Teaching Workshop #1
On Friday, March 11, 2023, I visited Miss Formaggioni’s 4th-grade class to guest teach a 4th-grade math lesson on Multiplication at Expeditionary Learning Academy at Moylan School (ELAMS). Prior to my workshop, I visited Miss Formaggioni’s class to get a sense of the class and to see what workshop topics would be most helpful and beneficial for their learning. During my first visit, Miss Formaggioni explained to me that her students were having difficulty with their multiplication tables. At the time, her class was working on long division and she explained that because they had trouble with multiplication, it was hard for her students to get the hang of what she was currently teaching them. She said that a lesson on Multiplication would be helpful for her class and help them get the hang of what they were currently learning.
The learning objectives of my lesson were as follows:
- Students will be able to solve single-digit multiplication problems in the 6,7,8,9 tables
- Students will demonstrate their learning by creating their own multiplication problems
These objectives were created with the National Math Standard in mind which states that students in Grades 3–5 are expected to develop fluency in adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing whole numbers in terms of Computation/Computing fluently.
The Guiding Question for my lesson was as follows:
- How can we use multiplication to make tools for Steve and Alex?
The goal is for students to practice multiplication when doing the Journey Guide. The Journey Guide is essentially a worksheet with word problems about the Minecraft characters, Steve and Alex. The Journey Guide has questions about Steve and Alex and the number of materials they will need to “craft” a variety of tools. Different tools have a different number of materials needed to “craft them”. I created a “Recipe Guide” for students which is a list of different tools they can create and the number of materials needed to “craft” them. The recipes in the guide are only for one singular tool. Since they (Steve and Alex) are making various tools in the questions I created, they will plug these numbers into their multiplication equation and will solve for the total number of materials needed.
My lesson plan which I carried out was the following:
Launch
I started by grabbing the class’s attention by talking to them about Minecraft. I asked them if they have ever played the game and for those who did not, I explained how the game works. I used the Minecraft Multiplication slides I created to guide me through the launch. I explained how you use materials in Minecraft to make tools such as a shovel, pickaxe, axe, armor, etc. I did this to get the students engaged and excited about the activity they were going to be doing.
Activity
I was originally going to have students draw a random number and be partnered up with someone random. I wasn’t able to do this because prior to filming, Miss Formaggioni told me that only 9 of the 21 students in her class signed the video consent form. Because I didn’t want students who didn’t fill out the form in the video, I set the camera facing the front of the room and only captured one row of students. I had students who filled out the form sit at the front to appear in the video and the rest sat down behind those rows. Students were partnered with the students sitting next to them. I went around the room and had students choose a character for their poster. Students each received a colored pencil with colors different from the one their partner had. Students were then asked to write their names on the poster paper with the colored pencil they received and were told that the colored pencil was the only thing they were allowed to write with. Students received the Minecraft Multiplication Recipe Guide/Journey Guide as well as a piece of poster paper that they did the activity on. I helped students get started by doing the first question on the Journey Guide together.
With their partners, students solved the Journey Plan problems and wrote their equations on poster paper. After they solved and answered the problems on the Journey guide, students had the opportunity to come up with their own word problems and equations. Students received cutouts of the tools they made as a reward for completing the activity/problems on the Journey Guide. They were able to glue them on their poster along with their character.
Challenge Inequity
Minecraft is a very popular video game. While there might be a few students who have not played it or are familiar with it, I made sure to include the crafting recipes by making a guide. This way, students who are not familiar with the game know how to “make” tools that you would make in the actual game. Students who have never played Minecraft were able to enjoy and have fun with the activity as well!
Assessment
Students proved that they understood the material by completing the assignment. Upon starting, students received a colored pencil that was a different color from their partner’s. They were asked to write their name with their colored pencil on the sheet of paper. Once students completed the assessment/activity, they were assessed on their participation and completion of the activity. Since students were writing with different colors, they were able to be individually assessed. Most students finished the activity and made their own word problems and put down the equations on their poster paper. Students did this and even made more than three in order to receive cut-outs of the tools so they could glue them next to or on their character. I was really happy to see this. Going around the room there were a few students who didn’t know how to multiply and I did my best to explain what multiplication was. Although I didn’t capture any of the posters the students made on camera, I saw a lot of learning going on. One pair of students did a good job demonstrating they were learning by writing and labeling the number of tools they needed and the number of materials needed to make a tool. They then labeled the answer with “x needed to make x tools”.
Reflection
Overall, I believe my lesson went pretty well! For it being my first lesson, I think I did a good job going in and talking to students. I was a bit nervous before going into the classroom but quickly realized once I started teaching that there was no reason to be nervous. The kids were great and they were very interested in the activity. I really believe the students enjoyed the activity because, at the end of the lesson, one of the kids asked me if I would be coming back. I replied and said that I would and they asked me when. I let all the kids know that I would be coming back in a few weeks and they were very excited at the thought of me coming back. This showed me that they liked the lesson and this makes me want to make the next lesson I plan as interesting and fun as this one.
Although the lesson went very well overall in terms of students doing the activity and enjoying it, there were also some things that caught me off guard while teaching. While going around the classroom and helping students, quite a few of them needed help with the second question of the Journey Guide which was the following:
- Steve and Alex will be mining a lot. Alex thinks she will need 7 pickaxes for the entire journey.
- If Alex needs 7 pickaxes, how many iron bricks will she need to make them? Write your equations on the poster paper.
Students (2 groups) had trouble with this question because they didn’t know how to multiply 7×3. They had the equation 7×3 on their poster paper but didn’t know how to multiply. I explained to these students that multiplication is simply adding a certain number, in this instance, 7, and adding it a certain number of times, in this instance, 3, so they were doing 7+7+7. This made it easier for them to understand. Everyone else had no trouble multiplying. Something else that was unexpected was the difficulty that students who didn’t speak Spanish had following the launch. I had one group of students who spoke Spanish and one was interpreting her best for the other. Once I explained the activity in Spanish to them individually, they got the point of the activity.
For this lesson, students strengthened their understanding of multiplication, specifically their 6,7,8,9 tables. Prior to making this lesson, Miss Formaggioni explained that her class needed help with their multiplication tables because she was having a hard time teaching her class how to do long division. In order to understand and do long division, it is important to be familiar with the multiplication tables. My activity had word problems that made students think about what equation was needed in order to find out how much material Steve and Alex needed to make a certain number of tools. I made sure that these questions focused on the 6,7,8,9 tables since students tend to have more difficulty with them. Many students did a good job completing the word problems in the journey guide and even came up with some of their own!
Some improvements I could definitely improvise when teaching my next lesson is time management. I went a few minutes over the 40 minutes I had but I’m sure that I will be able to time things right the next time I do my activities/lesson. Something major I will definitely do next time is capture student learning. Toward the end of my lesson, because most students had finished the activity, it was a bit chaotic and a lot of students started moving around. I had to pack up and talk to Miss Formaggioni and completely forgot to take pictures of the student’s posters. This is something I will keep close in mind for next time.
Sources
Minecraft Wiki
https://minecraft.fandom.com/wiki/Minecraft_Wiki