4.4 Observations
4.4.2 Lesson Observation Two
4.4.2 Lesson Observation Two
Mandy was assisted by the teacher aide to find a place in the circle. She sat next to the teacher.
Mrs London: Thank you for coming so nicely to the carpet. Bananas, thank you for coming
quietly this time. I will have to give your group a star today. Okay, let’s do some counting.
(Learners then started counting in 2’s, 5’s and 10’s.)
Mrs London: Boys and girls, today we will be learning about breaking down numbers into
tens and units. (The teacher then wrote a number 20 on the board in big bold numbers. She took out flard cards and placed them on the carpet showing a two 10 flard cards. The Albino learners seemed to cope with the big bold black writing on the flard cards and also they could see the number on the board. The teacher said the number out verbally so that Mandy could also hear.)
Mrs London: Put up your hand if you know how many tens they are in 20? (A sighted learner
politely raised his hand and said there were two tens in 20.)
Mrs London: Well done. (She then showed the learners that two flard cards of 10 make 20.
She took the 20 flard card out also. However, the blind learner could not see this demonstration as there were no Braille flard cards for the learner to feel.)
Mrs London: Who wants to choose a number for us between 20 and 30? (This time one of the
Albino learners suggested, “Twenty five”. Mrs London then wrote the number on the board.
She asked the learners to break down the number into units of ten. Some learners were reluctant to answer so Mrs London prompted them by calling out a name. A shy sighted girl replied that there were 25 tens. Mrs London showed her the flard cards 20 and 5. She placed the 5 over the 0. The learners could now see that 20 and 5 made 25. She explained that there were 2 tens and 5 units. By this time the blind learner could not see anything and so she was
just listening to the teacher and learners’ voices to gain some understanding. She seemed to be distracted and shook her head constantly.)
Mrs London: Let’s get someone else to choose a number? (I observed the teacher aide
prompting Mandy to stop shaking her head and softly telling her to put up her hand. The learner put up her hand and softly called out number 34.)
Mrs London: Well done, Mandy, we will have to give you a star today. (The teacher then
wrote the number on the board and she asked Mandy how many tens were in 34.The learner hesitated. She said there were 10 tens.)
Mrs London: Mandy, try to think about the number 34. Let’s break it down: the first number
is the tens and the second number is the units. What is the first number? (The learner replied 3 and the teacher agreed. She put a flard card on the floor to show 30.)
Mrs London: Mandy, how many units are there? Pick your head up, darling, so we can hear
you. (The learner hesitated.)
Mrs London: Who would like to help Mandy out? (A boy put his hand up and answered 4.
The teacher showed a 4, covering the 0 to make 34. The blind learner, however, could not see this reinforcement of the concept using the flard cards.)
After doing some more examples, the teacher then asked the learners to go back to their seats. She handed out their maths textbooks and asked them to turn to a specific page. All the learners, except the blind learner, had a textbook in front of them. The Albino learners had their textbooks on a raised desk. The teacher aide took her seat next to the blind learner whilst the teacher stood in the front of the class. The teacher explained the worksheet in the book telling the learners that they had to break down the numbers into tens and units, like she
had just explained on the carpet. While the learners were busy with the worksheet, Mandy was assisted by the teacher aide who orally told her the numbers she had to break down. She used her Brailler to Braille the answers. The teacher then called small groups of learners to the carpet to further test their understanding of breaking down numbers. She used flard cards to do this while other learners worked independently to complete the worksheet. She then explained to learners who were done to complete a dot-to-dot worksheet on counting in 5’s and 10’s when they had finished their work. She left this in a basket, explaining that this was an extended activity. The blind learner did not get called to the carpet to work in a group.
When she had finished her work, the teacher aide handed a Braille number chart to her and they did bonds of 15 as an extended activity, because she could not do the dot-to-dot activity.
My time was then up so I let the teacher know and left the classroom.
4.4.3 Observation Lesson Three