4.2 Analyzing Learners' Learning

Reflect on your lesson following your lesson presentation/enacted teaching. Similar to the pre-instructional planning section and the instructional sequence, in the post-instructional assessment you are expected to articulate your understanding of effective pedagogical principles as you reflect on analysis and use of learner assessment data, academic language, feedback, learner engagement, and strengths and challenges identified within the lesson.

The post-instructional assessment is divided into two sections. In section one (Analyzing Learners' Learning), your reflection should focus on decisions you made in your planning and the presentation of your lesson that affected student learning. In other words, think about how learners performed based on your planning decisions and lesson presentation.

Questions to answer in this section of the Post Instructional Assessment form:

What were the patterns of learners’ understanding, skills, and misunderstandings as shown in the assessment data in relation to identified standards and learning objectives?  (Include data to support your analysis.)

Look back at the stated objective(s) for the lesson and determine whether learners have met the objective(s). If so, you must state evidence to support this conclusion. If learners did not meet the objective(s), you should include recommendations for further student understanding/reteaching opportunities. Discuss why some learners may have met the objective(s) while others may not have met the objectives. Although learners may have met the objectives, you should also determine whether the lesson was too simple or too advanced for the designated grade level, including a rationale for this decision.

Reflection Example

Learners clearly understood how to solve story problems when presented with a pictorial representation. This is supported by the correct answers that I observed on the whiteboards. The learners were confident and quick in their responses and were able to accurately represent the story problems between 1 and 10 with chips on a whiteboard. When guided, learners were also able to write the equation for the story problem that they had completed.

Learners were able to complete the addition worksheets and dot-to-dot worksheets with 100% accuracy, which demonstrates their knowledge of single digit numbers and recognizing and ordering numbers 1-20.

One misunderstanding was presented in distinguishing between addition and subtraction signs. The learners did not know what “addition” meant at first, so we discussed it using the calendar equations that they completed every day. They knew what “plus” was, so I used “plus” and “addition” interchangeably and emphasized the commonality of those terms. The learners did not seem to struggle as much with subtraction. After hearing and saying the phrases “addition sign” and “subtraction sign” a few times, the learners started to catch on, but at the end of the lesson when they were asked again, they struggled to remember what each sign was.

Another misunderstanding was presented when the learners were asked to create their own story problem after they had completed their worksheets. The learners who completed this activity created an equation rather than a story problem. I briefly corrected this misunderstanding during the closure, but the learners still need more support in understanding what a story problem is.

Describe evidence that learners understood and used identified academic language.

Look back at the academic language demands you had determined your learners would need to receive and produce to be successful in your lesson. What evidence do you have that demonstrates student understanding of this academic language? (Give specific examples.) What general and discipline specific words did the learners use? Not use? Were the supports you had planned for success? Why or why not? What academic language forma nd function need further exposure in future lessons?

Reflection Example

Learners were able to produce an addition sign and a subtraction sign with their bodies. They were also able to tell a neighbor what each sign meant. They used phrases such as “addition is plus” and “subtraction is take-away.”

Learners fully comprehend the idea of adding and solving. When presented with an equation or a story problem and they are told to solve it, they are very quick to know what to do. They have not yet started using the words “adding” and “solving,” but they do seem to understand what they mean.

What next steps are needed to provide targeted support to learners (who did not meet or exceeded the objectives) relative to the central focus, standards, learning objectives, and the assessment data?

 For learners who did not meet the objective(s), provide an action plan for how they could potentially meet the objective(s). Include subject matter, teacher support, materials, and motivational strategies. Remember, targeted instruction means designing next instructional steps to meet the specific identified needs of both the large group as well as individual learners.

For learners who exceeded the objectives, provide an action plan for how enrichment opportunities could be made available that those learners could benefit. Did you include extensions for the closure section? Were they used? Include subject matter, teacher support, materials, and higher level thinking opportunities.

Reflection Example 1

Targeted Practice

To support CM’s reading and writing, I will continue to provide quality instruction for the entire class. This includes explicit instruction for vocabulary, reading strategies, and phonics patterns. I also will continue to provide authentic learning experiences that help learners stay motivated and make discoveries on their own. To teach to CM’s specific strengths and needs, I will be intentional about my grouping for small group instruction and cooperative learning groups. As I normally do, I will continue to group CM with learners who have similar needs so that I can effectively teach them in a small group. CM will not always be with the same learners, as all learners have unique needs and are stronger in some areas and have greater needs in others. When the learners work in groups, I will place CM with learners who have skills that can support his needs as well as learners who have needs that CM can support with his strengths. These groups will help to push CM in areas where he struggles but also show him his success as he is able to help others.

Fluency and retelling are two needs that were most significant to me in analyzing CM’s assessment data. In this classroom, we already use Reader’s Theater as a fluency strategy. This strategy works because the learners read the same text several times as “practice” for the play, which makes reading more fluent as learners are more familiar with the text. I also will begin to support CM’s fluency by using choral reading and partner reading in the classroom. Reading as a group, either as a class or with a partner, helps learners read with better fluency as they must read along with others and can listen to others for support in unfamiliar words. I also feel that CM’s fluency is limited by his focus on “sounding out” words as he reads. I will soon create a “Word Wall” in the classroom where I will display second grade level high-frequency words and important vocabulary that we have discussed in class. The benefits of this wall are three-fold: seeing the words on the wall will remind CM of when we talked about them and will support his vocabulary learning; seeing the words frequently will help him to “picture” the words in his mind and spell them correctly, and he can reference the wall for spelling support; CM will also see the words frequently and recognize them more quickly in different texts, which will allow him to read them without “sounding out” and thus read with better fluency.

I think that CM’s difficulty with retelling shows that he needs support in comprehension. Some specific strategies that I will utilize in the classroom are role-play and graphic organizers. Role-play will require the learners to really internalize what happened in the stories read in order to recreate them. Learners will have a deeper understanding of a story after they have “lived” it. Graphic organizers are a great way to take texts and organize the main ideas to show the general purpose of the text and how the details work together. There are many types of graphic organizers depending on the type of text being read.

Reflection Example 2

Learners still need to know the difference between a story problem and an equation. When I prompted learners to create their own story problem towards the end of the lesson, they all created an equation. The terminology for addition and subtraction and their respective signs should also continue to be emphasized. At the end of the lesson, some of the learners were able to demonstrate the addition and subtraction signs, but not all were. Because about half of the class was not successful in demonstrating the correct sign, this aspect should be reviewed and emphasized in a future lesson.

The two learners who are excelling in their math abilities were able to complete the story problems with ease. These learners should continue to be challenged by having them solve a different part of the story problem by giving them the starting number of objects and then the final amount. They could also be asked to solve the problem if each object represented a different number of objects. For example, if each single triangle represented 10 triangles, how many triangles would there be. The student that I asked to complete this problem was not given enough time to work on this problem and was not given enough instruction, but I believe that he could be challenged further in this area.

Describe the specific feedback you gave the learners to further guide their learning. How were learners able to use the feedback you provided?  (Describe the specific opportunity for their application of the feedback.)

Look back at the feedback you had planned to give learners throughout and at the culmination of your lesson. Were you able to follow through with your plan? Why or why not? Did you modify your feedback as the lesson progressed? Why or why not? Give specific examples of ways you were able to see learners use your feedback. How could your feedback have been more effective in prompting comprehension of the subject matter or extending the learning beyond this particular lesson?

Reflection Example

When learners answered questions, I usually responded with “Let’s see if that is correct.” I would then work out the problem on the SMARTboard and we would arrive at the correct answer. When we were practicing showing the addition and subtraction signs with our bodies, I would have the learners show me the sign and then I would give them the correct sign. When learners added two numbers, I let them think of an answer, represent it on their fingers, and then I did it on my fingers to demonstrate the correct answer. They were then able to check their answer against mine. I also gave them specific feedback by sharing what was correct and why it was correct with their addition and subtraction signs and their story problems. If their work was not correct, I shared why it was not correct and how it could be improved.

As I looked at the answers on their whiteboards and chips, I also affirmed their correct answers and gave them the correct answer. The learners were able to look at my correct answer and observe the changes they made. As I reflect on this point, I realize that I should have made this point more clear. Next time I teach a lesson, I will be sure to have learners look at their answer, compare it to the correct answer, and talk about any necessary changes.

I also corrected the learners’ worksheets and put a sticker at the top if they completed it. Though learners completed the work sheet with 100% accuracy, I shared what they had done correctly, and how we could build on this in the future with other work on addition.