A Lesson That Worked

Refreshed and ready to begin another day of teaching, I made my way to the Nzara Secondary School, where 20 Senior ll students were awaiting their Mathematics teacher. Me. I had been previously asked by the headmaster of Nzara Secondary School to assist the students of Senior ll by teaching them basic algebra, and how to solve basic algebraic equations. As the students are gearing up for their upcoming examination in March, the headmaster's request of me was one I welcomed.

When I arrived in the classroom I was pleased to see all the students had given me their undivided attention. They were all seated, pens and paper out on their desks and ready to learn. Without waisting any time I posed a question to the class, and wanted to get a reading on how well the material I will be teaching today will go over. I asked, “have any of you been introduced to algebra, or know anything about solving algebraic expression?” As expected, the class remain silent, whether they were apprehensive to answering the question, or unsure of the answer I was looking for was not revealed. Thus, not dwelling on it I simply took note of the shyness of the class. I thought, “well if this is the way it's going to be, these students will not learn very much.”

I started off with notes for the class to take, defining algebraic terms and concepts the students will/need to learn. Then I moved into introducing basic algebraic expressions. Stating, let “m” represent 1 mango, than, I wrote a equation of the board. Hoping to get the class moving and thinking in the right direction.

Evaluate this expression: m + m + 2m =?

That simple equation was to serve as the ice-breaker and allow the students begin thinking mathematically. Upon the first algebraic question posed to the class the students were quite, reserved and shy. I realized that if I wanted to have a productive class session that I would have to call on individuals to solve or participate in solving the equation at hand, and not rely on the students volunteering the answers. That would get us no where. I called on a student that were looking inquisitively at the board, and he unconfidently announced the answer.c 4m, 4 mangos. The fact that he had gotten the correct answer was a step in the right direction and a model for his peers.

From personal experience I know that learning a seemingly foreign concept is quite challenging. And for these students learning new and challenging ideas in, what may be their second or third language must be a challenge in and of itself. For that reason I knew standing in the front of the class giving a lecture will ultimately not provide the students with the knowledge I wanted them to have.

After we wrapped up the note taking and class examples I provided, I wanted to begin a more hands-on approach in helping the students strengthen their grasp of algebra. I did this by dividing the students in to 5 groups of 4, with 10 questions per group for them to collectively to solve. As the students got into their respective groups I put each groups designated questions on the black board. Each group had its own set of questions to prevent the convenient and inconspicuous, “what did you get for number 1” scenarios.

Examples of the algebraic expressions the students were to solve are as following:

Group 1             Group 2          Group 3            Group 4                 Group 5

z + z =?              2g + g =?        3d + 2d =?        7m + 5m =?           b + b =?

2n + 2n =?         8g + 3g =?      8m + 5m =?      6n + 2n =?             7b + 8b =?

3m – m - 2m =? 20h – 10g =?  9n – 7n =?         3x – x =?               12m – 8m =?

10m – m =?       5z – 2m =?      15m – 8m =?    11m – 11m =?        9n – 4n =?

4m × 4m =?       6m × 10m =?  7d × 9d =?        10n × 3n =?            15m × 4m =?

10n × 10m = ?   n × n =?          6m × 4m =?      5d × 3d =?              13n × n =?

1z ÷ 1z =?         20z ÷ 2z =?     25n ÷ 5n =?      10m ÷ 5m =?          30x ÷ 2x =?

24z ÷ 4z =?       6n ÷ 2n =?       n ÷ n =?            30n ÷ 6n =?           15n ÷ 3n =?

20m ÷ 5m =?    (5m – 2m)²=?   16x ÷ 4x – x =? (10d × 2d)²=?       14b – 7b + 5b =?

(4m²) – (2m²) =? 28n ÷ 7n =     (12m)²=?           18m + 9m -m =?   (8n ÷ 2n)²

As the students were working in their groups, I went to each group consecutively and, provide assistance and reassurance as they attempted these algebraic expressions. My hope was, as I allowed these small groups to carry on, students who had acquired a basic understanding of concepts of algebra I was teaching would help other students who were still in a confused state understand this new material. To my surprise this is exactly what transpired. Amongst the chitter chatter, off topic and different language communication taking place, there were those students working diligently within their groups acting as leader. Showing the other students the way in which to go about solving the expression, and helping the others make sense of it. I was very happy to see this taking place.

Walking around and assisting the students was my role as they engaged this group activity. As I went from group to group the students addressed me as “master, or teacher”. I did not think much on having an official title, other than “George”, because as I surveyed the students, I came to realize. I am no older than they are, yet I am here teaching them information I learned at a younger age. I quickly gave thanks for my being educated in the United States, because without that, I would not be here, and I would not be sharing information with these students. Needless I, of course, decided to dwell on those thoughts later, because now I am teaching.

As class was soon drawling to a close. I had one student from each group come up to the black board and write in their answers. As each group came up and did so, I lead the class in assessing the expression to see whether the anticipated answer was correct or not. In the event that the answer was incorrect, I then demonstrated the expression on the board while giving other similar examples to ensure the student's understood. With each ensuing group representative that came up to put their groups answers on the black board the students became more and more comfortable announcing whether or not the designated groups answer to the corresponding expression was correct or not. This showed me that not only were the students slowly emerging from the apprehensive and shy states they demonstrated at the beginning of class, and becoming more and more comfortable with my teaching methods and myself overall as their teacher, but ultimately it showed me that the students were now, in fact, getting a firm grasp on the information before them.

When class came to a close, I assigned the students home work, similar to the work they did in their small groups. Once each student copied down the homework they were free to leave. What I did not expect happened next. As each student was exiting the classroom they came up to me and shook my hand saying, “thank you for the lesson of today. It was good, and it helped me.” I was overjoyed that each student was now walking away from the classroom smarter then they were upon their arrival, and I was grateful for that. Those actions really showed me that one person can really make a difference in someones life, and today I have made a difference in 20 student's lives and broadened their educational awareness, which was both an honor and privilege to have done.

Reflections on what went well in todays teaching:

The students displayed a firm understanding of the material taught. Some students also demonstrated great leadership as they helped their peers make sense of this new material. I thought todays lesson went tremendously well, with an outstanding results that the students are now at at the point where newer and more intellectually challenging material can be introduced to them. Again, I felt relieved on progression of the lesson. My initial fear was that, because the students had not been exposed to algebraic expression before it my not make any sense to them as to why there are variables in their math problems. However, the students were able to grasp the concepts and the lesson went well.