After reviewing the student's work, I can see that this student has a strong understanding of the concepts discussed in class. She has shown a clear step-by-step procedure for solving the problems and has answered each question correctly. During the group activity, she was able to explain to her partners how to solve the problems. Her explanations were clear and thorough. The only thing I would like to see from this student is some indication that she is checking the solution each time. She has check marks on her paper that shows she has compared answers, but I would like to see her substitute her solution into the original equation to verify that her answer is correct.
I feel that today's lesson was very successful. While some of the students were making common multiplication or sign errors in the beginning of class, I believe that the manipulatives helped the students to make sense of the algebraic operations needed to solve a two-step equation. I saw some of my weaker students show improvement as they practiced more problems. Because there was some discussion about typical algebraic mistakes, it may be helpful for a follow-up lesson to include an activity in which students analyze a series of problems worked out incorrectly. The students would be asked to look for any mistakes in the problem and then make necessary corrections to the problem. This may help my weaker students who may still encounter difficulty with determining the appropriate operation.
