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What do you think worked?

Watch this video of a short segment of a lesson and then imagine a post-observation coaching conversation with the teacher. Keep in mind the need to give feedback in a way that will encourage growth.

Recognizing that each coach-teacher combination will be unique, compare your imagined conversation and observations with what a team of coaches noticed that might warrant the student teacher's attention – both for reinforcement and with an eye to improvement.

The expectation is that the teacher herself would bring up these topics during the conference. If needed, the coaches would introduce one thing to consider changing.

High School: Writing Equations

Background Information:

This high school algebra class is studying equations and the teacher gave them a triangle with the measures of the individual angles it represented by algebraic expressions rather than numbers. This math lesson is taking place at the beginning of the year and the segment assumes that the students have learned the difference between an expression and an equation. The lesson is concentrating on the following learning standard (SOL):  

SOL: The student will represent quantitative situations algebraically and evaluate these expressions for given replacement values of the variables. Students will choose an appropriate computational technique, such as mental mathematics, calculator, or paper and pencil.

The instructional objective that the teacher has written for this learning standard is:

Using the given fact that the sum of the measures of the 3 angles of a triangle is 180 degrees, students will write an algebraic equation that will allow them to solve for the measure of an individual angle.

The teacher has been told that the class must meet standards this year, since the school did not reach the expected 80% pass rate on the end of the year exam last term.

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Funding for this website came from the Virginia Department of Education Award #879-SY08 CFG to Dr. Sandi Cohen and Dr. Ruth Ferree at the Curry School of Education. Questions should be sent to Dr. Ferree at TeacherEd@virginia.edu.