Clip 2/18: Pre-Lesson Part 2
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In this clip, Lisa Hennefarth describes the lesson planned for the day, which asks students to write a commentary on a swim meet: students will look at a graph representing a three-person race, interpret the graph, and write a commentary that engagingly describes the changing leads. She describes students’ prior knowledge about racing as well as mathematical concepts the students had learned that relate to the day’s lesson: reading graphs, what lines mean, what intersections mean. Lisa anticipates that her students will look at the steepness of the graph, interpret the graph, and apply their knowledge of functions to interpret and describe in detail what is happening in the graph. She wonders: will the students notice that no swimmer stops? Will they be able to determine who wins the race? Will they identify what the different intersecting points mean on the graph for the three swimmers? Will they notice that no swimmer’s graph is a straight line? She hopes her students will make connection to a previous unit on bivariate data and use relevant mathematics vocabulary as they meet the challenge of a writing-intensive learning experience.
Teacher Commentary
Teacher Commentary
Lisa Hennefarth
This lesson was recorded in January 2020, and was an amazing heterogeneous group of students that weren’t afraid. In that class, it was the first year that we had done heterogeneous groupings, so those students didn't have Algebra readiness, they didn't have support. And I remember wondering to my colleagues, “why are we putting this label on them?” This video proves that they rose to the occasion, that they could do the math. It levels the playing field. The other thing that was interesting about that particular group, is that sometimes that you just have that gel and mix. This group of students had to have been the most diverse -- not only academically diverse, but ethnically diverse, and I had a handful of students in the classroom that had some learning disabilities that were unique. They all treated each other with a great deal of respect. I remember just always looking at this group, and I could pair students with anybody I wanted to in that class.
In the fall, every day they walked in, and we did random groupings. Influenced by Peter Lilijedahl, who does The Thinking Classroom, I would have the students walk in, stand around the perimeter of the room, and they would see me randomize their groups. So every single day they had to work with a new set of friends. It actually grew this wonderful community of learners.