Sunday, 29 June 2014

Teachable moments...

The math lesson is planned (...and it's going to be awesome).

I have my group on the mat, they are all settled and engaged for the warm up, we get to the knowledge check... and... blank.

My wonderful lesson on 'before numbers' to 20 hit a brick wall when I realised nearly all the students in the group had at least one misunderstanding of a number when counting backwards - either orally or visually.

This is where I have the choice... to continue with my awesomely planned lesson or backtrack and teach the knowledge.... and of course I backtracked.

We pulled down the calendar numbers from the wall and got other number sets to 20. 
We put them in order backwards together, as a group race, on our own, we danced while saying our numbers, we said them in silly voices and then we cut and paste 20-9 in the correct order (Lucky we have awesome people in the office who can make a quick change of plan possible!)

The next day... voila!

All the students had also practiced at home, we started with our knowldege check, and all the students could order the numbers backwards with the cards, and also say it without the visual prompts... so I could continue on with the lesson from the previous day. 

YAY for celebrating successes! 

It's all about the students. What they need and when they need it.

It excites me the more and more I learn about teaching and how my kiddos brains work. Being able to engage them in meaningful activity's, and knowing when to change a plan and being able to run with it makes teaching so much more meaningful and .

Bring on the last week of term 2!


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