Favorite Things
This
week, I had the pleasure of observing a math lesson in Hailee’s 5th
grade class. Students were reviewing the concept of volume by “filling in the grid”
of 6 sections their paper was divided into.
Hailee had strewn a bunch of 3”x5” cards in a corner of the carpet, each
with a volume problem on it. Students picked up one card at a time, figured out
the problem in one section of their paper, then returned the card to the carpet
and chose another.
When
Hailee and I met, I invited her to reflect: “What stands out as you think back
on that lesson?” I asked.
Hailee
first mentioned how much students loved getting up to pick their problems; she
was surprised by how engaging this was. “I could have just given them a
worksheet with six problems,” she said, “Because that’s actually what they did.”
“Yes!”
I agreed. “That was brilliant! Not only did it give them an authentic
opportunity for movement, which always helps with attention, it also provided
an element of choice. Since the problems were at different levels of difficulty,
it gave students an opportunity to self-differentiate.”
“I
hadn’t thought about that differentiation piece,” Hannah said. She continued, “I think I’ll do something like
this again. I could use it to give students problems to practice about anything!”
Again,
I agreed, and extended that idea: “You could really adapt this idea for any
content area. Now that you’ve taught the routine, it would be easy to
replicate. You wouldn’t want to do it too often, of course, but what a great activity
to have in your students’ repertoire!”
As
Hailee continued reflecting, she mentioned that she felt she’d given clear
directions for the activity. Since this was a goal we’d previously set
together, it was definitely something to celebrate! Not only had Hailee given clear directions, before
sending them off to work, she’d asked if students had any questions. This was
part of why the activity went so smoothly. Hailee’s comment about procedures
gave me this opportunity to highlight something else I’d noticed. I emphasized
that she had provided not only clear explanations for the activity, but also a
clear explanation of the mathematical procedure of determining volume.
This
discussion led right into the next point I had hoped to bring up. “There were
so many great things about the lesson,” I said, “but my favorite thing was your
focus on meaning.”
I
noticed how attentive Hailee got as I said the words, “my favorite thing.” I
noticed how the corners of her mouth quickly turned up in a smile. I paused for
just a second to let that feeling sink in – for both of us. Hailee nodded.
Then
I went on to recall what Hailee had done as she monitored students’ progress. In the midst of the activity, Hailey called
for students’ attention, and she said she’d noticed that some students were
leaving off the units in their answers. “These aren’t just numbers,” Hailee
said. “They mean something.” She then went on to name and describe some of the
units in the problems: inches, feet, centimeters. “If we multiply 6 cm X 10 cm
by 2 cm, we don’t just get 120. We get 120 centimenters.” She grabbed a
ruler and showed them the centimeter markings. “The numbers mean something,” Hailee
repeated.
Not
only did I love the way Hailee drew attention to the meaning of units in
volume, I loved the way she responded when I said, “My favorite thing…” I
decided to try that again when I had a chance.
My
next post-observation conversation was with Isabelle. In Isabelle’s case,
discussing positive aspects of the lesson was especially important because she’d
felt insecure about the lesson overall, but couldn’t really say why. What she needed most was a confidence boost. We discussed
several positive aspects of the lesson. “We can see that students were really
learning,” I said, as we looked at student work. “And that’s the bottom line. I’d say it was a successful lesson!”
I
summarized our discussion so far and then added, like I had with Hailee, about
my favorite thing. For Isabelle’s lesson, it was connected to classroom
management. “So many great things,” I
said. “I’m surprised you didn’t feel confident about the lesson. But my favorite thing was the way you expected
full participation. You quickly
re-engaged students whose attention wandered by just saying their name or
asking them a quick question. You used the
agree/disagree gesture as an all-respond throughout the lesson that kept
everyone participating.” As with Hailee,
Isabelle’s eyes lit up at the mention of “my favorite thing.” She nodded and made a note as I continued the
explanation.
I
think I’ve added a new “favorite thing” to my own repertoire! Saying that
something is a “favorite thing” draws attention to a practice in a way that is
likely to be memorable and foster ongoing use.
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Hooray!!!
My new book, Differentiated Mentoring &
Coaching in Education: From Preservice Teacher to Expert Practitioner is a fall release from
Teachers College Press! I’m so excited
to share it with you! During September, you can use the code: OCTA2022 for
15% off plus FREE SHIPPING. Click here and I’ll email you the free
Book Group Study Guide that
includes questions, prompts, and activities you can use as you share the
book with colleagues. I hope you’ll love
this book as much as I loved making it for you!
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