Approx. 20-25 students

U-shaped rows facing the smart board

The teacher was good at noticing students who were drifting off mentally and calling them back to attention. She had the students work by themselves before solving the problem together. She called on individual students to solve a problem on the board and then had the rest of the class observe the answer and figure out if the student’s answer was correct.

The students worked well on their own. The students were also very respectful when the teacher called on them to pay attention or solve a problem on the smart board.

This lesson could work well for students with learning disabilities because most of it was individual work. This would allow for good focus; however, this could also cause some to lose their train of thought quickly. 

Table groups

The teacher asked what the expectations were for the presentations they were going to do, she did not simply remind them of the expectations, she made them call to remembrance what they had already learned. She let the student give peer evaluation which helped the students pay attention and take on a leadership role. 

The students took their work very seriously and followed the expectations for the presentations and were very respectful.

This type of lesson could be applied in small groups with students with learning disabilities to foster good communication and critical thinking skills.

20-25 students

Large table groups

The teacher tied together learning and growing grass (producers) with consumers very well. She had crickets that the students could interact with and observe within their groups. This kept the students engaged and excited about the lesson. The teacher did a great job of keeping the students on track by pausing the observations to ask questions about what they were seeing and how that tied in to what they had previously been learning. Finally, at the end of the lesson she had them sit on the floor, and asked them questions about what they had observed and let the students talk it out.

The students were a bit antsy throughout the whole lesson, but they seemed to grasp the concepts and pay attention when the teacher told them to do something or told them about what they were observing.

This may work for different learning needs; however it would be important to avoid over-stimulation from these types of activities. 

Table groups

20-25 students

The teacher had the students work on the math problem individually first helping them as they needed it, and then she had them work in partners. This allowed the students to work through this problem using what they knew, and then allowed for them to teach each other.

The students did very well staying on task and working on what they should. They helped each other solve the problems. 

Working in partners could be good for communication skills and might help some learn by talking through the problem with their peers.