ADEPT 4.

0 Reflection

This past Friday I taught my ADEPT 4.0 lesson on interpreting graphs (specifically tally

charts, bar graphs, and pictographs) using Standard: 3.MDA.3. As a review from the previous

few days, I played a Flocabulary video about bar graphs. After the video, I had the students

review the three types of graphs we had discussed during the week. The day before I taught this

lesson, the students were asked to create a question they could ask the classroom (example: what

is your favorite ice cream flavor?) and then decide on the top five categories for possible

responses the other students could vote on (example: chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, etc.). Once

the question was created, the table groups took turns walking around the class and collect the

data. On the day I taught, the students were responsible for creating a bar graph and pictograph

representing their collected data as a group. All the student groups completed the activity and I

got to stand up at the end and share their graphs and ask the groups questions about them.

Overall, the lesson was a success. The students responded well to the questions I asked and

seemed genuinely interested as a result of designing their own graphs according to a question

their groups created. Through the process of writing their own questions, the students were able

to bring their own personal interests into the classroom. Students, specifically mine, are more

likely to pay attention to a subject if they are interested in it, therefore, including personal

interests in lesson goes a long way in my classroom. The students all did well on their

assessments and stayed on task during the graphing activity. I was worried about this prior to

teaching, so I am glad they followed directions well and understood the expectations I had laid

out for them before they were dismissed to their table groups. Classroom management can

always improve in my room, it is a continual process. At the beginning of my lesson, I had to

deal with a large behavior issue. After warning a student on the floor multiple times about not

paying attention I told him to go back to his desk. As he was walking

back to his table, he got angry and grabbed his chair and threw it. I immediately left the

carpet and had the student promptly leave my room (he had been warned all day that going to a

different classroom would be his punishment for bad behavior). After this behavior issue, the rest

of the class behaved except for a few minor corrections here and there. In the future I would

explain more clearly why he was going back to his desk in hopes he would not get so angry. If I

taught my lesson again, I would be explicit in demonstrating to my students how to create graphs

on graphing paper because a lot of my students did not understand that there were lines already

drawn for them. I also had plans for the students to create their own questions for the class about

their graphs, but I ran out of time. I would have eliminated the coloring part and tried to shorten

the amount of time the students spent drawing the graphs. To do this I would have put a sheet of

graph paper on the board and I would have personally demonstrated how to use the graph paper.

For Cherrydale Elementary as a whole, I believe that I can be a positive, loving source

within the system. There are many behavior problems at my school and many students who need

direction, kindness, and a positive role model in their life. I have worked to be a teacher who

listens to and loves on the students and the faculty at the school. In my classroom specifically, I

have worked to be an encouragement to Ms. Cruell and an extra hand for remediation and

intervention in our class full of students below grade level. I also have tried to build meaningful

relationships with my students.