is made up of many well established families because it is a smaller, neighborhood
school.

This study will feature 2 spotlight students who I have chosen based on the classroom context.
Although these students do not need any specific adaptations to teaching or curriculum, they do
present vastly different personalities which require different approaches to conferencing or
trouble shooting.
Spotlight students:

Spotlight 1
Spotlight 1 likes to have frequent checks to confirm the way he is doing his work
is up to the standards of the instructor. Although the student seems confident in
his ability he likes to be reminded he is doing what he is supposed to.
Spotlight 1 is able to clearly explain verbally what his thinking is behind a math
problem. Because of his ability to do this he frequently shares answers with the
whole group during math talk time or is the first to share his idea when talking in
partners.

Spotlight 2
Spotlight 2 does not do well when something is challenging. She has a tendency
to get frustrated and shut down slightly. When she doesnt feel confident she is
uncomfortable taking a risk.
Spotlight 2 does not enjoy sharing her thinking verbally, but shows her thinking
clearly through the use of drawings or writing.
Spotlight 2 is quick to catch on to patterns or new concepts, but is
non-confrontational when she disagrees during partner work.

Pre-Assessment Analysis
For the pre-assessment tool I decided to consult the Math Expressions Quick Quiz that is given at
the end of each Big Idea (learning objective). The learning cycle covered for this student learning
project encompassed the entirety of 1 Big Idea. The Quick Quiz features a question which
requires students to use the knowledge and skills they should have learned from the lessons
previously taught.

Since this student learning project took place over 5 lessons the pre-assessment featured 5
questions with each question highlighting a skill taught in each lesson. The students were given 6
minutes to complete the pre-assessment. Students did not receive any assistance on the
pre-assessment unless it was for clarity of directions.

An example of the pre-assessment is provided below.

Name_____________________________________ Date_________________

1. What number is shown? Write the number

2. Draw the number using hundred boxes, ten sticks, and circles. Then write the number in expanded form.

146

3. What number is shown?

Write the number and the number name.

4. Add.
100 + 7 =

5. Compare. Write >,<, or =.

The graph below shows the results of the pre-assessment. It was worth note that one student did
have a perfect score with a few students only missing 1 problem. A majority of the students only
got 1 or 2 problems correct of the 5 problems asked. A common mistake that I noticed was the
hundred square. Many of the students wrote their answer inside of the hundred square instead of
counting the hundred square which caused them to miss the problem. I also counted questions
wrong if they did not correctly write out the number. For example if a student put a hundred
instead of writing one hundred. If you noticed the spotlight students scores are placed on the
far right of the graph. The spotlight students both scored near the class average.
The graph below shows the number of students at each test score. As you can see most of the
students got 1 out of 5 or 2 out of 5. The most common problem done correctly was problem
number 4 which had children demonstrate that they could add a 3-digit number with a 1-digit
number correctly. The most common problem children got incorrect were problems involving
expanded form or writing out the number correctly. This tells me that the student is having
trouble with the math vocabulary so I will be sure to use the correct math vocabulary frequently
throughout lessons.

Below are a couple of examples of the pre-assessment completed by the two spotlight students.
Spotlight 1 only got one of the 5 problems correct. The one problem he answered correctly was
almost unanimously answered correctly by the class. In problem 2 he appeared to be on the right
track when drawing the number, but failed to write the number in expanded form. He also failed
to correctly answer number 5 which was a common theme among the class.
In the image below you can see the pre-assessment of spotlight 2. She was able to correctly
identify the number drawn in problem 1 and the addition in problem 4. She was close to correctly
writing in expanded form as well as writing the number out correctly. She also seemed to run out
of time or did not feel confident answering the last question.
Overall the pre-assessment shows me the students have some idea of the ten sticks and the ones
circles. I can also tell students do not feel comfortable comparing numbers and writing them in
expanded form. I will be sure emphasize math vocabulary especially expanded form throughout
the lessons.

Lesson plans
For the lesson plans I decided to use slideshows to guide the lesson. The slides provide
instruction and help keep the pacing of the lesson consistent. A link to each of the five lessons is
provided below along with a summary of what was covered in each lesson.

Link to lesson 1 slide show

Link to lesson 2 slide show
Link to lesson 3 slide show
Link to lesson 4 slide show
Link to lesson 5 slide show

Lesson 1
In lesson 1 students are introduced to the concept of place value. In order to do the activities
within the lesson students need to access various materials. When the materials are in possession
of the student it is important to set the expectation the materials and tools are for learning
purposes and not toys. Classroom management is extremely important during this lesson due to
all the moving parts. The lesson can be followed through the use of the slide show in the above
link.

Children begin the lesson by writing in the numbers 1-110 on the backside of their markerboards.
Model how to write the numbers 1-10 going down in a straight line using the markerboard
squares provided. Stop after each row of 10 to check for understanding. Students will attempt to
write numbers across for example 1, 11, 21, 31, etc. instead of going downward in order. An
example of what this should look like is provided below.
After they have correctly drawn in their number chart from 1-110 have the children finger flash
count by tens to 110. Then have them build the number with their secret code cards. Have
students discuss patterns they see. If nobody mentions the decade numbers pattern be sure to
mention it. Model and break down the number 11 explain the tens and ones. Have children
practice making a few numbers with their secret code cards.

Take a look at the 120 poster. Have children identify what the 1 means in the number 100. Have
children build 3 digit numbers with their secret code cards. Stop and have children discuss
patterns they notice. Students should then finger flash count to 110. The goal is to have children
feel comfortable with tens.

The next piece of the lesson requires students to use their math boards to draw quick ones and
quick tens. Have children count out loud as they circle each dot following the same pattern as
when they filled out the numbers 1-110. An example is provided below.

Model at the front of the room as the students go all the way through up to 111. Stop after each
group of 10 to check for understanding. Stop at 111 to discuss. Have children build the number
on their secret code cards. Explain to children that the secret code cards can be broken into
100+10+1 to make expanded form. Have them practice writing 111 in expanded form. Show
children what a quick hundred will look like an example is provided below.

Have children practice writing a few numbers in expanded form after building them with their
secret code cards. Use the student activity book and have children complete pages 91 and 92 stop
to discuss patterns they may see. An example of spotlight student 2 work is provided below.
Lesson 2
Lesson 2 has students focus on drawing numbers using quick tens and quick hundreds. The
lesson can be seen in full detail by following the link provided above. The lesson begins by
having students review some of the skills learned in the previous lesson. I had decided to add a
review after learning about the pressure for time in the previous lesson. Because of the number
of materials in the previous lesson, the timing can sometimes be difficult. After reviewing
students use their math markerboards and are introduced to the number path. Students practice
making a number on the number path and use math talk to discuss what they notice about the
number path. Students practice showing a number in the multiple ways they have learned so far
via a drawing, secret code cards, or expanded form.

Students are then brought to the carpet and set in pairs with their markerboards. Children use the
two boards to make a number path going from 1-200 by combining both boards. Model for
children how to make numbers beyond 100 on the number path and how to draw them using
quick tens and quick hundreds. Explain to children when they draw a number to mark their quick
tens and ones in groups of five so they can easily see their number. They should have the number
written in expanded form at the bottom of the markerboard.

Children should then get out their student activity book and complete pages 95 and 96 the goal is
to have them see the pattern of adding a 1 to a 1 and 10 to 10. If they do not see the pattern be
sure to point it out.

Lesson 3
In lesson 3 children learn to represent numbers in different ways. The goal is to have them able
to represent a number through numerals, expanded form, and using the number names. At this
point in the learning cycle children should feel comfortable using expanded form and drawing
numbers to represent a number. This lesson can be followed by using the slide show in the link
provided above.

Begin the lesson by having students turn their markerboards with the number path facing up.
Have them represent numbers using the number path, expanded form, and drawing ten sticks and
circles. After some practice examples or problems, have the students partner up as they did in the
previous lesson and create numbers between 100-200. Students should represent the numbers on
the number path, with a drawing, and show it in expanded form. In addition, students should
build the number using their secret code cards so they can get a better visual of how the number
is broken into expanded form. An example image is provided below. Repeat the process for as
many number as needed until most students feel comfortable with expanded form and drawing
numbers.

Students should move to put the markerboards away. This creates a short movement and brain
break for the students and offers less temptation to play with materials during the next activity.
Students will pull out their student activity books provided by Math Expressions and complete
page 97. Select a student to complete each problem on the board at the front of the classroom and
have them explain their thinking. This math talk allows for metacognition and allows students to
assess their peers to judge their own ability to solve problems.

After completing and discussing page 97 draw students attention to the puzzled penguin. Puzzled
Penguin is used to help students recognize common mistakes. This particular Puzzled Penguin
shows a mistake drawing numbers because of how sloppy their drawing was. Students should
recognize that the puzzled penguin needs to break his ten sticks and ones circles into groups of 5
so he can easily read the drawing.

Review number names with students and have them write the decade numbers in their math
journals. Discuss the reversal of the teen numbers. For example sixteen has the ones name first
(six) and the ten comes second, the opposite is true for numbers twenty-one and up. Students
should practice writing a few decade numbers and representing it as a numeral, drawing, and
written name. Students should then complete page 98 in their student activity workbook. Draw
attention to the hyphen and explain that is a hyphen not a dash. Explain to students when to use
the hyphen and that it is used to connect the decade number to the ones.
Lesson 4
In lesson four students learn to solve 10-based word problems. The goal is to have students feel
comfortable seeing groups of ten within a number. This lesson can be followed exactly through
the slideshow provided in the link above.
The lesson begins with a couple of riddles to help students warm-up and get in the math mindset.
It then leads to a problem that should be attempted by the students and then modeled by the
teacher. After modeling the appropriate strategy have students turn to page 99 in their student
activity books. Students are to complete the activity page with their partner discussing each
problem using correct math vocabulary. After each problem select a student to come to the board
to show their work and explain their thinking. Students should listen as the student models how
to do the problem thinking of questions they can ask the student presenting.

At the completion of the student activity page have students have students get out their secret
code cards and marker boards. Have students practice building numbers with their secret code
cards and writing the numbers out on their marker boards in expanded form.
Instruct students to put secret code cards away, but they will still need their markerboards for the
next activity. Have students complete the addition problems on the board. At the completion
have the students discuss the problems as a class. The goal is to have them notice that all the
problems had a one added to them. Point out what was different when we added a one to a nine.
Guide student discussion as they add 10 to each number and as they add 100 to each number.

After identifying the patterns have students complete page 100 as you monitor the room to check
for understanding. Put a challenge problem on the board as students begin to finish the activity
page.

Lesson 5
In lesson five students will compare and order numbers within 200. They will use the symbols <,
>, and = correctly when comparing 2 numbers. Students will also be able to order two or more
numbers from least to greatest. The lesson can be followed in detail using the slideshow attached
in the link above.

Begin the lesson by having the students represent the number written on the board three different
ways. Students should know how to write the number using a drawing, expanded form, and in
words. Discuss and show how to represent a number three ways after they have done it to make
sure it is done correctly. Open the math slideshow and introduce the symbols that they will be
using throughout the lesson. Discuss what each symbol means. Model how to compare two
different sets of numbers. For one method show a drawing, for the other method write it out in
expanded form and think out loud to model for children how to compare numbers. Have students
get their markerboards out and practice a few examples comparing numbers.

Stop to discuss how students compare numbers. Have students explain their thinking. As they
explain check for misunderstanding and explain misconceptions.

After completing the practice problems have students turn to page 101 in their student activity
book. Have students complete the page individually as you walk around the room to check for
understanding and conference as needed. Discuss page 101 as students begin to finish the page.
After discussing page 101 repeat the procedure for page 102.

Stop students near the end of page 102 to discuss puzzled penguin. Puzzled penguin points out a
common mistake made by students. He compares numbers starting from the ones place instead
of starting in the hundreds place. Have students point out his error and discuss the correct way to
compare numbers with the students.

Model for students the correct way to order numbers from least to greatest. Answer questions as
needed. Have students complete both pages 103 and 104 in their student activity book. Walk
around the room to check for understanding and conference as needed.

Post-assessment Analysis
For the post-assessment I decided to use the Quick Quiz provided by Math Expressions. Students
are accustomed to taking Quick Quizzes after a Big Idea (learning objective) so the
post-assessment worked well with the students normal routine.
Math Expression has designed the Quick Quiz for students to showcase the ability to apply the
skills and knowledge that should have been obtained throughout the five lesson span. The format
offers one questions per lesson resulting in a five question assessment.

The post-assessment is a reflection of the pre-assessment, but the questions are altered to have
different numbers. The vocabulary and assessment format is identical to that of the
pre-assessment. Students were given 6 minutes to complete the post-assessment. Students did not
receive any assistance on the post-assessment unless it was for clarity of directions.

An example of the post-assessment is provided below.

The chart below shows the results of how each student performed on the pre-assessment in
comparison to how they performed on the post-assessment. As you can clearly see in the graphic
every student performed at or above the level in which they performed on the pre-assessment on
the post-assessment. Students did not seem to have an issue with the post-assessment as many of
them completed it with relative confidence which is reflected on the scores displayed in the
graphic below.
The graph below shows the baseline score of each student. Baseline scores were measured by the
data gathered from the pre-assessment. The baseline score is indicated with blue and the red
color on top represents the amount of growth the student made throughout the learning cycle. As
you can see in the graphic every student aside from 2 displayed growth. One of the students was
unable to show growth coming in with a baseline score of 100% so the room to grow was
basically non-existent. The other student who did not display any growth may have made visual
error as the error was also made by one other student when a 9 was mistaken for a 4. Although
the student did not display growth, she also did not display any regression in skills.
The graphic below shows the number of students that scored at each interval. Since both the
pre-assessment and post-assessment were 5 questions the scores were broken into to 20%
intervals. The number of students who scored at each interval were tallied and compared as you
can see below. The vast majority of students were able to obtain a 100% on the post-assessment.
During the pre-assessment 1 student was able to obtain a perfect score, but the majority only got
1 or 2 questions correct in total. The opposite was true for the post-assessment as only 3 students
scored less than 100%. The graph clearly shows the a variety of ranges in ability before the
lessons and nearly all displaying mastery at the end of the learning cycle.

Summative Reflection
In the first lesson of the learning project I felt I did not execute the way I had planned. Overall I
felt the lesson went well, but it did not seem smooth. Many of the transitions felt clunky and the
pace of the lesson became a challenge.

There were so many materials for the first lesson that I felt it necessary to slow things down for
classroom management purposes. In doing this it caused me to be slightly off in timing of the
lesson. I used a slideshow as a visual and as a pacing guide for the lesson, but as I began the
slideshow and going through the first lesson I quickly realized that the slideshow was not a good
fit for the objective of the lesson. Instead of using the slideshow as a visual aid, students would
benefit much better from having a live model in front of them guiding them through the lesson. I
realized this too late into the lesson, but still attempted to give what was best for the students by
being the live model in the front of the classroom. I also noticed that by not being the model in
the front of the classroom some of the students had placed their markerboards the wrong
direction. This caused for some confusion later on in the lesson that could have been avoided had
I been modeling in the front. These small complications caused the lesson to feel clunky and the
timing to be off.

After the lesson I quickly wrote down my notes about the common mistakes which took place
during the lesson and the things I pointed out above that I wanted to do differently. I decided I
would simplify the portion of the lesson I felt did not meet the desired objective and used it as
the introduction to the next lesson. I modeled from the front of the room as I walked children
through the review. This time through I made sure every student began with their markerboard
facing the correct direction. By doing this quick warm up and having them complete a short
workbook page I was able to formatively assess where everyone was at before beginning the
next lesson. If I were to teach the lesson again I would probably scrap the slideshow piece
because as I mentioned earlier the slideshow was a great visual, but was not the best fit for
meeting the objective. I would also want to shorten the amount of time going over expectations
of the materials. I found that I was so worried about the management piece of the lesson that I
missed small details such as making sure students had their markerboards facing the correct
direction and that caused students to have misconceptions which then need to be corrected before
the next lesson.

Lesson two was overall a much smoother lesson in comparison to the first lesson, but the timing
again was a challenge because of the misconceptions from lesson one that had to be retaught
before beginning lesson two. This being said I felt the reteaching was the strongest teaching of
the lesson. Having the time in between the lessons to identify what the misconceptions were
created an opportunity to hone in on the target more specifically and made for a purposeful
review prior to the lesson.

Similar to lesson one, lesson two did not feel quite as smooth as I wanted it to. The management
aspect of the lesson felt good, but I think the pace of the lesson needed to be picked up.
Watching the students work I could begin to tell I was losing engagement from some because the
information they were receiving was not challenging enough for them. I later found out that
some of the quick tens and ones were review from first grade. This was an area I should have
done a better job of because looking at the pre-assessment I can clearly see the students were
confused by the hundreds box, not the ten sticks or ones circles. I should have used this
information to speed the lesson up during these portions and plan to add targeted instruction for
misconceptions at the end of the lesson similar to what I did at the beginning of the lesson.
If I were to teach this lesson again I would better utilize the data that I had gathered from the
pre-assessment to tailor the lesson more specifically to the students. This lesson provided an
opportunity to speed up and make time for differentiated instruction or for targeted instruction.
Based on the post-assessment scores I think differentiated instruction would have been more
beneficial for this group as they did not appear to need much targeted instruction outside of what
was given.

By lesson three I felt that I was in a much better rhythm teaching the lessons in comparison to
the first two. I had a much better feel for how quickly I could move through a lesson and had a
much better idea of what the children understood versus what was still difficult. The first two
lessons I felt the management piece had to much slower so by this point we could go faster. In
addition, I had done well repeating the vocabulary words that I wanted students to use
throughout the lessons that I noticed they had started to use them during math talk with their
peers. This informed me that I not only needed to stay consistent in using the math vocabulary,
but I also needed to allow opportunities for them to use the math vocabulary. Lesson three
provided a great opportunity to do just that.

Most of lesson three was done in pairs, but required both partners to have to work individually.
This allowed the partners to correctly use the new math vocabulary as well as check answers
against one another. Students did not appear to struggle too much with this lesson until we got to
the portion of writing out numbers. I did not anticipate how much work it is for a second grader
to write out a number in words. They are still learning to write and if I were to teach this lesson
again I would spend more time having students write out the numbers instead of the practice on
expanded form. The group of student that I had seemed to take a long time with the secret code
cards and as I look back on it they did not seem to add as much to the lesson by lesson 3. They
appeared comfortable enough with expanded form without them, but I felt it was still
developmentally appropriate for them to have some sort of manipulative.

After lesson three students had fall break which gave them five consecutive days off. I knew that
over the break students would not retain all of the information from the first three lessons so I
began lesson four with a quick formative assessment to identify the areas needed for targeted
instruction. This formative assessment was were I had realized how hard it was for this group to
write numbers out in words. I made a mental note to make sure to set aside time at the end of the
lesson for practice writing out numbers in words. Over the long break I had time to reflect on the
first three lessons and got a much better grasp of the pacing of each lesson and I could look back
through the students homework and activity pages to quickly gauge where the students were at.
By doing this I was able to get through lesson four with about eight minutes that I then used for
practice writing out numbers in words.

If I were to teach this lesson over again I think I would do things in a similar fashion. With the
extra days in between lessons three and four I had extra time to run through the lesson so that I
could make each transition smooth from one activity to the next. The one thing I would go back
and redo is the formative assessment at the beginning of the lesson. That was something I should
have been doing each day. I needed to be measuring where the kids were each lesson. If I had not
done that on lesson four I would not have identified how difficult writing out numbers in words
was for the group.

Lesson five began similar to lesson four with a quick check for understanding at the beginning to
identify what I need to target at the end of the lesson. This lesson was successful because of how
well it fit with the slideshow. The slideshow for this lesson began with me modeling for the
students and allowed for some visuals that are not possible with just a marker and a markerboard.
The visuals added to the lesson and was impactful to the students learning. I added in some
practice problems before diving into the lesson to use as a way to check how quickly the students
would grasp comparing numbers to see if I could speed the lesson up or if I needed to slow
down. By doing this I could quickly identify which students were going to need more assistance
and I made sure to have more one on one interaction with those students during the practice
problems.

Overall, I felt the learning project was successful for the growth of the students and myself as an
instructor. I felt noticeably more confident in my instruction and my goals for each lesson after
the first two. Each lesson I felt myself being more comfortable adjusting as needed and reading
how comfortable the children were with the material and allowing that to guide the lesson. By
doing this it made the lessons feel much smoother. I realized that the pace of the lesson needs to
be guided by the comfortability of the class with the material and not so much by an estimated
guess of how long each activity will take. My biggest take away though would have to be using a
quick formative assessment as an entry ticket before starting a lesson so that the last few
minutes of the lesson can be more meaningful using targeted instruction.