Pre-Reading Lesson Reflection

Recently, I was tasked with developing a pre-reading lesson plan and teaching it to a small group of peers. My lesson involved us taking a critical eye to statistical studies by discussing how sample sizes can influence statistical studies, which can cause the study's results to be skewed. While developing my lesson, I wanted to have a way for students to think about sample sizes themselves, which I introduced by conducting a survey using our class as the sample size. I decided that the majority of the lesson would be discussion based, and that I would assess student learning from the mini-lesson using an exit card.
My lesson connects with the Saint Michael's Educational Departments Mission Statement, specifically the pillar stating that "Our learners are passionate and curious scholars", as this lesson is meant to instill a curiosity and understanding of statistics in students. When presented with statistical data in the future, I would like my students to question how the data was found, and to be critical when examining such data. This lesson would also ideally lead into a small assessment where students can examine statistical studies of their own choosing, which creates an opportunity for student choice to find a study which is interesting to them and observing how the study was conducted and where faults may lie.
I really enjoyed developing and teaching this lesson, and learned a lot in the process. One thing which I had the most trouble with was estimating how long an activity would take during the planning period. While I relatively accurate in estimating the length of the activities, my peers and I agreed that there were moments in which I spoke to fast and could have slowed down to take more time with. Another opportunity for improvement would be that I could have given the students a written definition of sample sizes, as their understanding of sample sizes came from our discussion during the lesson. To improve for next time, I will do my best to slow down every now and then to spend more time on some activities and ideas being discussed, while also ensuring that any new vocabulary is being accurately defined for students. I believe that I was successful in reaching my pre-reading goals as well, in which I hoped that students would be able to identify studies which might be influenced by specific aspects of sample sizes. The exit cards showed me how well students understood the lesson through creative responses. I learned a lot about pre-reading and teaching from this lesson, and will improve in these areas moving forward!