Tracey Driedger

Dr. Richelle Marynowski

EDUC 3601 Group F
February 3, 2016

Picturing Slope
Overall our microteach lesson on slope went really well. Our students were impressed by the
activity and the higher level thinking that it facilitated. They also thought the scaffolding that occurred
to reach our objective from the pre-assessment activity to the exit slip was well tiered.
I thought that the structure of our lesson was very effective in the freedom that it allowed
students to explore, while at the same time allowing for triangulation of evidence and a variety of
adjustments reflecting student understanding. It also facilitated great discussion at multiple points,
caused the students to seek each others input and strategies, and gave us as teachers the freedom to
inquire after individual student understanding and processing.
The content of our lesson seemed to interest and motivate our students. They engaged quickly
in the exploration as well as the group discussions both before and after. I think the amount of content
that we aimed to cover was feasible and well contained within the lesson providing that previous
lessons scaffolded well to this point. To execute this lesson in an actual tenth grade classroom, I think
that we would have to more clearly define the parameters regarding student interaction in the different
activities (individual, paired or group work). In the context of only four students, we allowed a lot of
freedom as to how they completed their Freyer Models and coulee explorations which I think could
have distracted from the inquiry activities of a larger group. Also, a teachable moment about undefined
slope was brought to our attention, which we had not anticipated and so were not entirely prepared to
use the opportunity to its greatest extent.
Our organization for the lesson permitted it to flow smoothly and allowed for little distraction.
We were well prepared with the materials and visuals to explain and equip our students. One of the
comments we received was that we had, Great transition between activities perfect flow. While this
is very encouraging I do recognize some adjustments that would definitely have to occur for this lesson
to be implemented well by a single teacher for many students.
Based on the execution of our lesson and the feedback from our students, to teach this lesson
on my own to an actual tenth grade class, I would have gathered a little more background information
and examples, considered their interests in constructing the problem, and streamlined the organization
slightly more intentionally. In gathering more background information, I would prepare myself for
conversations surrounding undefined slopes, as well as the history of slope. It was brought to our
attention that the context for finding slope in the ancient world was farming and irrigation, which could
provide an interesting introduction or side note for students interested in history or agriculture. In
framing the inquiry based on my students interests there are multiple contexts that could be used,
including building roofs or the ocean floor. For the lesson implementation by a single teacher, the
posted instructions would need to be shortened or posted such that the teacher does not have to write
them. I also would have explained the exploration more explicitly and questioned my students more
deeply to ensure understanding so that I would not have to answer repeated questions. One final
adjustment that could be made purely on location and orientation of the classroom would be for
students to tape the transparencies on classroom windows and find slopes in the environment outside
the windows.
 I was very satisfied with the information we gathered through the assessments throughout our
lesson. By the end of the lesson, we had two written evidences, many openings for conversations guided
by intentional questions and continual opportunities for observation of student learning. Through the
Freyer Model we were able to begin the lesson at the appropriate place for the majority of our students
as well as identify any students who needed additional support. The discussions and questioning helped
us identify any concepts that required further elaboration or clarification for certain students or the
class as a whole in addition to gaging the time that the inquiry was going to take. The final exit slip was
an opportunity for us to gain solid evidence of how many students achieved the end goal. If necessary
we could ask them to put their names to identify individual student understanding.
Based on our assessment, our students mastered the understanding of slope as a characteristic
of line segments and the relationship between slope and rate of change. Thus, the focus of my next
lesson could be how to describe and represent these linear relations using words, ordered pairs or
tables of values. Alternatively, we could talk about parallel and perpendicular lines, since some of the
students found hills with the same and reciprocal slopes.