Return to Multiplication and Division Lesson

SBTE Evaluation

              On October 13, 2005, I taught my math lesson on multiplication and division. I taught it in Ms. G’s third grade class. Overall, I think the lesson went fairly well for my first lesson. My lesson was designed to be the students’ first introduction into division, so for the purpose of this lesson, I tried to show the connection between multiplication and division to help them better understand. I used word problems to introduce situations where they would either multiply or divide, identify what kind of math situation it is, and correctly answer the problem by drawing pictures to illustrate the problem.

            My biggest snag hit when I wanted to hand out the linker cubes for the third math problem. I didn’t want to hand out the linker cubes until it was time to use them so the students wouldn’t play with them during the lesson. However, when I went to hand them out (I had them each arranged in a row of 15), some of the linker cubes fell from my arms and crashed onto the floor. It took me a while to get the linker cubes together and get the class focused again.

            If I was to do this lesson again, I would place 15 linker cubes in a small box or bag, this way, I could avoid dropping them and keep the class focused on the lesson.

Overall, this has been one of my favorite lessons to teach this semester, and I feel it went rather well.

            My SBTE, Ms. G, gave me some comments and suggestions for my lesson. She thought it was a well-planned lesson and she liked how I used manipulatives in the lesson. She also liked how I used the strategies “draw a picture” and “think aloud”. She also said she really liked it when I had the students verbally explain how they got their answers. She did have some suggestions for improvement for me. She told me I need to improve my classroom management skills and I need to project my voice more. I also need to make sure I have everyone’s attention before I begin a lesson.