Reinforcing Effort and Providing Recognition
(Summarizing Marzano)
Effort and recognition speak to the attitudes and beliefs of students, and teachers must show the
connection between effort and achievement.
Not all students realize the importance of effort, group or individual. Monitor the disconnected
student and by praise, see if their engagement changes. Students can learn to change their
presentation to emphasize effort.
Applications:
* Ask math questions – groups work together, rotation of who gives the answer from the group
* Have students keep a tally of their group’s efforts and achievements, reflect on their success,
and even mathematically analyze the data.
Recognition is most effective if it is contingent on the achievement of a certain goal. Also,
symbolic recognition works better than tangible rewards.
Applications:
* Find ways to personalize recognition. Give awards for individual accomplishments.
* "Pause, Prompt, Praise."
If a student is struggling, pause to discuss the problem, and then prompt with leading questions.
If the student's performance improves as a result, be sure to offer praise.
Results:
The teams were doing well and the majority of students were engaged and participating. One
group was divided when one male student was “shown up” by a female student. She was really
enjoying getting so many of the math questions correct. Nate tended to be intelligent, but at times
whenever he lost focus, he would talk to anyone, which he did on this occasion. He was
becoming a distraction. He was feeling poorly so I offered to him the position of score-keeper
which I should not have done. It gave him an empowered platform to stay disconnected. He did
not work through the issue and find the reward by “sticking it out”.
I felt that I had achieved the goal and the lesson went well. I tried to play the Olympics game as
the book showed (the first one in the group to raise their hand), but I needed to adapt and have a
rotation of people give the answers. This kept everyone a little more focused as it was always
the group’s efforts that were scoring the points.
Homework and Practice – Practice will increase in skill speed, used for improving students'
abilities to apply these skills in different problem solving. It helped deepen understanding of a
concept by elaborating on a new idea and expanding their understanding. Over all, it appeared
that this strategy was successful. The group work kept them on task and the peer encouragement
Lecture and Discussion: Today’s lesson is designed to support and reinforce basic math skills.
The spiral reinforcement seemed to hit the target, To improve…better pace for the teams not
answering the question The group that had the fewest points also sat around while the “smart
group” got so many correct answers.
For doing something out of the norm, this class went very well. It could have had better pacing
and more for the groups to do. It went well.
Q: How did this lesson help your students develop understanding and problem-solving expertise
in your content area using reading, written and oral communication, and technology?
A; The group work allowed for communication and peer leadership and explanation to a
particular problem. The nature of the game was a little competitive which was a goal that bore
itself to be true. The competitive nature of the game led to good team work for all but one group,
but even they worked together shorthanded.
Standard S – Content driven
6.2.D Apply the commutative, associative, and distributive properties, and use the order of
operations to evaluate mathematical expressions
6.5.A Use strategies for mental computations with non-negative whole numbers, fractions, and
decimals
6.6.C Analyze and compare mathematical strategies for solving problems, and select and use one
or more strategies to solve a problem.
6.6.D Represent a problem situation, describe the process used to solve the problem, and verify
the reasonableness of the solution.
6.6.E Communicate the answer(s) to the question(s) in a problem using appropriate
representations, including symbols and informal and formal mathematical language.
Seeing how this was a review of concepts as I was nearing the end of my internship I felt it was
appropriate to have fun with a purpose. I wanted to see the kids work together and have fun
while they were re-enforcing the math concepts we have been working on. The target that I
emphasized a lot was correct math language. The rationale was to encourage math thinking,
math problem solving, sharing math strategies for problem solving and math language.
Q: What did you do in this lesson to help your students know the learning targets and their
progress toward meeting them? How effective were your efforts?
A: The targets were clearly expressed through the rules of the game. The outcomes were very
informally measurable: Were they working as a team? Were they answering in mathematical
terms? Were they problem solving by using correct math strategies? Yes, Yes, Yes.
Q: How did you integrate mathematical, scientific, and aesthetic reasoning in your lesson
content? How effective were your efforts?
A: The story problems contained some scientific language, but this was a weakness in the plan,
but successful lessons are not typically complete lesson plans. The math strategies were excellent
for this class’s abilities.
Standard T Criterion-Referenced Reflection
Since this is an assessment that is designed to measure what a student understands about the
concepts we have just covered, it was important to highlight student's specific strengths and
weaknesses in relation to the goals of the lesson. It is equally important to not compare a student
to other students. In all, the students benefited from the personalized lesson that incorporated
self-assessment strategies.
The personalization was one of the “fun” ideas that led to the review of material. It was a
culminating experience that informally gave me an assessment that the class showed mastery of
appropriate mathematical concepts. They encouraged each other to use mathematical strategies
and language. I purposely grouped the ELL students with someone from the same culture so
they could help understand the question being asked.
The students were more likely to participate if we used the smart board. Knowing this, the smart
board added a un-measureable appeal to the lesson.
Notes from SPU Supervisor – Randy DeKoker
Observation Notes
Final Pedagogy Criteria
Name Ed Parr
Date/Time Thurs. March 3
Content Area 8th grade Math Essentials
Obs. Number 10
OBSERVED SOURCES OF EVIDENCE RECORD
I didn’t take many notes as Paul and I chatted about the internship. Everything is going really well.
Comments, general observations and questions (MANAGEMENT FOCUS):
1.
2.
3.
I arrived early (by accident) and got to observe the last 15 minutes of period 3 (8 th Pre-algebra). Students were working on
homework but many were talking. However, I would say behavior was good. 8 th grade PA students can easily lose focus during
class. Your circulation and VERY CALM way of dealing with students with maybe minor behavioral issues was very impressive.
GOOD JOB. Again, circulation was key to making these last few minutes effective and worthwhile for the students.
Kids responded very enthusiastically to the “Olympics” part of the lesson.
They really really had fun doing the math and competing – great way to deal with a “second math” class for these students.
NOTEBOOK REVIEW
The notebook is “electronic” and has been adequately addressed. A few documents are still needed but if you don’t get to
them it’s no big deal. Here is what I think is still needed (program requirements):
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Example of your short form lesson plan model – something you think you’ll really use
Few more weekly reflections (not needed every week anymore)
Extra-curricular and other teacher observations
WRITTEN SOURCES OF EVIDENCE ASSESSMENT RECORD
A very comprehensive and accurate SPU lesson plan was submitted. Thanks!
I will visit and informally observe one more time next week. I don’t know the day (it might be Monday) and it
might be any class period. I will try and let you know. NO LESSON PLAN is expected. Then we’ll meet at 8 am
Thursday morning the 18th to wrap things up.