Lesson Critique

PRINCIPALS & SUPERVISORS >> WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN A MATHEMATICS LESSON:

©1995-2008 Mahesh C. Sharma All rights reserved.

A. Instructional Activity:

Are the lesson plan and flow of instructional activities guided by these principles of mathematics teaching?

o Socratic questioning

o Direct instruction (didactic)

o Guided discovery

o Coaching

o Individualization

o Assessment

o Planned reinforcement and meaningful homework

B. Lesson Content:

Does the instructional lesson clearly shows that every mathematical idea reflects the these three components?*

o Linguistic component2

o Conceptual component

o Procedural component

*The content of the lesson must integrate the development of the language of mathematics, conceptual models and the procedure/algorithm related to that concept.

C. 6 Levels of Knowing:

Does the lesson show that the mastery of a mathematical concept is developmental? Does the lesson reflect the six levels of knowing in its execution?

o Intuitive level (knowing and showing the mastery by connecting and extending the new oconcept with prior knowledge, skills and procedures)

o Concrete level (knowing and showing the mastery through concrete models)

o Pictorial (knowing and showing the mastery through pictures, diagrams, context and representation)

o Abstract level (knowing and showing mastery through symbolic representation, manipulation and abstractions)

o Applications level (knowing and showing the mastery by applying the knowledge in intra-mathematical, interdisciplinary and extracurricular applications)

o Communication level (the ability to explain, describe, teach other person, defend argument or method, write about it, etc)

D. Lesson Structure and Organization:

Do the instructional activities aim at developing a structure that is predictable, and at the same time has novelty? Each lesson should have:

o Mental mathematics4

o Conceptual development

o Development of prerequisite skills5 (Sequencing, spatial orientation and space organization, visualization, pattern recognition, deductive and inductive reasoning)6

o Writing number stories and problem solving

o Planned activities for mastery and automaticity

©1995-2008 Mahesh C. Sharma All rights reserved.