Planning Instruction and Designing Learning Experiences for All Students
Planning lessons for my math classes is important and must be done meticulously so that the mathematical concepts I am teaching are accessible and comprehensible to all of my students. As I am crafting lessons, I keep the content, my students, as well as their interests and needs, in mind in order to plan effectively and differentiate as I see fit. I do this so my lessons are engaging and accessible. I want all of my students to learn and more learning occurs when lessons are geared specifically towards the students I am teaching.
Before planning instruction, I think about who my students are. During the first week of school, I give each student an interest inventory. I also check to see who has a 504 plan and/or IEP plan, and who my English Language Learners are. Furthermore, I want to know about their attitude towards math and what they are passionate about in life. My job as an educator is to know how each student needs to be taught. If I know how a student needs to be taught, I can maximize their learning by teaching to their needs. That being said, in building curriculum, designing lessons, and building units, I keep in mind my students’ needs. A few ways I differentiate in order to meet my students’ needs include: giving extra time on assignments and assessments, giving written directions, using visuals, and having check-ins.
I recognize that not every student learns the same, so I like to create lessons and units that are geared towards all types of learners. I incorporate different class activities that allow students to interact with the mathematical concepts I am teaching in different ways. For my auditory learners, I tend to use repetition in my lectures. I also have students finish my sentences and answer my open ended questions to further discussions. For my kinesthetic learners, I like to use manipulatives so concepts become more tactile and concrete. For example, while teaching about rotation symmetry and lines of symmetry, I gave my students cut outs of different shapes that they were able to rotate and fold. For my visual learners, I use visuals in guided notes and powerpoints to enhance their learning.
Lastly, in building curriculum and designing lessons, I love to use my personal knowledge of my students to create lesson specifically for them. In a unit on solving systems of equations, I created a worksheet that allowed my students to choose where we were going on a class trip. I did this because I knew some of my students love to travel. Creating simple activities like this engages my students by tapping into their interests.
Combining my knowledge of my students and my ability to create lesson plans and units that are accessible to all of my students and their needs helps me deliver strong instruction and stimulating learning experiences for my students.