As all of my mentors and advisers can attest, I wholeheartedly loved receiving feedback from observers, whether it was focused on my teaching practice or my students’ learning. In the three rounds I hosted, my round participants gave me invaluable insight into both domains. Below are the rounds sheets I prepared for each of my rounds and my subsequent reflections.
Round 1: November 10, 2016
For my first round, I invited observers into my numeracy class when my students were working on creative projects that explored one topic from the first quarter that they needed to review. In groups or individually, my students wrote raps, made posters, wrote letters, created a graphic novel, or performed a skit about the distributive property, percentages, negative integers, order of operations, or times tables.
Round 2: February 6, 2017
In my second round, observers saw students in my integrated math class investigate real-world applications of systems of equations. Student were split into groups and assigned a real-world scenario tailored to their interests that entailed choosing between two options. Each group needed to use their knowledge of systems of equations to calculate which option was the better choice, and then create a commercial advertising that choice by mixing creativity with mathematical evidence.
Journal Entry (Extension of Round Reflection)
Round 3: April 10, 2017
For my final round, observers returned to my integrated math class to witness the beginning of our transformation unit. To introduce the unit and hook my students, I positioned them as video game programmers and had them watch a video of Ms. Pacman to determine the exact movements she made. From there, students worked in groups to transfer this idea of movement to shapes on a coordinate grade, thereby discovering the different transformations they would be exploring for the rest of the unit.