Use of Class Time
This week in the classroom, I had to take notice what Ms. Resourceful does as well as what the students do in the 50 minutes of class time. As class time goes on, I notice how much time is spent on reviewing homework or answering questions during a lecture.
You can find the schedule in this link: Use of Class Time
The day before this particular day, Ms. Resourceful had a substitute teacher take over the class while she had some things to do. So, this particular day was mainly for review before the test just to see where the students struggled and where they excelled in this topic. Before the class starts, Ms. Resourceful set up the available technology per her students' needs while students are entering the classroom and taking their seats. When class starts, Ms. Resourceful starts class by asking if there are any problems on the homework that the students have. I think going over a problem or two would help some students understand what is going on, but it hinders other students' learning if they already understand the mathematics being presented in the homework. Then, students had questions on the take-home worksheet. Most of class time was around going over homework and the worksheet with only 10 minutes to start a lecture. However, it was a facilitated 10 minutes with students as they were instructed to take notes and help with examples by Ms. Resourceful, which helped more students with why an answer was right and if there was another one they could give pertaining to that particular problem.
The use of class time is very important to a student's learning experience while in the classroom. I hope to use class time appropriately according to how students are most successful. Going over homework problems are great to do, but I would not want to take more than 10 minutes going over a few problems in order to not hinder student learning in the lesson. I would have a few volunteers to help explain solutions to a problem. If there are no volunteers, then I would call on different groups to see if there is an answer that a group of students came up with. The class would be more or less exploring for a couple minutes on chosen problems that would facilitate learning and creative answers.
You can find the schedule in this link: Use of Class Time
The day before this particular day, Ms. Resourceful had a substitute teacher take over the class while she had some things to do. So, this particular day was mainly for review before the test just to see where the students struggled and where they excelled in this topic. Before the class starts, Ms. Resourceful set up the available technology per her students' needs while students are entering the classroom and taking their seats. When class starts, Ms. Resourceful starts class by asking if there are any problems on the homework that the students have. I think going over a problem or two would help some students understand what is going on, but it hinders other students' learning if they already understand the mathematics being presented in the homework. Then, students had questions on the take-home worksheet. Most of class time was around going over homework and the worksheet with only 10 minutes to start a lecture. However, it was a facilitated 10 minutes with students as they were instructed to take notes and help with examples by Ms. Resourceful, which helped more students with why an answer was right and if there was another one they could give pertaining to that particular problem.
The use of class time is very important to a student's learning experience while in the classroom. I hope to use class time appropriately according to how students are most successful. Going over homework problems are great to do, but I would not want to take more than 10 minutes going over a few problems in order to not hinder student learning in the lesson. I would have a few volunteers to help explain solutions to a problem. If there are no volunteers, then I would call on different groups to see if there is an answer that a group of students came up with. The class would be more or less exploring for a couple minutes on chosen problems that would facilitate learning and creative answers.
I agree that the use of class time is so vital to a student's experience. I think that having volunteers participate during the homework section is a great way to break up lecture time. I could have been helpful if Ms. Resourceful had used her time more wisely to allow students to collaborate and actually learn a new lesson. But, I suppose class time almost never goes as we plan for it to! Nevertheless, I like your idea of an exploratory time for students and time for students to contribute/participate. I wonder if the students have a difficult time staying engaged in a lecture style such as this. Thank you for sharing your thoughts, Kelsey!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your observations, Kelsey. One thing that stands out to me is that your CT set up the needed technology right away. I think that is a good way to be prepared, technology can either really help or really slow down class. Since she had a sub, that seems like a good thing to do...or have a couple students in charge who know what is needed. How do you think you'd make a decision on homework problems...which ones to go over...how to go over them? It would be interesting to try a couple different ways and then evaluate for time and student learning.
ReplyDelete