Reflection on a Lesson Plan Taught

Virginia Teachers for Tomorrow

Intern Name: Peyton Meiggs

Subject of Lesson: Math
Topic of Lesson: Perimeter
Age/Grade of Students: Third grade
Date of Lesson: 5/13/21
Time/Length of Lesson: 45 mins

Before Teaching:
I determined the subject/topic of the lesson I lead by talking with my cooperating teacher,
Mrs.O, and discussing the subjects that I would be in the classroom for and the units that were
coming up in their curriculum. When I received my lesson plan topic I began by figuring out what
type of perimeter I was going to teach. I taught the perimeter of polygons (squares, rectangles,
triangles) I mostly included rectangles and squares in my lesson. I also talked with Mrs.O about
the type of lesson she wanted me to teach, and I asked her if there was anything specific she
wanted me to include in my lesson. Mrs.O actually sent me her measurement unit google doc,
which had the basics of each lesson she was going to teach, and it had the perimeter lesson on
it. I was able to use this to start my lesson plan by using the given I can statement, essential
questions, objectives, videos, and an activity, this was a huge help when creating my lesson
plan! I was able to talk with three people when I was creating and editing my lesson. My aunt
was a teacher and she was able to help me get started with my lesson and she told me some of
the basics and she gave me some tips to create and execute a very successful lesson! I also
talked with my VTFT teacher, Mrs.F, I showed her and walked her through my completed lesson
plan and she gave me some very good feedback to have a successful lesson. The last person I
talked to was Mrs.O, I talked to her throughout the entire time I was creating my lesson, asking
her questions and using the resources she gave me. By talking to different teachers I was able
to use their feedback on the warm up, activity, and closure to make my lesson plan better.

During Teaching:
When I first started the lesson I was a little nervous, but once I started the lesson and got going
it was smooth sailing, I felt good! The parts of the lesson plan that worked as I anticipated were
the warm up, videos, and the closure activity. I was a little unsure about the activity to start off
because I wasn’t sure how the website, nearpod, that the activity was on worked. The only
adjustment that needed to be made once I began was during the activity since I wasn’t 100%
sure how that part was going to do, I tried some things that I didn’t plan, like having students
come up and show there work, and the number of problems I was going to have them solve
changed, but it worked out great! I feel like I estimated the amount of time that the lesson would
take pretty well, we only went about five minutes over. I estimated it would take about forty
minutes to complete this lesson and it took about forty five minutes to get through the whole
thing. I feel that I anticipated the materials needed very well. I made my lesson plan and google
slides notes very thorough, along with a small notebook of notes I kept near me while doing the
lesson. I also planned the materials the students would need very well, we used all of them and
we did not need to use anything else during the lesson. The students responded very well to
the activities I chose to use! Nearpod was new to them as well, they have used it once before,
and they did very well with the nearpod activity! Many of them raised their hands when I asked
different questions throughout my lesson. I wasn’t very worried about that because I know
that they like to participate in class and they always answer the questions Mrs.O asks. I did not
give the students any assessments or quizzes, but they did have to solve the perimeter
problems on graph paper, which showed me their ability to solve these types of problems. I feel
the students did very well finding the perimeter of different shapes!

After Teaching:
Something that I learned from teaching this lesson that I will use in future lessons is to make the
lesson fun and ask the students many questions and have them make different connections to
the topic of the lesson. I feel that this lesson was a success! It felt very good to teach this, the
students were engaged and participating! By the end of the lesson the students were able to
find the perimeter of shapes and rectangles very well! I was able to see their work from the
activity we did, which showed their understanding of the topic. I spent many hours preparing
for this lesson and they were worth it! The amount of time I spent preparing for my lesson
helped me out so much, it helped the lesson go very smoothly and it helped me know exactly
what came next while I was teaching the lesson. I am so happy that I was able to do this lesson,
it was a great experience for me and really showed me that teaching is something that I would
want to do when I am older. The students made this lesson so awesome! They were all so excited
that “Ms.Peyton” was going to teach them about perimeter and it was so cute and made me so
happy! This lesson was a great success!