Reflection
Learners are getting more confident sharing their mathematical ideas in group settings. A big focus in maths is still to encourage all learners in the group to participate in learning conversations. I believe that in time this will happen. It will require teaching of talk moves, as explained in the extended plan. It will require strategies to be taught to those learners who are sharing their ideas openly. These learners will need to be taught strategies to support them in recognising when someone in the group requires encouragement.
I am still developing knowledge in how to best set up the cameras for filming. I found that in this lesson, the microphone was not on the correct setting, which meant some conversations and ideas were more difficult to hear than others. I feel that the camera angles are still not strongly capturing the 'classroom' feel. In a lot of the shots, it was not clear to see what was happening in the rest of the class.
Through filming and watching how the classroom is, I feel that there is still a lot of distractions to learners. There are a couple of possible reasons for this:
A need to better set up the 'independent tasks' with all learners before I send them off.
A need to 'check in' with the rest of the class at set times while I am working with particular groups.
Clearer expectations of noise levels - better ways of managing this.
Finally, throughout this lesson, I found that I was asking questions of the same learners - those who I knew would show understanding of the concept or were very close to understanding the concept, yet needed a bit more encouragement. I need to ensure I ask questions of those learners who are sitting quietly and listening, or who are confused. I need to be thinking more about how I can encourage those learners who do not understand so they get the opportunity to share their ideas in a safe setting.
