Day two... bit more work

A little more "meat" to reflect on today, if that makes any sense.
I "covered" 2R doing multiplication of fractions, including conversion of mixed numbers into "top heavy" fractions (I'm sure that wasn't the phrase we used when I learned this stuff, but no matter). I did a short reminder of how to convert mixed numbers into top heavy fractions (which the absent class teacher had asked me to do) and then set them off on the work she had set for them. Behaviour of the class was nigh on perfect, even the four notorious boys were on task and well behaved: I made a point of praising them for what I gather was uncharacteristic behaviour. However, I can't claim the credit for this - as it was a covered lesson, the principal teacher of maths was in the room and he has a sobering effect on all the potential miscreants. Someone should bottle whatever it is he has, you could make a fortune selling it to student teachers, probationers and probably some more experienced teachers too.
Learning points:
- a large proportion of kids find fractions difficult
- a smaller but significant proportion of kids won't listen to you when you explain something at the board
- not one will stick their hand up and say they don't understand something (so I really ought to stop asking "Is everyone OK with that?" and "Does everyone follow me?" right now)
- it's hard to pick up a topic in the middle when someone else has started it - I was worrying that I was trying to teach different techniques to the ones their regular teacher had used. Which might not sound like a bad thing but (and I refer back to the first learning point) I don't want to confuse them any further
- real life examples are useful, I should have used them more - for instance, when trying to explain why 2 1/3 = 7/3. Pizza slices would have come in handy at that point. However, it was only several hours later that I had a flash of the blindingly obvious and realised that the way to illustrate multiplication of fractions could be through asking how many pizzas someone could eat in a given length of time: if Greedy Graham can eat 1 1/3 pizzas in an hour, how many pizzas could he eat in 2 1/2 hours. That example might need amendment for realism.
I taught 3B myself, to my own plan, introducing them to a new topic about areas and volumes by reminding them about the areas and perimeters of rectangles, triangles and circles. I'll cover the issues I picked up first and then get onto the feedback from the class teacher:
- 32 is a lot of children to keep an eye on and keep on task
- even though they have covered rectangles, triangles and circles several times before, throw all those shapes at them at once tends to flummox them. As a result, we got through what felt like very little during the lesson
- but see also the learning points from 2R: some kids won't listen when you go through examples and won't admit they don't understand until you set them a question to do - and then they immediately need help
- setting out working clearly and consistently is a good thing. I have to get down to their (mathematical) level and not skip the steps I think of as obvious. It's going to take practice, writing out every stage of working and doing it in a consistent fashion every time
- knowing pupils' names is a good thing. It would help me a lot (and make me feel like I'm acting in a fairer manner) if I knew everyone's names - it's too easy to pick people to answer who (a) have their arm up and (b) whose name you know. But this rapidly reduces to a small number of pupils.....
My patient observer added a few other comments (if this appears blunt, it is my fault, the feedback was given in a positive and diplomatic manner; I'm the one reducing it to many fewer words):
- I could have done a better job of establishing what they knew at the start of the lesson instead of jumping straight into revision and maybe getting the level wrong. It also means I means an opportunity for more probing questions rather than the simple "What's the answer to this?" and "Is he/she right?" which I did find myself employing
- I could have used real life examples better and in a more discursive manner. I had intended to but rather messed up by running on too quickly and then having to haul myself back to talking about examples......
- showing working, demonstrating you know all the stages of a calculation, being able to set things out in a consistent manner matters. Not just for the teaching... but also for examinations. Also, I don't tell them exactly when and exactly what I expect them to take notes about. And they need telling, otherwise all they will copy will be my inadequate workings (not inadequate because they are wrong but because I contract two or three steps into one because that's the way I see them). They need to show workings to pick up marks....
Overall the plan for 3B is back to the drawing board... the didn't cover anything like as much as I'd hoped/expected them to so I'm going to have to re-plan tomorrow's lesson.