Rebecca Etnyre

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Analysis of Teaching Video: Mathematics
The video watched about Mr. Ormsbys Algebra 1 course on the lesson of Graphing
linear equations brought both enlightenment and reflection that came from comparing his
teaching style to what I believe is an effective way to teach. Although many of his teaching and
guiding techniques did present themselves as something that could have worked well, others did
leave some areas for improvement like the motivation and reasoning behind cluster grouping and
packet work.
In the video, Mr. Ormsby began a lesson on solving linear equations. He had
approximately 30 students in his class and they were all seated with their desks turned in groups
of four; facing each other. He gave each group a three-page packet and asked students to work
together in groups. The first page included five equations he wanted them to graph. Once he
described the first page to his students he discussed what materials and concepts they could use
including slope, x-intercepts and y-intercepts. Mr. Ormsby walked around the room to each
group while they were working. They would ask him questions and he guided them with answers
and reference questions to material learned prior. Students answered questions about finding
slope and how to multiply, add, subtract and divide positive and negative numbers. Students
worked on their own sheets of paper to create tables, graphs and find values of slope, intercepts
and parts of a linear equation.
The course of Algebra 1, within the context of this video, presented itself with
opportunities for teachers to observe, analyze, and reflect on the meaningfulness and relevance it
may have in the classroom. Hiebert points out that, We present our proposal as a hypothesis to

be tested. It arises from our interpretation of the literature, from our analysis of teachers
everyday work, and from arguments about the process of improving complex, goal-oriented
skills (Hiebert, p.48). Therefore looking and observing on how Mr. Ormsby conducted his
classroom provided an opportunity to make and create different points of view in terms of his
overall effectiveness in the lesson. Since I am also a teacher of Algebra 1, I can take his style and
lesson experience and either build on or change parts to make it even better. One piece of the
video that seemed interesting to me was how the students took to the lesson being presented.
When I focused on the arrangement of students in groups of four, I noticed that some
students responded well to working with others and other students did not want to work with
their classmates. Mr. Ormsby asked one person from each of the groups to be the grapher and the
others to help each other. However, many students continued to ask Mr. Ormsby for help like
with graphing a line and how to multiply fractions. Many student groups were seen working on
their packets together, asking each other questions and trying to figure out ideas. However, there
were students, unfortunately, that continued to ask Mr. Ormsby for help and did not ask their
group members first. He noticed a student who continued to ask him questions about graphing
and Mr. Ormsby said, Dont just rely on Chris here, indicating that his group members needed
to work together to reach a common goal without relying on one single person. Also, Brandon
asked Mr. Ormsby a question indicating he was confused on what to do. The teacher redirected
him to ask his partner since she is doing an excellent job and if hes shy. This shows that
Brandon was hesitant to work with others since his response was Im trying to do it and I just
asked them, which was finished by Mr. Ormsby saying, Ill give you a choice-I want Ashley or
Nick to teach it to you, you pick. This shows his hesitation while others are comfortable
working together, which could be due to the overall structure of the lesson being given in class

that day. Overall the student arrangements of working together worked well for some but many
others struggled having to rely on others or assistance.
Even though some students worked well in groups, most of them struggled due to the
replies that were given by the teacher throughout the lesson. While Mr. Ormsby continued to
push the group work atmosphere, I noticed that his use of packet work type procedural problems
was not effective overall in the teaching of the mathematical concept and thus forcing his
students not to enjoy the cluster-setup type of atmosphere. Due to his funneling questions
proposed to students throughout the lesson while they were lost, like why dont you do____ or
What is ____, it did not provide the students with substantive evidence as to the relevance or
meaning behind the type of engaging lesson he had hoped to provide and made them not inclined
to want to work with the others in their respective groups. Working in groups does not
necessarily make a lesson engaging; rather it provides an opportunity for a change of pace. The
lesson itself did not provide an opportunity for students to clearly and effectively learn how to
graph linear equations, rather it focused on procedural fluency on the steps in making that
happen on a piece of graph paper; start with the y-intercept and use the slope to find the second
point on the line. Overall, it showed me that my way of teaching should be more meaningful
rather than procedural so students see relevance in group work and that discovery based
approaches. This shows that they are more worthwhile than a simple change of pace with the
same curriculum worksheets. Although the group work seemed to be a practical way of engaging
students, it showed me that by Conducting appropriate empirical observations to collect the
evidence [allowed me to] appreciate that evidence about students learning is essential for
assessing the effects (Hiebert, p.51), of the lesson being presented.