Post # 6
11/01/2013


I watched Mrs Shaw use most of the teaching strategies in preparing the students for a math test the last time I was volunteering with the class. I was afraid that with so many strategies it would be difficult for me to witness them in just one hour, however the teacher used many of them frequently.

In regard to Mrs. Shaw's questioning frequency, I estimated that she asked at least two questions every five minutes. The classroom is always ablaze with discussion. Also to cover equitable distribution, the teacher has a jar with popsicle sticks on which the students names are written. I am seeing and hearing about this more frequently and assume it's an easy and effective way of keeping everyone involved equally.

Mrs. Shaw displays withitness the entire time she is working with her class. She is aware of the students who are paying attention as well as the ones who's eyes and voices start to wander. She kept the students actively involved in the math test review by having them gather whiteboards and work with a partner to answer the questions which they would write on the white boards and hold up to compare answers with the other students. The wait time between questions and answers was between twenty to thirty seconds. This also allowed the students to write and check their answers. When a pair of students had the wrong answer written down, then teacher used prompting to help them check their answer. Usually they had simply misplaced the decimal point. but rather than just pointing that out, Mrs. Shaw had them "check their answer" or "look again at the decimals". The teacher gave feedback in a broad spectrum rather than singling out any of the students, and she closed up with a brief review of how to count and place the decimal.

I was glad to have been in the class for the test review and to watch the students take the test. It was a wonderful and perfect scenario for me to see so many teaching strategies  used together.