In the beginning of the lesson, gave my students directions, passed out the worksheets and reviewed the norms for group work. I separated the students around the classroom and pulled my small group on the rug. I was AMAZED with my class when they were working in groups. I did not have to remind them of the appropriate conversation level for working in groups and there were no problems with any of my students. Seeing this made me realize how much they have grown over the months as students. In the beginning of the year, my students had a lot of trouble working in groups. They would argue constantly and not keep the appropriate conversation level. But that is different now. This shows me that the more practice students have with something (I have put them in groups many, many times), they better they get it it. I was so proud.
This is where I had a problem. I wanted my students to sit together in their groups so they all had access to their papers, but I did not want them scattered around the room. So I just told them to go back to their seats. I realized that this was a problem. I wanted to go up on the board and model how they solved the problem for the class but not every student has access to the sheet they worked the problems out on because they were not sitting with their groups. I was constrained as to who I could call up on the board and I felt uneasy about this. I was extremely frustrated with part of the lesson. I wanted to stop it and do something else, but I did not think that I could do that. When I ended the lesson, I felt frustrated because I did not feel that my students got the opportunity to shine in this lesson like they should have.
Some time after the lesson, I talked to my PRT about the lesson. I expressed how proud I was of my students for working in groups and also my frustration while the students were trying to share their work. She informed me that I could have stopped the lesson as soon as I got frustrated and changed it to a format the worked for me. I could of had the students sit in their seats with their group members so they all had access to the paper. I believe this would have worked much better than having the students in their normal seats. Now I know that I can change the lesson at any time if I believe that it is not doing justice for my students.