Adjustment to Practice

About Adjustment to Practice

In order to grow, teachers need to adjust their practices. In order to adjust to practice, one must use reflective practice (see Reflective Practice). After reflecting upon lessons and assessments, teachers use what they learned to change an aspect of their teaching. Possible ways that teachers can change include the way they deliver information, the supplementary materials they use, or simply the directions on an assessment. Adjustment to practice is so important because like reflective practice, it is one of the main strategies for teacher improvement.

How I Adjusted My Teaching

Throughout my teaching practicum I constantly asked Sam for advice on how to improve my teaching. Overall, she suggested that I speak slower during class and always be sure to keep my energy visible to the students. She also suggested small aspects of the lessons for different sections. For example, when I taught literal equations, she suggested I show the students a graphic organizer to help them keep track of the different variables and how they affect the equation. After discussing this, I added the graphic organizer to the notes I gave the class. She also suggested different techniques for remembering different topics.

I had my students take a survey at the end of the first quarter (week nine) to see if there were additional ways that I could adjust my teaching (Appendix C: Quarter One Survey). After having my students take the Quarter One Survey, I looked at their answers to decide if there were aspects of my teaching I could change. In the beginning of the survey, the questions asked about the pace of the notes and if there were enough example problems. The majority of the students said the notes went at a good pace for them and that we went through enough example problems for them to understand the new topic. A few students did say that they felt as if we could move faster; however, since this was the minority, I decided to keep my notes the same. The next set of questions asked about the types of activities we do in class. The most popular answer to "Are there any other types of activities you would like to do in class? If so, what are they?" was to incorporate more games into the classroom. Some students specifically suggested Kahoot! or Gimkit. These are both interactive quizzes that students all access at once online. Also, there is a contest involved that takes into account both correctly answered questions and how fast it was completed. This engages the more competitive individuals in the classroom. Due to the number of students who wanted to have math games in the classroom, during the next unit, I used a Kahoot to help the students review before a quiz. This is also the reason why I used the Slope Intercept Battleship game to help the students practice graphing in slope intercept form (see Chapter Six: High Expectations). I would recommend that every teacher give their students a survey, as each group of students learns differently. I would also advise to give one around week 8 or 9 – the students have become adjusted to the new year, are more comfortable in class by this time and are more likely to be honest.