Throughout my calculus discussion twice a week, I definitely see the difference in my quality of questioning of the students whether or not I prepare the lesson well ahead of time or I go off a generic lesson plan for the day. I think my students learn more on these days when I prepare questions for my students as well as an introduction to the topic.
Upon reflection of my questioning with my students, I notice that I go very quickly, wanting my students to come to conclusions faster than they are (or rightly should), mainly because I am time limited and the class is set up into groups where I need to circulate and facilitate understanding. If I stay too long at one group, another group can get stuck and not progress through the day's investigation. I'm not sure what to do about this because the students are supposed to be getting through the entire worksheet each class period, but if I allow for more processing time the students may not get to the topics they must cover that day. I believe this is a common problem in all classrooms which must teach to a test, or follow strict guidelines.
I'm going to have an informal midterm ICES (Instructor & Course Evaluation System) form so that I can see what the students want changed before the end of the semester, when the formal ICES forms are distributed. I will be only teaching this course at the University for this semester since I will be student teaching next semester, so it is valuable that I do this ahead of time, too
What questions do you think I should include in this evaluation form?
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