Welcome back everyone!
It's been a couple of busy weeks for me but I have a lot to catch you all up on. This week I led a learning activity for my math class and I think it went very well. I wanted to reflect upon the process to think about what I can do differently next time or what I can add to the activity!
The activity that I ran was for a Grade 12 Academic Advanced Functions class. The unit that I covered was polynomial and rational functions, however my focus was on the key features and characteristics of the graphs of rational functions. My class really enjoyed the investigative approach that I took for the activity as well as my execution of the debrief prior to the activity. I provided everyone in the class with the following handout prior to engaging in any activity or debrief discussion.
After going over the definitions of the different characteristics of a rational function's graph, I applied them to the basic rational function of f(x) = 1/x. After the example, I broke the class into groups of 2-3 and sent them off to apply their knowledge through investigating different graphs of rational functions. While each student was off working on investigating the features of these graphs, they were filling out this jamboard to help organize their observations. I found that this collaborative approach to investigating the key features of the graph allowed students to build on each other's thinking. Furthermore, having the handout open in the next tab allows students to refer back to the terminology and both check and reflect on their answers. Following the breakout groups, I brought the conversation back to a larger class discussion to consolidate student learning and go over the answers in the tables on the jamboard. This also provided students with the opportunity to ask questions and clarify their understanding on certain key features.
Upon receiving feedback from my peers in my class, I was able to see what went well in the activity and what I could change for next time. My classmates really enjoyed the activity as a whole and expressed their liking for the layout of the jamboard as well as the handout. However, I did receive an insightful piece of feedback that really made me think. I was told that next time, maybe check with the students to make sure that when we are talking as a class, that they are still okay with me sharing my screen when pulling up their work. This was really eye-opening for me as some groups may have struggled and felt embarrassed that they did not have much of the charts filled out. I really appreciated this constructive feedback as it allowed me to really take into consideration the feelings of my students as I would never want to reinforce any feelings of math anxiety. 
Overall, I think that this learning activity went really well! I would definitely use this lesson in one of my future classrooms if I am lucky enough to ever teach Grade 12 Advanced Functions. I think it is always so important to reflect on how your lessons go as a teacher because it is key to know what to change for next time. Improving your lessons should be an expectation for all teachers as you are always getting new students in your classroom and it is important to strive to meet their learning needs.
Anyways, that's it for me today! I feel like the next time I lead a math lesson or activity that I can better my approach in certain aspects through reflecting on this experience and utilizing the feedback that I received from my professor and classmates. There is always room for improvement when you're an educators so keep on reflecting!
Until we chat again next time...
Signing off,
Ms. Blackwell
No comments:
Post a Comment