Laura Soto

December 2, 2014
TTE 316- Final Lesson Reflection
Summary of Lesson (Introduction to Closure)
Grade level: 1st Grade
Lesson Source: Adaption from Investigations:
Instructional Student Objective: The student will be able to accurately identify and write
numbers missing in a hundreds chart.
Content Standards: (1.NBT.A.1) Count to 120, starting at any number less than 120. In this
range, read and write numerals and represent a number of objects with a written numeral.
Main Task: The students will be paired up and instructed to play a game. Partner 1 will hide a
numbers with a sticky note on the 100s chart and partner 2 will use their number sense to
identify which numbers are missing and write it on their Missing Number Recording Sheet.
Group Characteristics: First grade ELD class with 5 boys and 5 girls. My students [Pseudonyms
were used to protect my students] and any relevant characteristics that might affect their learning
or performance:
Salad: Male/math is a strength/ gets excited when he knows the answer and has a tendency to
blurt it out/has trouble seeing things from a peers perspective/anger can result in challenges
amongst peers (Today was a hard day for Salad)
Ed: Male
Giant: Male/gets distracted easily/gets excited when he knows the answer and has a tendency to
blurt it out/math is a strength
Ken: Male/still at a kindergarten level
L.C.: Male
Ester: Female/is advanced and gets bored with some material
Gear: Female/has a hearing diversity
Ivy: Female/has a speech diversity/models after her peers
Jewels: Female/still at a kindergarten level
Vicky: Female
Introduction/Connections to Prior Knowledge:
NOTE: One of my students (Salad) was having a rough day so I did focus a lot of attention on
him during this lesson. I also didnt get a recording of the actual lesson due to a malfunction.
I changed the set-up of the 1st graders math work area. It was a small change but it did
manage to peak the childrens curiosity. My students slowly trickled in from lunch and I was

Laura Soto
December 2, 2014
TTE 316- Final Lesson Reflection
continuously being asked why I moved the furniture. I explained to some of my more reserved
students why I had done it like Ivy. Once everyone was seated, I asked them why they thought I
moved it and if they noticed anything else that was different. Ivy was excited that she knew the
answer and chimed in that it was so that we could see the hundreds chart. I purposely informed
Ivy ahead of time to motivate her to be more vocal in the conversation about the hundreds chart
and I believe it was a success, because she sat up taller and leaned in to learn more. Then I
consciously got on my knees between the two tables. I didnt like the feeling of towering over
them and wanted to stimulate an inclusive environment where they didnt expect me to be the
expert. When I kneeled down, Giant asked if we were going to count to one hundred. Before I
explained the objective of todays lesson I wanted to set up a group understanding, I explained
that today I needed their help, When I leave here and graduate Im going to be a teacher like
Mrs. Candace (Pseudonym for my mentor teacher). Today I need your help to teach me how to
teach better. Do you think you can help me? They all agreed. Wonderful! Now all the same
rules apply. We raise our pinkies when we have a question or answer. Do we shout. They all
responded in a chorus of nos. Can you show me your pinkies? They all showed me their
pinkies which allowed me to transition back into a conversation about the chart, Wonderful!
Now Giant when you first walked in you asked if we would count to 100, have you ever seen a
hundreds chart before? He shouted, Yeah! I reminded him to use his pinky which reminded
everyone else to raise their pinkies. I questioned what they noticed about the chart or what they
could tell me about the chart. Salad pointed out that there were 10 rows as he gestured towards a
column. I answered that he was right, there were 10 rows but rows go left to right. Then I pointed
to the line that he had pointed out and I defined it as a column for him. After I explained, I
pointed to a row and asked the group to repeat what it was called. I did the same thing for

Laura Soto
December 2, 2014
TTE 316- Final Lesson Reflection
column. Salad also pointed out that in a row they all start with the same number. I nodded and
pointed it out to the group. This led Giant to notice that the numbers ended in the same number
in the columns (he forgot to raise his pinky). This caused his peers to start shouting out, as well.
Someone else noticed that there was a pattern of red and black. I didnt notice who said it due to
the lack of raising of the pinkies but I believe it was L.C. This is when it would have been useful
to have the recording. It can all be so overwhelming in the moment. I reminded my friends to use
their quiet voices so we didnt disturb the second graders and reminded them to use their pinkies.
Once they had all calmed down, I repeated the observation that had been made about the pattern
and asked what it could mean? Ivy observed that the red ones were every other number. I had
L.C. read the numbers that were red in the first column (2, 4, 6, 8, 10). I asked if anyone had ever
counted by these numbers but no one responded. As an instructor, I inferred that this was too far
of an extension. I really enjoyed this introduction because it allowed me to understand the
childrens prior knowledge and it allowed them to take ownership of the material. They were so
excited to share what they knew that it got a little hectic but thats a better problem to have then
to have them completely be bored.
Problematic Features of Lesson: I knew from the start of the lesson that I would need to
monitor Salad based on his interaction with his peers earlier in the day. This made my
nervous level go up which might have effected why my students got so loud, as well
Changes to Improve Lesson: In a future lesson, I would have the assistant teacher sitting next
to Salad instead of recording my lesson.

Activity 1:
I introduced the first big group activity as a really fun game. Salad was starting to get
antsy so I tasked him with passing out the white boards. I gave Ivy the erasers to pass out. Salad

Laura Soto
December 2, 2014
TTE 316- Final Lesson Reflection
started to get mad because Ivy was going in the wrong direction. I gave the markers to Ester to
pass out. It was a chaotic transition that escalated with Salad raising his voice. Thankfully, there
were only 10 of them so the passing out happened quickly. I brought them back by teaching
fancy ten. I explained that we were going to play a really fun game but we had to listen in order
to play. I demonstrated that this would be the sign I would use if they needed to listen to
directions. I put my hands on my head like antler and explained that it was called Fancy Ten.
When they do a fancy ten, they must look fancy. They have to sit up straight, turn off their voices
and have eyes on me.
After I explained fancy ten, I started to explain the game. I told them that I was going to
hide a card so I needed them to close their eyes. I pulled out a card randomly. As soon as they
opened their eyes, Giant and Salad yelled out the answer. The answer was 12. I noticed that Ester
was playing with her arms (bored?) so I asked if she could tell me what strategy she used. She
explained that she counted. I thanked her for sharing and I told the rest of her peers that that was
a practice round and now we were going to do it again. I added, This time when you open your
eyes and know the answer dont say it out loud. Think it and write it on your board. The card
was 21. Eight of the students did what I had told them to do but Giant and Salad still yelled it
out. I asked the whole group what strategies they used. Because the boys yelled out the answer,
their peers followed suit and yelled out their strategies. I heard things like its in the 20s row and
I counted but I couldnt keep track of who said what because of the sudden overwhelming
amount of answers. I took a step back and reminded the group to use their quiet pinkies. Then I
asked them if they knew what I meant by the word strategy. Each of them answered that strategy
meant the answer. I was completely shocked by this response. It was very similar to how the
children in the article defined equal signs. After realizing that I had used this word various time

Laura Soto
December 2, 2014
TTE 316- Final Lesson Reflection
and there was an overall misconception of what it meant. I stopped what we were doing and
explained that it meant how you got the answer. I wrote down the word so they could see the
word and L.C. asked if they should write it on their board. I nodded and explained that if they
thought it would help them learn the word then they should write it down. Immediately, after I
said this I noticed that they each started writing down the word. In retrospect, I dont believe it
helped and most of them probably did it to have something to do with their hands. I asked them
again what strategy meant and half of them answered the answer while the other half repeated
that it was how we got the answer. In retrospect, I wish I would have demonstrated some of the
strategies so they could make a quick association. Okay, erase your boards, we are going to try
the game one more time and then you are going to tell me the strategy you used. I tried the game
again and explained that they needed to give their friends time to think so when they wrote the
answer on their board they should turn it over. I pulled 22 out and again Salad and Giant
answered. The raised their pinky this time and answered in a whisper but they still said the
answer before I called on them. It was a giant step forward and I celebrated with my students and
pointed out that I really appreciated that everyone was using a whisper voice. In hindsight, I
think I should have done a pair share first to control the shot outs. That might have caused it to
be less chaotic and would have allowed me to go more in depth with strategies that they used.
After the number 22, Salad started arguing with Jewels the girl sitting across from him. His
raised voiced caused the rest of them to raise their voice. I had them do a fancy ten to regain their
attention and it worked. The last number that I pulled was 23. At this point, I was trying to
mediate Salads discourse with his friends without it getting out of hand and trying to hear
strategies at the same time. I remember Gear telling that she counted on from 20. However, the

Laura Soto
December 2, 2014
TTE 316- Final Lesson Reflection
rest of the strategies given were a blur. Another change that happened was that I didnt replace
the cards with color cards because it went faster than I anticipated.

Transition:
I used fancy ten to get their attention as a transition. It worked. I announced that we were
about to play a new game. This one would tell them who their partner was. However, we would
not move until everyone knows who their partner is. I passed out cards one at a time. I gave L.C.
the number 26 and waited for him to place it on the hundreds chart. Then I gave Jewels the
number 27 and waited for her to find her spot. Then I asked the whole class if these numbers
were next to each other on the hundreds chart. They all agreed that they were and I reemphasized that this meant they would be partner. I repeated this process with the rest of the
group: (48 Ed, 49 Ivy) (54 Ken, 55 Vicky) (73 Salad, 74 Gear) (95 Giant, 96 Ester). I was
surprised at how much Ivy wanted to help her friend find the number. Normally she is more of a
listener as opposed to a doer. I was very proud of her for stepping out of her comfort zone. Each
of them was very excited to receive the cards. They smiled really bright when it was their turn. I
tried to take this opportunity to ask them what their strategy was but the other kids were too busy
trying to put their own input in that it was hard to decipher if that was their original idea or their
peers had influenced them. However, I didnt discourage this process because it allowed them to
have a student-student dialogue and it also gave them an opportunity to defend their thought
process (Van de Walle, J., Lovin, L., Karp, K., & Bay-Williams, J., 2014, p.20). Once they had
all placed their cards in the chart and had identified their partner, I told them to move like quiet
mice to find their partner and sit next to them. I demonstrated by going on my tip toes and moved

Laura Soto
December 2, 2014
TTE 316- Final Lesson Reflection
around. They did an exceptional job at this transition. Especially compared to the past, much
louder, transitions. I would not change this transition in the future.

Main Lesson:
The main lesson was Missing Numbers. Partner 1 closed their eyes and Partner 2 hid a
number. They hid the number using a unifix cube (one of the changes that will be discussed in
the next paragraph). Partner 1 then opened their eyes and use a strategy discussed in the
introduction to figure out what the number is. Partner 1 will write it down on their Missing
Numbers Recording Sheet before looking under the unifix cube to check if it was correct. They
will look under the cube, if it was right they drew a smiley face next to it. Then its Partner 2s
turn to close their eyes. They will play until the Missing Numbers Recording Sheet is filled
out.
I had an opportunity to walk around and observe some of the strategies that were being
used and how they were choosing to scaffold and challenge themselves. When I walked around, I
observed that Giant and Ester were challenging themselves by not covering any of them and
identifying it as zero. I partnered them up because they both excel in the math and I wanted them
to be able to challenge each other. A scaffold noticed by Ivy was one that I had not introduced
and was her own idea. Ed was her partner. He hid a number and watched Ivy record what
number was before the unifix cube. Then she went up to the hundreds chart that we used for the
introduction and found the number that matched. She then moved her finger to the right and
smiled and told Ed the number. He nodded excitedly. Ivy needs someone who teaches her but
doesnt tell her how to do it. Ed does a great job of finding the balance between the two and
staying fair. They are also friends outside of the classroom so I partnered them up due to this
compatibility Gear and Salad was the next partnership that I observed and I was excited to watch

Laura Soto
December 2, 2014
TTE 316- Final Lesson Reflection
them working peacefully. Salad has been known to throw a tantrum but he worked well with
Gear. I even heard some strategies from them. Salad told me he looked at the first number in the
row and the last number in the column. Gear explained that she counted on from 20 to find 25.
Half way through the lesson, I noticed that Salad had to take a walk. This is one of the calming
strategies that we taught him to do when he feels frustration. Therefore, I was proud of him for
being proactive instead of reactive. Gear is also very patient and thats why I partnered them up
to begin with. Jewels had trouble staying on task but the support from her partner and the
assistant teacher helped scaffold her learning. The same was true about the partnership between
Ken and Vicky. Ken kept trying to go to the bathroom to avoid doing work. No one finished
early enough to do Race to 100.
Problematic Features of Lesson: One problem was that I didnt do a very good job modeling
the main lesson. My students did such a great job transitioning and started playing as soon as
I passed out the Missing Number sheet (I passed it out while they were transitioning). I
was also distracted at this point in my lesson because the assistant teach kept asking me about
the IPad and I kept walking over to her to answer her questions and push the record button
for her. (For some reason it continuously stopped recording on her. I later learned when I
went to review the footage that it was because she had accidently switched it to camera mode
multiple times.) By the time I was completely refocused, my students had started on their
own and I semi-forgot what I had already explained to them. Later, I realized that I forgot to
tell them to draw a smiley face when they got the right answer. I also wanted them to write
their answer on their paper before they looked under the unifix cube for the right answer.
However, since I didnt disclose this information the validity of the smiley faces was
compromised and they looked before they wrote their answer.

Laura Soto
December 2, 2014
TTE 316- Final Lesson Reflection
Changes to Improve Lesson: The number one change was that my teacher recommended that
I use unifix cubes to hide the numbers instead of sticky notes. She explained that sticky notes
would be too distracting and the cubes fit perfectly. The second change I would make would
be too waited to pass out the worksheets until after I had modeled what to do so that they
would be fully engaged in the instructions and not already playing. The last change that I
would make to the lesson plan is to make fewer rounds of Missing Numbers. After 3 rounds
the students started to get antsy and needed a new challenge.

Transition into Large Group:

We transitioned back into a large group by using fancy ten to get their attention. Then I
instructed them to collect their Missing Numbers worksheet into their math portfolio. My
students are accustomed to this procedure from the beginning of the year so they did it
flawlessly. The only change I would have made to this transition would have been to collect the
worksheet after we did the closure. Putting away the worksheet meant transitioning to another
subject in the classroom so it was hard to refocus them for the closure.

Closure:
I didnt end up showing the video I had planned to show because my teacher didnt know
the school wifi code. Due to the lack of video, I closed the lesson by asking my students why
counting was important? I explained that we count things every day. For example, when we have
a birthday party, we need to count the right amount of people and plates so that everyone gets
one. I used birthday party because birthdays are a huge celebration at Borton and they can all
identify with it. We have also done the birthday backpack from TTE 319 in our classroom. Some
of my students also mentioned the calendar and how there are numbers on there too. I asked why

Laura Soto
December 2, 2014
TTE 316- Final Lesson Reflection
we would need to know the number on the calendar. L.C. said so that we know how far away our
birthday is.

Opinion of Lesson:
Childrens Mathematic Understanding
1) What students understood about mathematical concepts and what helped them understand
The biggest mathematical concept that my students could have taken away from this
activity is that there are multiple ways to solve a problem. This is even proven by Ivy innovative
method and Giants plan to think outside of the box and look for zero. I was able to create this
learning experience by provid[ing] an environment that provoke[d] puzzlement [and]
stimulate[d] curiousity (Richardson, 2008, p. 20). I wasn able to create this rapport through
curiousity but it continued t o grow because I was teaching them through problem solving. I was
providing them with a solution. I was asking for their input on how they have done it and
encouraging them to share it with the rest of the class so that they could learn from each other
(Van de Walle, J., Lovin, L., Karp, K., & Bay-Williams, J., 2014). This method also alound my
students to see the multiple entry points (Van de Walle, J., Lovin, L., Karp, K., & Bay-Williams,
J., 2014, p.17).

2) What the teacher did to support, extend and clarify students thinking
I provided Visuals for ELDs, hearing and speech diversities: pocket hundreds chart, paper
hundreds chart, colored replacement cards and Missing Number Recording Sheet. I made it
into a game to change the perspective of math for those who might have a little more trouble
with it. I tried to supporting my children who needed more time to internalize information by

Laura Soto
December 2, 2014
TTE 316- Final Lesson Reflection
using the white boards during our discussion. However, it didnt work as planned and might have
worked better if I had done a pair share. I tried to model the main lesson for my visual learners
but it was interrupted and it wasnt as efficient as I would have hoped for. I purposefully preplanned partners to support those who needed extra support, to challenge those who needed a
challenging partner and diminish any distracting partnerships. I didnt provide Ivy with the
struggling child variation (give the child a hundreds charts with missing numbers and one that
doesnt have missing numbers. Have them compare the two, say which ones are missing and
write them in) because she created her own variation and I wanted her to be able to take
ownership of that strategy.
I had created Race to 100 activity as an extension for my students who finished early but
no one finished early. In retrospect, I think that I should have provided the following tool for
Giant and Ester at a sooner time to have them predict what four numbers are covered on the
chart.

I specifically avoided the following strategies based on Teaching Student-Centered

Mathematics when planning for exceptionalities: assigning more of the same work, giving free

Laura Soto
December 2, 2014
TTE 316- Final Lesson Reflection
time to early finishers or assigning gifted children to help struggling learners (Van de Walle, J.,
Lovin, L., Karp, K., & Bay-Williams, J., 2014, p.83).

3) What was hard for students to understand and an analysis of why that content was hard?
This lesson is particularly hard because it involves a low-level cognitive demand task of
memorization. There is only one way to count to one hundred. This being said, I tried to transfer
it into a high-level cognitive demand task by allowing them to make connections between the
chart and what numbers come next (Van de Walle, J., Lovin, L., Karp, K., & Bay-Williams, J.,
2014, p. 16). Another reason it was hard for some of my students was because many of them still
have trouble with early counting concepts: number sequence, one-to-one correspondence,
cardinality and subitizing (Van de Walle, J., Lovin, L., Karp, K., & Bay-Williams, J., 2014, p.
101). . This means that they rely more heavily on memorization. Ivy is one of these students. She
has a speech diversity. However, regardless of the diversity, she used memorization and the
resources surrounding her as an advantage by writing it on a piece of paper and then
investigating. To Stands for Mathematical Practice were very evident in this strategy for Ivy and
they included using appropriate tools strategically and making sense of a problem and persevere
in solving it. Whereas, I challenged my students who did have a grasp for these concepts to
further look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning. I also asked them to construct
viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others (Van de Walle, J., Lovin, L., Karp, K., &
Bay-Williams, J., 2014, p. 3).

4) A discussion of what students learned. Each of these points is supported by detailed evidence
from videotape

Laura Soto
December 2, 2014
TTE 316- Final Lesson Reflection
As discussed previously in my paper some of the vocabulary that was learned was
strategy, column and row. I also previously discuss the strategies that my students learned and
actually used when I walked around to observe them in the main lesson.

Additional Equity Understanding

Power and Paticipation:
I chose this lens because I definitely noticed some bias in the realm when I was
recounting what happened during my lesson.

a) Who participates? How does the teacher encourage/invite a range of students to participate?
I tallied how many times each of my students talked/particpated during the lesson. These
were the results: Salad 11, Giant: 7, L.C.: 6, Ivy: 6, Ester: 3, Jewels: 3, Gear: 3, Ken: 2, Ed: 2 and
Vicky: 2. I was happy to see that all my students participated at least once. However, it was very
evident that the participation levels were very unblanaced. I tried to use a facilitative method of
teaching that encouraged my students to participate. The strategies included: investigations,
inquiry, cooperative learning and open ended questions (Van de Walle, J., Lovin, L., Karp, K., &
Bay-Williams, J., 2014, p. 10).
b) Who holds authority for knowing mathematics?
I held my students accountable for knowing the mathematics. As explained earlier, I
wanted them to take ownership of the material and give me strategies. I never once in my whole
lesson provided them with a strategy. I did, however, support them in any ideas that they had so
that I could help them clarify it for the rest of their peers. For example, when Salad pointed out

Laura Soto
December 2, 2014
TTE 316- Final Lesson Reflection
that the numbers in the row all started with the same number. I showed them each row and asked
the class what number it started with.

c) Evidence that differences in perspectives are recognized and valued

There isnt much evidence of this in my retelling and its hard to remember when I gave
praise to my students without having a physical recording of the lesson. However, I want to use
the tallies as evidence that everyone at least had the opportunity to voice their opinion and were
listened to. I value my students so very much and know that they all learn in different ways.
Seeing them blossom is my favorite part of the day.

d) How issues of power and participation might have influenced student learning
I know for a fact that Salad influenced the lesson heavily on this day. Salad is a bright
child who is a wonderful addition to the classroom but sometimes its hard for him to control his
actions. My students understand that sometimes he needs his space and that is ok. However, I do
feel that some of my students had less of an opportunity to voice their opinion and thought
processes due to some of Salads actions. Giant was another strong force in my lesson. Hes
quick to find the answer and is quick to blurt it out. They both mean well and always try to
explain to their peers anything that might confuse them. It was especially hard to gage
everyones learning as a whole when I had Salad persistently trying to get my attention and know
that he had the right answer. Sometimes if I dont call on him it can result in a fit and I didnt
want that to distract my students from learning either.
Extending Your Thinking

Laura Soto
December 2, 2014
TTE 316- Final Lesson Reflection
Note: When I summarized my lesson (introduction-closure). I pointed out problematic features
and how I would change it to improve it in a future lesson.

Citations
Richardson, K. (2008). Developing Math Concepts Pre-Kindergarten. Bellingham, WA: Math
Perspectives.
Van de Walle, J., Lovin, L., Karp, K., & Bay-Williams, J. (2014). Teaching Student-Centered
Mathematics (2nd ed., Vol. 1). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.