Geogebra Reflection Activity
Artifact Description
This artifact is an exploration activity that uses a geometry software program called Geogebra for students to investigate reflections. I created this artifact, a worksheet on exploring Reflections, in the course: Curriculum and Instruction 402: Teaching Diverse Middle Grade Students. The Reflection Investigation activity requires students to not only identify points of reflection but also use the Geogebra software to drag the points of reflections to explore the behavior of reflected points on the coordinate plane. The worksheet for the activity includes a variety of questions that prompt students about the behavior of reflections and ask them about their generalized observations.
Satisfying the Standards (Indicators: 5C, 5F, 5N)
The Geogebra activity models the standard of instructional delivery by differentiating instruction through allowing students to explore reflections when using Geogebra. This artifact showcases my ability to differentiate instruction by utilizing technology. I implemented effective differentiated instruction by asking students to identify and label points of reflections and drag the points from a ready made geogebra file to explore the behavior of the coordinate points when moved. Part of learning and demonstrating one's learning based on Bloom's taxonomy requires students to create and analyze things based on the concepts they have learned. As a result, in the third part of the activity, I ask students to create and examine reflections, recording what they notice about the distance of the point and the reflected point and tie it back to their original predictions. From asking students to create and analyze in the activity as a final step, I demonstrate my knowledge of implementing strategies to maximize student engagement. Furthermore, if I just told students about dragging the points and told them what happens without giving them the opportunity to explore and think for themselves, I believe many kinesthetic and even visual learners would be at a disadvantage. Therefore, by giving students the opportunity to describe their observations about what happens to the original points when dragged and what happens to the reflected points, I am using the software as a means of technology to accomplish differentiated instructional objectives to enhance the learning for each student.
Professional Development
As I plan for my future class, it is important to keep in mind the spectrum of learners I will have in the classroom. Not every student thinks the same way, and it is critical for me as a teacher to take this into consideration while teaching. Mathematics requires a significant amount of conceptual understanding, especially once students reach more advanced levels in their courses. But I believe that in order for students to reach these more advanced level courses and to be well equipped, having a solid fundamental conceptual understanding of key mathematical ideas and rules is key. Therefore, as a teacher, it is my responsibility to help students build a solid conceptual understanding of the fundamentals in mathematics through implementing differentiated instruction and providing students the opportunities to learn a concept that can be presented in multiple ways. If students seem to not respond to a particular technique or instructional strategy, I will need to find other ways of teaching the same concept for my students to understand, whether or not it is through technology, interactive activities, or other strategies.
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