I Got 99 Problems (and this lesson could be one)

If you are an Ariana Grande fan, you are probably familiar with the song Problem - which can be connected to teaching methods (kinda)!

This week our teaching methods lab focused on the problem approach. We were tasked with creating a lesson that utilized one of the four problem-based approaches: forked road, possibilities factors, situations to be improved, and effect-cause. I chose to use the possibilities factor approach in the context of my hardscaping unit. 

To walk you through the steps of the problem approach in the context of my lesson:

1. The class experienced a provocative situation - a scenario about a family who wanted to design a patio

2. Then, they defined the problem - to build the family a patio to fit their needs at the cheapest cost possible

3. They were given additional information - the family asked that 100 ft2 be developed, 2 different building materials be used, and 3 fun additional items be chose (wall, fire pit, pizza oven, benches, etc.)

4. For 10 minutes, students worked in groups of two to formulate and test possible solutions 

5. When time was up, students were evaluated using a rubric that included points for price, customer satisfaction, and creativity. 

Here is a copy of the worksheet and rubric I used during this lesson. 

When I reflect on how I executed the lesson, two areas for improvement come to mind. First, I overplanned my time. I was so excited that we were given 20 minutes for this lab (versus 10 minutes for previous labs) and tried to do too much in too little time. Towards the end, I felt like I was rushing students through the evaluation portion of the lesson. However, I do think this lesson would fit within a 42 minute class period, so I am excited to try this again during student teaching. 

Second, my directions could be more clear. Teaching online, presents a unique challenge and this week I realized in the moment that I could only share one screen at a time, whereas if I were in person I could hold up a worksheet and explain it while presenting a PowerPoint slide on the board to help clarify information. Additionally, even though the directions are crystal clear in my mind, when the words come out of my mouth they become muddled, and when students hear them they becomes even more muddled leading to confusion. I want to focus on witing very clear instruction sets in my lesson plans for student teaching.

This is not to say there weren't positive aspects of this lesson. I think I did a good job of engaging and including students who joined class via Zoom by calling on them directly. Also, from a standards stand point, I like how this lesson had applications of mathematics like area, ratios, and scale. 

Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for more teaching lab reflections.