7. Reflection on the Effectiveness of Your Instruction:

Thanks and a disclaimer: Several teachers completed a version of the CTC in the spring of 2000. Their work has provided the core of the samples below. We have, however, modified some of the selections to maintain confidentiality and to ensure that the samples reflect the revisions we have made in the instructions. Thanks to all the teachers who helped us with the original samples. Your input helped us make this a better process for all.

(from Middle school Math)
I gave students their pre-assessment and post-assessment scores at the same time and asked them to compare their own results. We reviewed the correct answers to the post-assessment and I asked them to pinpoint their mistakes for each problem missed. I then had them write a journal entry to reflect on their own growth for this topic in math. If student scores reflected low mastery (under 80%), I wrote a note in their agenda book to reflect this. Parents are asked to check the agenda book regularly by school policy. I was glad to see that almost all the students had increased their score on the post--assessment, but I had hoped that more students would have obtained mastery of this objective. This is only the first opportunity for them to obtain mastery for this skill; with more practice and review of these concepts and understanding their mistakes, my belief is that more students will master this concept on the chapter test.

If I had to teach this lesson again, I would continue to emphasize the importance of estimating answers to be able to check to see if the final answer is a reasonable one. I believe this technique helped students when they used the methods discussed in class incorrectly to solve problems and realized they were doing something wrong. As a result, they changed their proportion or equation to a proper one to solve. Moreover, I believe students benefited by working in cooperative groups to compare answers and explain their process of thinking as a tool for learning and understanding.

(From 2nd grade)
By working in pairs, the students understood the lesson better than using traditional pencil and paper activities which I have used in previous years. This activity was motivational for the students because it was similar to a game.

In the future to improve this lesson, I will create a set of magnetic materials so that I can model a sample from the board. This way we can correct the sentences together as a whole group. For pre and post assessment, I would use more exciting topics for my expository writing, as the topics I asked the students to write about are over used and not extremely motivating.