It is very important that teachers are constantly assessing the progress of their students to make sure they are comprehending the information that you present to them. Once you realize that your students are confused and not understanding a certain concept it is important to review or reteach a lesson. Nowadays I think there are too many teachers that are trying to "get through the material" rather than teach the material.

I notice many times in math that my students do not pick up on all of the concepts that I present to them the first time. I assess on a regular basis, and as soon as I see that they are not comprehending at a level I feel is appropriate, I need to reteach the lesson.

I once taught a unit to my Integrated Math class about matrices and the properties that are associated with them. I had thought they understood the material, because they were doing well with their homework assignments and group work. Test time came, and to my surprise many of the students did not pass. At first I thought it was laziness and a lack of studying, but I quickly realized that they just did not understand. It was important then that I took the time to review some of the material and reteach some of the concepts that they were not understanding. To do this I created a review packet with all of the important terms and properties we learned dealing with matrices. We then went through them as a class doing many examples as a group and then individually. To take a look at this lesson, click here.

Reflection: I feel that this lesson was very useful for my students. Although we had to take another day to review the information, and then we took another day to re-test, it was definitely worth the time. I would much rather have my students understand the concepts then race to finish them. We have used matrices several other times now, and I think since we took the time to go back they have a much better handle on them. I would repeat any lesson again if I felt it would help my students.

Click here to see a lesson on Diverse Learners.