Professional Presentation

For my professional presentation I presented on the C-R-A (Concrete, Representational, Abstract) progression model. This instructional model is often used in math to support students learning through different ways that math can be represented. The C-R-A model provides students with the opportunity to make meaningful connections between the different stages so that they can better understand the standard algorithm method.

With my professional presentation, I was offered a unique opportunity to share this strategy with two different audiences and practice the instructional model with other teachers. The first time I presented this instructional model I was at a cohort professional development for all interventionists within the Lexington Two School District. Most of the interventionists were introduced to the C-R-A model at a previous meeting which allowed me the opportunity to provide resources that they could use in their classroom to successfully implement this instructional model. It also allowed me to focus on walking them through an example lesson using the C-R-A progression model on percentage bars.

The second time I shared my presentation was with the math teachers at my school, R.H. Fulmer Middle School. The presentation of the C-R-A model in this meeting was brand new for our teachers so I was able to introduce the instructional model to them, provide resources, and walk through the example lesson. In addition to this, the 6th grade math teachers allowed me to come into their classroom and complete my example lesson with their students. I used the base information that I created for the presentation and elaborated on it more for a full lesson and a foldable that students could take notes on.

1. Presentation Flow

The presentation on the C-R-A progression model contained a lot of important and helpful information, however, there are visual improvements that could be made to make the presentation easier to work through. For example, some of the slides that go over the stages of the C-R-A model contain a lot of content that could have been better broken down and split up so that the slide did not have too much information on it. Additionally, there is not always a clear transition in the presentation. This is especially evident when the presentation switches from introducing the C-R-A model to demonstrating an example lesson. 

2. Example Lesson Improvements

The entire last half of the presentation consists of the example lesson on using the C-R-A instructional model on the topic of percentage bars, which connects to the math standard of percentage proportions. The example lesson in the presentation goes over basic materials needs, steps to follow, and practice problems for each stage. However, when I went to create this lesson for teaching in our 6th grade classrooms, I realized how much information was missing for this lesson to be developed. While it was successful during the presentation because I was leading others through it with the percentage bars that I provided, it was not detailed enough for someone to implement in their classroom. More information should be added to the presentation for clarification, but it would also be helpful to provide a separate lesson plan for teachers to better understand and to possibly use on their own.

3. Additional Resources Needed

While the example lesson within the presentation is beneficial to understanding how the C-R-A progression model can be used, one example lesson is not impactful for teachers, especially if they don’t ever teach this standard. To better aid those who are interested in implementing this instructional model in their classroom, a resource of lessons that can be taught using this model should be provided. This is not something that I would be able to create single handedly, but I could research and evaluate resources or example lesson plans that would be valuable to various math topics.