Questions and Answers

One of the questions that I find myself repeatedly contemplating is the effectiveness of technology in the classroom, especially a math classroom. I am from a very small town with limited resources, and technology used by my math teachers was limited to graphing calculators. Therefore, it is sometimes difficult for me to see the relavance of incorporating technology into my future classroom. I feel that technology often complicates material that I learned simply through my high school textbook, class lecture, examples/discussion, and maybe the use of a calculator. However, I understand that students in high schools today are used to a much greater amount of technology in the classroom and their daily functions as a whole. Therefore I also understand how teaching the students with the resources that they use on a daily basis is important. I feel that for technology to be incorporated effectively into the classroom, rather than complicating the subject matter, teachers must be very well-educated on the technology themselves, they must plan for a certain amount of time for their students to become accustomed to the technology, and they must have very specifically defined learning targets regarding the intended outcome of using the technology. While teachers should be well prepared for all lessons and instruction, I feel that this preparation is particularly critical when the teachers are incorporating technology that is also new to them as the teacher. Further, I feel the best use for technology is in discovery and exploration. There are many lessons in which lecture and examples/discussion cannot be replaced. However, leading into such lessons with a technology component that allows the students to explore their own ideas and/or create personal conjectures regarding the material is an excellent way to bring technological advancements into the classroom.

New Insights and Their Implications

I have really enjoyed the technology presentations this semester. I particularly liked the mathematical explorer presentation. It was a completely new program to me which made me a little more interested in learning about it. It seemed very advanced in the mathematics that it could perform for you, but took awhile to type in all the information. I am sure that this is something that just come with time as you use it more and more. Watching the video on lesson study one was great. It allowed us to all see how the lesson worked out in the classroom. And it has become aware to me that you could have created a perfect lesson and still would of had a hard time teaching it on that day. All the distractions with halloween made it hard to reflect on how well the intruction was prepared. I am hoping to make some better conclusions from lesson study number two and number three. Hopefully it will be easier to observe the students perspective and their grasp on the material.

Summary and Implications

I am in Lesson Study Two and in the third Technology presentation so I am feeling a little overwhelmed with the material now. I did not realize all the members of the lesson study group had to go through to prepare the lesson study lesson. I have a lot of respect for Group One's members because I am seeing how much time it is already going to take. I realize that both projects are coming up fast and it just shows that as a person who is preparing to be a teacher there is going to be times you are going to feel overwhelmed and not sure if you can get everything done or not. I know that this is good practice for when we get out to teach and will help us be more prepared so I am glad that we are doing both of these projects. It was exciting to see the girl I tutor that attends Elk Point-Jefferson pull on Geometry Sketchpad that her teacher had taught them a lesson on it today. It was a little sad that she was not exactly sure how to do it and that she could not explain to me how to do it, but I was excited to see a teacher using it and knowing what it is from class. I also think that watching the video and analyzing things will be greatly beneficial. I also feel like the more exposure we can get to a classroom will lessen the nerves once we become teachers. I do not think that the nerves will ever not be there, but I believe that it will help. I feel like the lesson study and technology presentation will be helpful as I continue my training. I also have realized that sometimes you have to be extremely flexible when you are a teacher. So, I feel like I am getting valuable knowledge from this class.

New Insights and Their Implications

In the creation of Lesson Study 1 a lot of time and thought went into the format of this lesson. At first, this long drawn out procedure was an experience that was hard to see the outcome and hard to see if it could even be used later on in our profession as a teacher. Once we actually presented our lesson to the classroom we saw an outcome that wasn't quite expected and definately a learning experience. We had many expectations coming into the lesson from the students and that could have been where we made a mistake. If we were to think of every aspect of each student in creating this lesson we maybe could have seen different reactions to it. Also, once we have our first year teaching job, we are going to be making many lesson plans from scratch. Yeah, we may not be able to have a group of people collaborating to put a lesson together, but after one teaches the lesson for the first time one can reflect on how it went and note changes that could happen to better the lesson. After years of doing this many well thought out lessons will be filed and for the different types of classes one has there will be at this point different options for lessons on that particular subject. So, out of this experience reflection after a lesson is taught and observed how students take in the lesson will be incorporated in my career as a teacher.

Summary and Synthesis

Lately, we have been discussing a lot about lesson study one. I really believe it was a success. I was able to think about the lesson and teaching methods in alternative ways. There were aspects I would have never thought about it if I was going to create this lesson myself. I was given the aspect of analyzing student questions and teacher questions. I did not realize how many questions are asked within a single lesson. Our group has been working hard on our technology presentation. I have also been researching for lesson study 2 and 3. Overall, the duscussions we have been having about lesson studies have benefited me the most lately. I have been able to take different view points on how to design lessons. Therefore, this class has improved my teaching methods and strategies

Personal Conerns and Next Steps

Through out this course, I have been concerned with the work load and expectations. Thankfully, I have managed to help my group with the lesson study and my technology group prepare for the Fathom presentation. Now my concerns are focused on the last question and the other lesson studies. I guess I feel that the next two lesson studies are at a disadvantage due to the fact that time is limited and our resourses are spread between many other courses. However, while these limitations will make it more difficult, however, the values of these were well worth the effort. This leaves me with the hope that the other groups will recieve the same opportunities.

New Insights and Their Implications

After observing and watching the video of the first groups lesson plan, I am more aware of how students might view lessons and how reviewing a lesson on video would help with future lessons. Being able to be in the classroom observing how students worked with the technology was my job for the lesson study. I was able to see how the students were responding to the lesson also. I was particularly interested in how the students would did not seem to be forth coming with answers to questions that Brittany would ask. I think that in most cases students will be hesitant to answer questions in a situation where it is new to them or if somebody that they are not used to teaches them. The students for the most part were actively engaged through out the lesson, however they did not seem to have the confidence or as stated earlier were just shy about the situation. Reviewing the video of the lesson is also something that I think is very important. You can reflect on your teaching after you give a lesson but if you watch the video of your lesson you can point out specific examples and ideas you might fix or improve on for next time. I think that lesson study is an effective way of improving your lessons and teaching.