Clip 1/18: Pre-Lesson Part 1
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In this clip, Lisa Hennefarth introduces herself and describes the context of the A1I Intensive Algebra course. She shares the prior experiences her students have had (or not had) with Algebra in 8th grade, the diverse characteristics of the students, and the communities from which her students come. She recognizes and notes how the different middle school mathematics curricula position her students to launch and be ready for rigor in 9th grade Algebra.
Teacher Commentary
Teacher Commentary
Lisa Hennefarth
I love connecting with students. I've been recently reading their reflection portfolios, and one of the things the students have told me time and time again was that I always allowed them to think for themselves, and they appreciated that. I always made them feel safe to be able to articulate their viewpoints, or that I wanted them to see it differently, and I always embraced their creativity around an approach to mathematics because it can't just be a one box fits all.
When I first started to become a teacher, I was taught explicit direct instruction -- that is, “you're going to say it this way, and this is the script.” And they came in to videotape me because I was such a great soldier at doing it, but I remember asking the question, “are they going to be better students if they just mimic me?” And the answer is no.
I’m always reflecting, always changing every year. I can't just use what I did last year, oh no, because it's always different. My students are different; different viewpoints change the way I want to approach, like we've already talked about how next year I'm going to start the year off with patterns and pattern recognition.