Friday's taxonomy lesson covered different phyla of the kingdom Animalia, and I used an activity that required the students in our section of BiologyI to derive the composition of each phyla themselves. Specifically, each student received a set of photographs (separate cut-outs) including several examples of organisms from each phyla, nine separate labels, each containing the name of one of the animal phyla and the organisms it contains, and nine short descriptions, one per phyla, on separate pieces of cut construction paper. They were required to group the pictures, phyla descriptions, and labels on nine separate pieces of notebook paper, such that each sheet contained one label (red), one description (purple), and the appropriate pictures. Since this was a somewhat unconventional way of teaching the animal phyla, I used the "Muddiest Part of the Lecture" strategy outlined by Donna Qualters to find out if the students found anything about the lesson particularly unclear or difficult.

Since there are only two students in our section of the class, we interact with them frequently. The "Muddiest Part of the Lecture" strategy allowed them to voice any quiet criticisms or concerns. At the end of the period, I collected their anonymous comments on any unclear parts of the lesson. Each student commented that most unclear part of the lesson was the pictures. Since success at the activity required the students to identify the organisms according to description, they struggled with organims that had similar characteristics but belonged to different phyla. While part of the problem is simply that different organisms have similar appearances with only subtle differences in morphology and description, I can be especially careful if I use the activity again to choose pictures that clearly emphasize the morphological differences between organisms. We will of course review each student's work next class so that each is clear about the differences between phyla. The strategy was helpful, and might be more so in class with more students since a smaller proportion of students in a large class might be willing to openly voice their concerns. I would use the method again to check on the effectiveness of a lesson and pinpoint problem areas in teaching strategy or content.