If you’ve stumbled upon the resources on mathmedic.com you’ve probably picked up on the fact that all lessons are taught in an “Experience First, Formalize Later” model. But what does that actually look like in the classroom? Over the years we have received SO many requests for video footage of us teaching a lesson. The wait is over.
Today we’ll be sharing with you clips from a full-length EFFL lesson, showing you an example of each of the key components of the lesson. The lesson being taught in the video is “How Much Does My Pizza Cost?” from our Algebra 2 course. In order to get the most out of the videos, we recommend working through the lesson first.
Launch Activity
In this clip, Sarah launches the task and reminds students about the read-discuss-write protocol they will be using to work through the task in their groups.
Debrief Activity with Margin Notes
After students have had about 15-20 minutes to work in their groups, there is a whole class debrief of the activity. You will see Sarah elicit student responses, invite students to respond to the ideas of their peers, and add notes in the margins of the activity (using Papermate flair pens!) with the formal vocabulary, notation, and ideas that students will be expected to know.
QuickNotes
To continue formalizing and generalizing the ideas explored in the activity, the class records a set of “QuickNotes” on the backside of the activity handout. In this clip you will see Sarah facilitate that note-making experience, adding in opportunities for explanation, elaboration, and student conversation. At the end of the clip, Sarah launches students to work on the Check Your Understanding questions in their groups.
Going Over the Check Your Understanding (CYU)
Instead of going over each question of the CYU, Sarah chooses to have a mini-discussion about one question in the set (question 3). This question was chosen because it was least like other ones students had seen before. It also gives students opportunities to think about lines in point-slope form in the abstract, rather than contextually.
If you’re new to teaching with EFFL, here are a few more helpful resources: