Evidence 1. "Let's Party" Discounts Lesson |
This lesson was implemented in a Math 8 classroom. Students were learning about calculating discounts using percent proportions. As an extension activity, students were tasked with planning a class party with $50.00. They were given fifteen different items to choose from, each with a different starting price and discount. Students were required to choose at least three different items to include at their party. Their goal was to get as close as they could to $50.00 without going over budget. Students worked on this activity with a partner.
This lesson relates to Standard 1, Learner Development, because it activated students’ prior knowledge by making connections to their personal experiences and linking ideas to already familiar ideas. Designing a class party was specifically chosen because it is something that every student in the class has had experience with and will understand the goal. In the lesson students shared their own experiences with discounts and talked with one another about how a discount will impact the price of an item. This was developmentally appropriate because it connected to a part of every student’s culture. In addition, the multiple options for items to have at the party allowed students to choose the items that were familiar to them and each item had a different price and discount, so students could choose the numbers that they felt most comfortable with. Students also were challenged during this lesson. Many of the groups had to try different combinations of items to reach their goal of $50.00. This encouraged discussion among students about the best approach. In addition, some groups were close to their goal of $50.00, but their selected items would not make a great class party, so they had to change some of their purchasing decisions. One group in particular found a way to reach $50.00 but all of their items were types of sodas. We talked about whether this was a realistic item list for a class party. They decided it would be a soda taste testing party instead! This artifact is important to me because this was the first lesson that my Math 8 students became extremely engaged in. From the start of class, when they saw “Let’s Party” written on the board, I had them hooked. Each student was actively participating and discussing ideas with their partner. Numerous times I watched students stop their work to explain a concept to their partner or show them how they calculated the discount price. It was encouraging to see them collaborating so effectively and hearing “Ms. Staskin, we got it, come see!” from across the room was definitely the highlight of the lesson for me. The students were obviously proud of their accomplishments. I believe that the students openly sharing their successes with one another supported their social and emotional development. This lesson set the tone for my expectations of the class when working in groups and gave me a great platform to start to build relationships with my students. It taught me a lot about how each student responded to group work and was great feedback on the individual learning needs that my students had. |
Evidence 2. Collaborative Teaching Project Lesson 1 |
This lesson was implemented for a class of EL students, all at various proficiency levels. I planned and co-taught with another student from the graduate school. We discussed our plans with teachers at the high school where we implemented our lesson who work with EL Students. They gave us guidance on writing the Model Performance Indicators for the lesson and determining what would qualify as showing understanding for students at various EL proficiency levels: beginner, lower intermediate, intermediate, and upper intermediate.
This relates to Standard 1, Learner Development, because it shows that I recognize that patterns of linguistic learning and development vary individually among students. This lesson was designed to be accessible to students at multiple levels of English proficiency. We designed the instruction of this lesson to meet learners’ current needs by teaching them a concept that would be a basis of mathematical understanding essential to various algebra concepts, like simplifying radical expressions. This lesson also promoted further development of students’ conceptual understanding of mathematics. We used area models and connected them to algebraic methods for determining the factors of numbers. Understanding area models will help students when multiplying binomials and factoring quadratic trinomials in algebra I. This lesson also shows that I show respect for diverse talents of all learners. While every student in the class was at different levels of English proficiency, they all were able to participate in the lesson and show their understanding. During the lesson, I had students come up to the board to draw their area models. Some of the students who came up to the board did not understand what I was asking them to do, so their work was not what I expected them to write. Even so, the class was extremely supportive of their classmates that chose to share their work and I encouraged this by making sure to use the work each student wrote in the class discussion. This shows that I show respect for all of my students and support their social and emotional development. This artifact is important to me because working with EL students was challenging but extremely rewarding. This lesson was a lot of fun to teach. The students loved working with the square tiles and were very proud of their models. Most of our communications were through pictures and models, but the students still learned something in the end. This was fun to see because even though it seemed impossible to communicate with some of the students, we still worked hard to do so and were successful. |
Evidence 3. Geometry Lesson with 5 Practices |
I designed this lesson as an investigative activity for students to develop the formula for finding the sum of the interior angles of a convex polygon. Students were asked to look for patterns in the sum of the angles of various convex polygons. It is an open ended task that the students were able to approach in multiple ways. I wrote out possible student solutions and how I would sequence these strategies during the class discussion ahead of time so that I was prepared for using the students’ ideas throughout the class. I also included accommodations for ELs, students with ADHD, gifted students, and struggling learners.
This lesson relates to Standard 1, Learner Development, because it shows that I understand how learners grow and develop, recognizing that student learning and development vary individually across cognitive and physical areas. I planned out advancing questions for students based on the strategies they were using to solve the problems. This shows that I listen and respond to group interaction and encourage discussion among students. Since student development does vary individually, I had to be prepared with responses to students who were at different levels. I also planned accommodations for various types of learners, including ELs drawing pictures to explain their thinking, scaffolding for struggling learners, and less advancing questions for gifted students. The lesson itself is set up in a way for students to use their strengths as a basis for growth and their errors as an opportunity for learning by allowing them to choose their method for solving the problem. Since all students have different strengths, this lesson met them where they were at and gave every student, no matter what level of cognitive development, access to the lesson and a place to begin working on the problem. I chose this artifact because I think it exemplifies my ability to design lessons that are open ended and allow all students to access them. When writing this lesson, I had to think about how students would approach the problem and what common misconceptions they would have. I think that my ability to produce multiple expected student responses and how I will advance their thinking shows that I am well prepared for all of my classes and work hard to provide a productive learning experience for all of my students. |