One day, we had two students who taught the math lesson. In order for the students to prepare to teach the class, they came into my afternoon math class to observe my teaching and take notes. I feel like I should have prepared the students more who were teaching but then at the same time, it was a good experience for them to realize that it is difficult at times to teach a group of students when there are side conversations going on, blurting out, not paying attention, etc. I think it was also difficult for the two student “teachers” because they didn’t know the questions to ask in order for the class to tell how they came up with the answers. Teachers are able to explain certain topics in more then one way, where as students only know their way of doing things, especially solving math problems. It was good how some of us stepped in to clarify or add to the discussion but mostly were observing the lesson. If we continue to have student led instruction for the math lesson, then having them observe a regular math lesson led by one of us with more training and experience would make this a positive learning experience. Does anyone think we should continue with student led instruction? Thoughts?
There was also a discussion on showing work to solve math problems. It is really important for students to show their work so if they make a mistake, the teacher and student can go back and analyze where the mistake was made. Hopefully, throughout the next couple of weeks, we can get more students to show their work.