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.