In this class session, Mr. Thuma is teaching an 8th grade geometry class. I came to this conclusion because Mr. Thuma used angles and shapes, commonly used in geometry practices. There are approximately thirty students attending this class. It seems to be a public-school system and location is unknown.
Instructional Aspects
Mathematical goals and objectives.
The teacher’s goal was to inform students about the types of angles and congruency. His objective could be “To know the difference between angles and to know what congruency is and how to apply it” or also “To understand vertical, complementary, simple angles, acute, and obtuse angles.” In the video, Mr. Thuma has the students practice problems involving specific types of angles …show more content…
I like to take a second to understand what is going on, but the teacher is always continuously talking. Mr. Thuma, throughout the video, is talking whether he is explaining how to do a problem or calling on students. For me, I would not have time to think about the process or remember the information since he is always talking. I wouldn’t want to attend everyday because it seems like a class that sticks to the same plan everyday. This teacher is only moderately effective at fostering student’s mathematical growth because he teaches decently and the students seem to understand. In the beginning of class, a previously absent student asked for the homework and the teacher just explained that they didn’t miss …show more content…
Thuma doesn’t seem to have a textbook that he uses for lessons. “To engage students in challenging mathematics, teachers need to use worthwhile mathematical tasks. Those tasks must be rich in terms of content and processes” (National Council). This quote is important in a classroom, because knowing it means something can change how students feel about the topic. This quote explains that to teach challenging math, a teacher should use problems that have meaning. This is the opposite of how Mr. Thuma runs his class. Instead of an interesting, thoughtful question, Mr. Thuma uses a short and to the point worksheet that doesn’t have much meaning behind it. “Teachers are responsible for the quality of the mathematical tasks in which students engage. A wide range of materials exists for teaching mathematics: problem booklets, computer software, practice sheets, puzzles,manipulative materials, calculators, textbooks, and so on” (NCTM). This quote means that the teacher is responsible for how deep they dive into mathematical concepts and how they accomplish it. In Mr. Thuma’s case, he decides to choose practice sheets for the students to use to enhance their learning. He is responsible for the quality of tasks and in this case he chooses to stay on the surface level of the