The Story of the Lesson

When a parent asks “What did you do in school today?” it is not uncommon for the answer to be along the lines of “not much”. Holding a reflection at the end of a maths lesson makes it much more likely that the answer will be fuller than that, and there is one technique that almost guarantees that the question will be met by a full and interesting account of what was being learned in today’s maths lesson.

At one of my PD sessions in South Australia Lynn from Lake Windermere Primary School liked my examples of students being asked to tell the story of the lesson. She decided to find out what stories her students would tell and so she gave them paper which they folded into quarters which gave them spaces for different parts of the lesson. The students were asked to draw and write the story of the number line maths lesson. As you will see from the samples below her students were able to retell the story of the lesson clearly and highlight the parts that were special to them.

The first sample shows Lynn in her chair and the students on the carpet as she introduces the lesson.

The second sample focuses on some of the pedagogical moves that Lynn used, first some mental warm ups then the introduction of the rule that the numbers on the number line should be evenly spaced. The students had time to work and then came back to the carpet for the reflection where they were able to share and ‘teach’ others about what they had learnt.

It must have been very gratifying to Lynn to be able to get this window into how her students perceived the lesson as well as to know that she certainly had a very strong story thread through her lesson.

I have been asking many of the classes that I have worked with this year to tell the story of the lesson and it is interesting and informative to hear what they say. I would recommend this as a reflection tool from time to time.