Strategies
Students will be arranged in cooperative groups, which will contain four students. Each student will have roles depending upon the lesson activity. If students are working on individual assignments, they are still allowed to collaborate by assisting each other in understanding how to complete the activity or solve the given problems. The class structure is divided into six parts. The class agenda schedule is Homework/Pre-Requisites Skill Review, Problem-Solving, Focus Lesson, Exploration Problem(s), and Reflections.
The lessons will begin with homework or prerequisites skills review for approximately the first ten minutes of class. Afterwards, a fifteen minute problem-solving period will follow. The problem-solving time frame allows the students to focus on one problem-solving strategy, which will assist students in solving the investigation and exploration problems that will be focused on during the Focus Lesson. The problem-solving strategy is another important component of the daily lesson routine, because most of the students are able to solve a problem but when it comes to "word problems" they seem to misunderstand the overall question and do not choose the best answer. During the problem-solving strategy period, only one problem relevant to the lesson will be examined.
The heart of the class period is based on the focus lesson. The focus lesson is divided into five parts that should flow. During this time, the teacher is mainly a facilitator. The focus lesson should start with scaffolding, an engagement period. The engagement frame is when students are surveying the activity and discussing how they should tackle the lesson. In most cases, a question is posed to the class, and students are brainstorming for ideas. The scaffolding is then followed by an exploration. During the exploration phase, students are collaboratively working on completing an investigation activity. The investigation is usually a hands-on activity that requires students to work in groups or with a partner. Thirdly, I will introduce the lesson to my students. At this time, the class is no longer working collaboratively, but as a whole group. During this phase I am explaining new problems to the class. The discussion usually consists of me explaining what type of algebraic problems we are now working on, why they are important to know or relevant to the activity, and how to solve the problems, by explaining, in detail, each step. Once the explanation phase is over, the class moves into the elaboration phase. For the duration of the elaboration phase, I check the students for understanding. This phase is more of a guided practice period, where we work through several examples. The fifth phase of the focus lesson is the evaluation phase. At this moment I usually give students a pop quiz. The pop quiz can be turning in a given problem where they must work independently, or I can randomly pull names from the "Go-Around Cup" (the cup consists of each student name on a Popsicle stick) and ask questions pertaining to the lesson.
The fifth part of the agenda consists of exploration problems. Generally the exploration problems are no more than ten. Keep in mind this is more of a practice segment based on the lesson activity for the students, and not a "drill and kill" section.
Reflection will be given at the end of class. The reflection sector can be used in several ways. This section is based on time and the extent of the lesson given. It can be done orally or written. If it is done orally, I usually ask a student to explain what he or she learned today. Some students will be detailed and some are too general. I use this time to assess which students understand the lesson and enjoyed it, because they can be very vocal when they are speaking their opinions. In some instances, the reflection period is written. The questions or statements can range from "Today, I learned…"or they can be asked to explain how to solve a problem in narrative form, which is usually difficult for the average eighth grader.
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