Foundation Phase - Shayer Lesson Reflection from a UNW Potchefstroom Newly Qualified Teacher

 

Mentee's own lesson reflection

The lesson went well however there are a few things that stood out for me:

• Student's attention:  Their concentration and cooperation was not a hundred percent which is one of the things that had an impact on their learning.
• The state that the student's are in plays a role:  In this case they went hiking (physical education) and after physical education it was lunch.  We then continued with the Maths lesson and this had a huge impact on their concentration level.  The children were tired and it was difficult to get their attention.
• Me giving a Shayer lesson for the first time: It was a challenge to think of ways to pose questions because if I tried breaking down the question into easier statements or questions, I felt like I was giving the answers away. This was identified when the students didn't understand the questions I prepared/planned.
• The lesson was a success because the students reached the lesson objectives/outcomes. However, Episode 2 was only partly understood.
• The problems I identified with Episode 2 is the types of groupings the students chose. Most of the students chose groupings of 2 and 3 without thinking of other ways in which the objects could be grouped, such as in groups of 5 and 10. They were concentrating on giving their objects partners, without thinking of different groupings that could be arranged.

Mentor and mentee reflection (together)

•  Students' attention:  Over using certain behaviour strategies makes the strategy lose its impact. In order to get the learners attention, different styles and techniques can be used, such as using some of the strategies from Teach Like A Champion or whole brain teaching by Benjamin Franklin. Using these different styles/techniques will help students to listen attentively.
• Setting clear instructions:  Make sure that the students understand what they have to do. This could be done by asking learners questions based on what you have just asked them to do. Doing this gives the teacher the idea whether the students understand the instructions, or not. There are several ideas that the teacher could use to find out if the students truly understand such as recalling, repeating, etc.
• Reading instructions carefully:  It is always important to read the questions carefully. The outcomes of Episode 2 were partially reached due to the fact of misinterpreting the statement. In this case the students had to be given two identical diagrams in which they identify two types of groupings (grouping objects in two different ways, using the easiest types of groupings such as one in groups of 2's and one in groups of 3's), the objective/outcome was not reached because different diagrams were given to the students to complete. Hence the students came up with only two types of groupings and didn't think of other ways they could group the pictures. They were only concerned about giving each picture a partner.
• Partner work: The students were not interacting with one another, they were working individually rather than in partners. This is due to the fact that students are not used to working in partners and sharing ideas as partners. In order to improve this we should engage students in partner work more often and make them aware of the importance of partner work and listening to one another.
• Time:  The time spent on the lesson plays a role, as a deliberate intervention, aiming to enhance the student' attention and concentration. Try to minimise the length of the lesson by increasing the pace of the lesson, asking only a few learners to give feedback and carry on with the lesson.