Task 3

Missouri Pre-Service Teacher Assessment (MoPTA)

Missouri State Lesson Plan Form*

*based on Eric Jensen’s Teaching with the Brain in Mind 2nd Edition, Jensen’s 10 Minute Lesson Plan http://www.10minutelessonplans.com ,

revised: csfairbairn2014

Teacher Candidate: Malori McGhee Date: 10/10/2014

Main Subject: Math (Estimating Sums and Differences) Grade: 4If MoPTA, Task # 3

Desired End Point Essential Question (overarching content question)

How can I use place value to round multi-digit numbers to get an estimation by adding or subtracting?

Describe the Evidence of Learning CAS and/or GLE

4. NBT. 3 Use place value understanding to round multi-digit whole numbers to any place.

4.OA Solve multistep word problems posed with whole numbers and having whole-number answers using the four operations, including problems in which remainders must be interpreted. Represent these problems using equations with a letter standing for the unknown quantity. Assess the reasonableness of answers using mental computation and estimation strategies using rounding.

Learning Goal/s and Objective/s What students will know and what the students will do appropriate for meeting curricular and student needs

LG –The student will know that in order to round if the digit in the place value to the right of the selected place value is more than four they round the selected place value up, if it is four or less they keep the digit in the selected place value the same, and both times everything following the indicated place value turns to zeros.

LG #2 for Focus Student 1 ONLY: The student will know that from least to greatest the places values are ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, ten thousands, hundred thousands, and then millions.

OBJ –The student will write the correct rounded numbers and then add or subtract the numbers by using the indicated place value by looking at the digit to the right of the selected place value and determine whether the selected place value digit would round up or stay the same by getting 7 out of 10 correct on independent practice (9 out of 10 correct for Focus Student 2).

Personal Teaching Goal – Give effective feedback during and after the lesson.

Assessment Tools How student learning will be evaluated including a self-assessment

ITEMS COLLECTED

CRITERIA FOR MEASUREMENT

OBJECTIVE ASSESSMENT IS ALIGNED TO

FEEDBACK

Independent Practice Worksheet

Getting at least 7 out of 10

CCS 4. NBT. 3

Conferencing with student the next morning during planners about their answers on Independent practice. Write responses on the worksheet when grading it.

Guided Practice For Focus Student 1 and 2

Following directions, quick comprehension check

CCS 4. NBT. 3

Verbal feedback, individual instruction if needed

Teacher Content Knowledge and Common Student Misunderstandings What the teacher needs to know to instruct the lesson

The teacher has to know how to do estimation through place value understanding and rounding. One of the main difficulties I predict the students may have with this content is having place value mastered enough to be able to round two numbers to a given place value. Another difficulty I see the students encountering with this content are the students knowing when to round up, or when to stay. Another issue the students may have is keeping which place value they are to deciding to round up or leave the same straight, and not accidentally rounding the one they are just looking at. They may have issues remembering how difference and sum compare.

Prior Knowledge Needed Previous content being built upon and how prior knowledge will be determined

The student will need to know how to round each place value. They will need to know that more than 4 they round up and then add zeros and less than four the number stays and they add zeros.

Resources and Materials Materials needed in the planning and instruction of the lesson

Independent Practice Worksheet, Guided Practice worksheets for student and their partner, Superhero Logo on their desk (so they know what group they are in), Extension Activity 1 and 2 if they get done early, Place Value Chart for Focus Student 1

Technology Technology incorporated into the lesson to enhance instruction and student learning

SMART Board, Kagan Cooperative Learning Software, SMART Notebook Presentation

Key Academic Language Language needed for understanding and what students will do with language (words/phrases) to express understanding

Estimation, Sum, Difference, Place Value, Ones, Tens, Hundreds, Thousands, Ten-thousands, Hundred-Thousands, Millions

Levels of Questioning Strategies DOK level and description

DOK Level 1- Recall- Focusing on specific facts, definitions, details, or procedures

DOK Level 2-Skills and Concepts-Focusing on applying skills or concepts and explaining how or why

DOK Level 3-Strategic Thinking-Focusing on reasoning on planning in order to respond, complex and abstract thinking, defending conclusions

DOK Level 4-Extended thinking-Focusing on complex, reasoning, thinking, make real world applications

Classroom Management and Safety Strategies Student behavior needs to help keep students on task and actively engaged

The students will be managed by using a mix of love and logic and assertive discipline. I will use the Super G scoring system that is in place school wide.

Enrichment Activities for early finishers that extend students’ understanding and thinking

Extension Activity 1 and 2. Extension activity 1 is a reteach lesson, for students who want to feel more confident. Extension activity 2 is an enrichment activity for those who believe they have mastered it and want a challenge. They can choose whichever activity they would like to complete, some students may choose to do both.

BEFORE

Preparation of Learners: Differentiation/Accommodations/Modifications Learner needs (including low and high), learning differences, cultural and language differences, etc.

There are four groups of students. I have one student in the lowest group who is extremely at risk. I have two students that are gifted. An additional student who is extremely high in math.

Opening/Housekeeping - Optimal Environment Teacher approach to helping students achieve the learning objectives and meet their needs including seating arrangement, grouping criteria, lighting, music, supplies etc.

For this lesson, students will be cooperative learning groups. I will number the desks of the students 1-4, and with letters A or B. The A and B’s will identify their shoulder partners, as well as their eyeball partners.

DURING

Buy-In and Discovery of Prior Knowledge Pose Essential Question; Engagement – getting learners vested emotionally creating a positive social climate; Frame – the invitation to learn/set-up/background by activating prior knowledge and hooking the learners mentally

Frame – the invitation to learn/set-up/background by activating prior knowledge and hooking the learners mentally

Give a real world example of why we need estimation. Discuss with eyeball partner the difference between sum and difference. Have the students do a drag and drop to review place value. Discuss with the rules of rounding with team.

New Content Explored Explore/Explain - Sequence of events of lesson elements and learning activities in order for students to acquire knowledge; include differentiation strategies for focus students

Explain estimation do example with the students. Have them do the guided practice with their shoulder partner that has boxes to help with place values and rounding. Kagan Cooperative Learning Show Down Brain Break. Discuss phrases that mean estimation, ie: about how many total. Do example of how to estimate to a designated place value, without the boxes to help with rounding. Word problem as a team to estimate vehicle prices.

Content/Skill Processing Activities Elaboration - Deepen learning through extension of content with active processing/collaborative practice with peers or teacher)

Guided practice with shoulder partner. Format number +/- number; designated place value

Assessment and Error Correction Evaluation - Trial-and-error time with feedback and more active processing/practice with peers or teacher

Independent practice-4 different levels. Will grade the independent practice by giving a score over ten. I will then discuss mistakes through conferencing with individual students when they are filling out their planner the next day.

AFTER

Consolidation - Encoding and Transfer Memory Strengthening through real world connection to other content, processes, self and through rehearsing/incorporating/applying building on the learning to increase understanding

Practice “4 or less give it a rest, more than 4 add one more” throughout the day. In social studies have students estimate differences in years rounded to the nearest hundred on a timeline. Throughout the week have them write in their composition journal the times they notice themselves estimating a sum or difference.

Closure Students articulate Essential Question; what was learned and what is coming up next

Discuss with students how now we can use place value to round multi-digit numbers to get an estimation by adding or subtracting. Discuss with students our next lesson.

Highlight all that apply (addressing learning styles, multiple intelligences, and brain compatible strategies used)

Kagan structure graphic organizer technologyvisuals

manipulatives brainstorming/discussiongameexperiment

Blocks strategy problem solvingglobal awarenesscareer seeds

music/rhythm/rhyme writingdrawing/artworkvocalizations

multicultural link movementmnemonic devicedifferentiations

Modification Plan for Focus Student 1

Focus Student 1 will be given an additional learning goal on top of the first learning goal that all students in the class will have. Focus Student 1’s second learning goal is the student will know that from least to greatest the places values are ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, ten thousands, hundred thousands, and then millions. Focus Student one will be asked to add this learning goal to their planner in the morning an hour or so prior to the lesson being conducted. This will aid her because place value is the foundation of understanding place value. Focus Student 1 will be given a blank copy of a place value chart. It will have a place for two numbers to either be added or subtracted, and for the sum or difference. The student will be able to use this place value chart through all parts of the lesson. Because the student doesn’t have the best working memory and often just makes up words for class chants she will have a small piece of paper taped on her desk that says “4 or less give it a rest, more than 4 add one more.” To help the student gain perspective through another student guided practice will be done where she is able to talk through performing the number sentences with a partner. I will also be circulating the classroom during guided practice and giving her individualized instruction if she needs it. This will be there for her to use throughout the entire lesson as well. There will also be a superhero logo on the desk of each student. Her particular superhero will be Superman. This shows her which independent practice worksheet to get out of the folder when it is time. Her independent practice will have questions 1-7 that focus on the learning goal that is specific for her, and 8-10 that is the learning goal for the whole class. The whole independent practice will be displaying the objective. Extension Activity Number One will be available at the end of the lesson to aid in the reteaching of the lesson if she feels as if she needs extra practice or if I decide I want her to try it.

Modification Plan for Focus Student 2

Focus Student 2 I will change the objective for, but not the learning goal. He will also be given a superhero logo that will be placed on his desk. His particular superhero is Captain America and this shows him which independent practice worksheet to do. I will then give him the independent practice that was for the 3 students in the highest group. On his independent practice he will be forced to think extremely abstract and critically. He will have to create problems that require estimation and place value understanding and then perform the operation and get the correct answer to his own problem. On the independent practice when I have word problems I will use his name as one of the people in the number sentences to engage him since he often gets distracted. His ability level in math is so high that even though he has the most challenging independent practice, I want him to get at least 9 out of 10 correct in order to meet the objective. I will tell him prior to the lesson that I want him to get 9 out of 10 correct minimum on his independent practice. He will change what he recorded in his planner that morning to 9 out of 10 instead of 7 out of 10. This will also hopefully help him slow down and read the directions and take his time completing the practice. I will also ask this student to be a class expert, when students have questions he will be allowed to assist them if I am helping another student at the time. During guided practice along with everyone else he will be allowed to talk with his partner, he succeeds when he can share his thoughts through oral communication because he hates to write.

SMART Notebook Presentation

Student Work Sample From the Instruction

Student Work Sample for Focus Student 1Student Work Sample for Focus Student 2

MISSOURI PRE-SERVICE TEACHER ASSESSMENT

TASK THREE (25,500 characters max – no more than 8 pages)

The content focus must be Mathematics if an Elementary Teacher Candidate.

Please note that I have added “objectives” to those prompts that ask about learning goals, so that teacher candidates get more specific instead of global in responses.

Directions: Type answers under each prompt and undo the “bold” print on the answer.

Textbox 3.0: Contextual Information

Guiding Prompts

a) Describe your classroom. Include the grade level, content area, subject matter, and number of students. Provide relevant information about any of your students with special needs. Students in the classroom are in the 4th grade. The students’ ages range from 9 to 10 years old. The students are being taught all content areas and for the first year in the fourth grade are trading classes. There are now only 20 students in the class. We recently had two students move, one boy and one girl. There are 10 boys and 10 girls. There are two teams of 4th grade teachers. Our team the “Super G’s” are taught by three teachers. Ms. Brady teaches Words Their Way (spelling program) and grammar, Science with Guided reading is taught by, Ms. Craig my cooperating teacher, and Social Studies with writing is taught by Mr. Davidson

b) Describe any physical, social, behavioral, and developmental factors that may impact the instruction that occurs in your classroom. Mention any linguistic, cultural, and health considerations that may also impact teaching and learning. Three students in the class attend the gifted program. There is one student with a 504 that has Tourette’s, Asperger’s, and Bipolar Disorder. There is another student who has ADHD and OCD. Both the student with Asperger’s and the student with ADHD/OCD focus better if they are using their sense of touch. One student attends Speech therapy. One student has severe stomach problems that impact learning and another student has problems controlling her bowels during physical exercise. One of my students’ father has terminal cancer. One student is Eastern Indian and is bilingual. All of these factors may impact my teaching and the learning of the students.

c) Describe any factors related to the school and surrounding community that may impact the teaching and learning that occurs in your classroom. The Springfield community is suburban. Wanda Gray’s community is the highest tax income elementary school in the Springfield School District. At Wanda Gray 528 students are enrolled. Of these 528 students, 14.3% of students receive free or reduced lunch. In terms of ethnicities 85.4% of the students are Caucasian, 4.1% of students are Asian/Pacific Islander, 2.3% are Black, Hispanic 3.5% are Hispanic, and 4.3% are multiracial. Spending per student is $8,103. The teacher to student ratio is 1:20. For Wanda Gray, the mobility factor is 23.1 % and the stability factor is 96.4%. All of these factors could possibly have an impact on the teaching and learning that happens in the classroom.

STEP 1: Planning the Lesson

Textbox 3.1.1: Standards and Learning Goals and Student Background Information

Guiding Prompts

a) What learning theory/method will guide your planning process? Provide a brief description of the theory/method. How will you make use of it? The learning theory that will guide my planning is the Social Development Theory by Vygotsky. There are three components of the Social Development Theory by Vygotsky. The first component of Vygtosky’s theory is social interaction plays a significant role in cognitive development. He actually believed that social learning occurred before development. The second major idea of the Social Development Theory is the idea MKO, or More Knowledgeable Other. This is the idea that between the two people there is always one more knowledgeable than the other. He considered more knowledgeable to mean the one with a better understanding of an idea/concept or with a higher cognitive ability level. The third major component of the theory is the Zone of Proximal Development belief. The ZPD is the difference in levels between where a person can solve a problem independently and where they can solve it with assistance and guidance. I can use all three of these components from the Social Development Theory. To make use of first component that focuses on social interaction playing a role in cognitive development I can do team, shoulder partner, and eyeball partner activities/discussions throughout the lesson. The way I can use the second component (MKO) is as the teacher I will most of the time be the one to have the better understanding of an idea/concept, I need to remember this while I am teaching and explain it in a way that my students can understand. The way I can make use of the last component of the Social Development Theory (ZPD) by is not giving the students independent practice that is past where they can do it without any guidance. The guided practice is what they will be doing with my assistance, and I need to keep in mind that even though they may be able to do something during guided practice it doesn’t mean they can do it completely on their own.

b) What learning goals, objectives, and standards, both Missouri and national standards, did you identify for the lesson (provide the number and title of each standard that you list)? How will they guide the planned learning activities?

My standards are 4. NBT. 3 Use place value understanding to round multi-digit whole numbers to any place and 4.OA Solve multistep word problems posed with whole numbers and having whole-number answers using the four operations, including problems in which remainders must be interpreted. Represent these problems using equations with a letter standing for the unknown quantity. Assess the reasonableness of answers using mental computation and estimation strategies using rounding. My learning goal is the student will know that in order to round if the digit in the place value to the right of the selected place value is more than four they round the selected place value up, if it is four or less they keep the digit in the selected place value the same and both times everything following the indicated place value turns to zeros. My Focus Student 1 has an additional learning goal and that is the student will know that from least to greatest the places values are ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, ten thousands, hundred thousands, and then millions. My objective is; The student will write the correct rounded numbers and then add or subtract the numbers by using indicated place value by looking at the digit to the right of the selected place value and determine whether the selected place value digit would round up or stay the same by getting 7 out of 10 correct on independent practice (9 out of 10 correct for Focus Student 2).These will guide my lesson learning activities because if the learning activities do not match up with the goals and objectives I shouldn’t be wasting my time on the learning activities. They should align and be working to reach the lesson goal and objectives, while meeting the standards for the state of Missouri and the nation.

c) What is the content focus of the lesson? What related content that the students have previously encountered will support the learning in this lesson? The content focus of the lesson is estimating sums and differences. The students have encountered rounding in prior learning, but they did not have two numbers to round, nor did they have to perform a computation. The students have also encountered place value understanding in previous learning which will definitely aid in understanding the new content. The students by now should have a solid understanding of the words sum and difference, this will help them to know what sign of operation to use when they are told to estimate.

d) What are some difficulties students might encounter with the content, and how do you plan to address these difficulties? I think this is one of the most important parts in the planning a lesson, and when these things are considered a lot of chaos and confusion can be avoided, which also helps with classroom management. I think that some of the students may not pay attention to the sign of operation, even though they know how to perform the operation. To address this difficulty throughout the lesson I will put a box around the operation sign to call their attention to it and ask them whether or not we are being asked to find the sum or difference. One of the main difficulties I predict the students may have with this content is having place value mastered enough to be able to round two numbers to a given place value. To address this I am going to add a place value review slide to my SMART Board presentation, the students will use this interactive slide to review place values to the millions place. Another difficulty I see the students encountering with this content are the students knowing when to round up, or when to stay. A way to address this difficulty is to have the students memorize the saying “More than four, add one more. Four or less, give it a rest.” We will recite this multiple times throughout the lesson, and I will use this as one of my call backs to get their attention, instead of using a standard call back such as “class, class, yes, yes.” I will make the callback content centered. When doing the problems they do with a partner on the SMART Board I will also constantly ask them how they knew to round up or stay and make them explain their reasoning. Another issue the students may have is keeping which place value they are to deciding to round up or leave the same straight, and not getting it confused with the number to the right of that number that they are looking at to decide. To help the students with this issue I am going to have them on EVERY estimation problem UNDERLINE the digit in the place value they have been told to estimate by, and CIRCLE the digit to the right of this digit that they look at to decide if it will be rounded or not (Then they can use the saying to decide.) The last thing I can think of that may be a difficulty for them in the content is remembering that the word estimation means we will need to round first and some phrases that indicate we are being asked to estimate. A way to tackle this concept is to make sure they know the definition of the word estimate and to have them give examples of when are appropriate times to estimate. I will also have them try to brainstorm a list of indications that we are being told to estimate such as, “about how many.”

Textbox 3.1.2: Instructional Strategies

Guiding Prompts

a) What different instructional strategies do you plan to use to engage students in the lesson and to enhance their learning? The main instructional strategy I plan to use to engage the students in the lesson is Cooperative Learning Strategy by Kagan. In Cooperative learning the students must work together as a team to work towards academic goals. This allows students to use their strengths and help others learn at the same time. Cooperative Learning consists of four main parts; positive interdependence, individual accountability, equal participation, and simultaneous interaction. Students’ learning benefits from all four of these. In this lesson, A LOT of equal participation and simultaneous interaction will be occurring. To enhance the students’ learning I will also add in some direction instruction. For this lesson I believe that these two instructional strategies will assist one another very well in reaching the overall goal of student learning.

Provide a rationale for your choice of each strategy. The reason I chose to do direct instruction to enhance student learning is because with the topic of estimation and place value there are so many misconceptions and content components students can get confused about very easily. I don’t want them to become confused or misled and become instantly frustrated and shut down. If there were only one or two I would probably have them try to figure it out on their own, but since there are so many with this particular objective I think they just need to be addressed upfront. I also want to make sure that they will understand what is being asked of them and know their roles in Cooperative Learning. The reason I chose Cooperative Learning by Kagan is first of all it fits very well with the Social Development Theory that I plan on also using to guide my lesson planning. Additionally, ability grouping is extremely important in this lesson, especially when I want to differentiate the independent practice. Cooperative Learning prevents one student from being the work horse and another student from being the free loader, if facilitated correctly by the teacher. Cooperative learning has also proved to be effective to hit the multiple intelligences and this is something I strive to do during every lesson as a teacher.

b) How do the instructional strategies connect to the learning goals and objectives to facilitate student learning? The instructional strategies connect to the learning goals and objectives to facilitate student learning because ALL of the instructional strategies are working towards the overall objective and learning goal of trying to teach the student how to estimate sums and differences using their understanding of place value. I am also using a variety of the instructional strategies to make sure that all of the different students have a chance to learn because I am presenting the material in multiple ways.

c) What informed your decisions to use individual, small group, and/or whole group instruction to facilitate student learning? There were multiple factors that informed my decisions of when to use individual, small group, or whole group instruction during my lesson. Because I decided to use the Social learning theory, Cooperative learning, and Direct Instruction to facilitate the lesson this means that I will be using all two types of instruction to present to facilitate student learning. I may end up using small group instruction if a group needs additional instruction. The individual instruction will be part of my differentiation for helping my at risk math student. The whole group instruction I thought would be best when it came to direct instruction so that I didn’t have to repeat the same concept to every team at my table. The questions I thought that the kids may ask at the end of direct instruction would be questions and answers that the whole class needed to hear.

Textbox 3.1.3: Learning Activities

Guiding Prompts

a) What learning activities do you plan to implement in this lesson?

Provide a rationale for your choices. One learning activity I plan on implementing during the lesson is eyeball partner and team discussions. I plan on having them discuss how sum and difference differ with their eyeball partner. A concept called think-pair-share from Cooperative Learning. I plan on having them discuss with their table what the rules of rounding are. When the students are allowed to discuss concepts, ideas, and content knowledge with people at their team or with a shoulder partner they are solidifying their own knowledge, or they are learning knowledge that can be beneficial in them changing their ideas to something that is correct. They are also using Cooperative Learning and the Social Learning theory when using discussion. After they discuss the rules of rounding together I will have them recite the saying “four or less give it a rest, more than four add one more.” The reason for this activity is that when students have a saying they can recite when doing a problem it gives them confidence and a saying that rhymes is easier to remember in general. Between the two discussions, I plan on having the students do a review of identifying place value by doing a drag and drop. The reason I want them to review place value is because the concept of estimating sums and differences has to have the foundation of the students understanding place value. They are attempting this problem as a group, and I am going over it with them as a class after. When they are in their group trying to solve it, they have 3 people to help them determine what they should do. This I feel is the best way to address confusion. I also plan on having the students first do guided practice with their shoulder partner and have one problem that is addition and one that is subtraction. I will require them to UNDERLINE the digit in the place value they have been told to estimate by, and CIRCLE the digit to the right of this digit that they look at to decide if it will be rounded or not. I want them to do this with their shoulder partner because at this point in the lesson I don’t believe all of the students would be ready yet to do independent practice. I will go over the problems I gave them to complete together. During this guided practice they will have boxes to fill out that have the correct amount of boxes to equal how many place values are in each number. Next, I want the students to do a brain break. The students will do a Kagan Cooperative Learning activity for the Brain Break called Show Down. This learning activity is great because I can let the students stand up to do it and it requires them to celebrate the answers of their team and team build, at the same time I am reinforcing content knowledge. I basically just chose as many questions as I want for them to answer and spin a spinner to see what student number is chosen at the table and that is who answers the question. Next, the learning activity I want to do is to discuss with the students some phrases that we can see where we know they are asking us to estimate. The reason for this is because students need to know that it may not always say estimate these numbers. It may say about how many total, or something similar. Next, I will show them a problem with less detail than the first guided practice. All it will is a number sentence; then the designated place value they are supposed to round to. I will tell them to think about what it is asking them to do. I will then do the problem and explain the steps and review of the word operation. The reason I decided to do this learning activity is because this is the format they will be given on their next set of guided practice. I took out the details I gave them on the first guided practice by giving them the boxes for the numbers. I plan on giving a word problem related to estimating sums using rounding and place value to the table teams that involve a chart about prices of different vehicles. The reason I am choosing to do this learning activity is because word problems and charts are two things that students often struggle with. They are attempting this problem as a group, and I am going over it with them as a class after. When they are in their group trying to solve it, they have 3 people to help them determine what they should do. Lastly, they will be given their last set of guided practice to do with their shoulder buddy. This one having the format of the problem I did on the board with them that just has the number sentence; then place value they are supposed to round to before estimating the sum or difference. The reason I decided to do this learning activity is because this is the format they will be given on their independent practice. Before doing their independent practice, I also decided to let them do another guided practice with their shoulder partner because the first set focused more on their review of place value. This guided practice will have problems in the format identical to most of their independent practice.

b) How will these learning activities address student strengths and needs? In regards to having the students discuss how sum and difference differ with their eyeball partner and them discussing the rules of rounding with their table, this addresses student strengths and needs because some students are great at communicating ideas orally, but not through written words. Additionally, some students struggle with remembering both of these things and it is a great way to review the concepts before diving into new content. When students practice saying, “four or less give it a rest, more than four add one more,” this addresses their needs because they HAVE to know this in order to perform rounding to get an estimated sum or difference. The students in my class have a great memory so the saying should be easy for them and they are used to doing callbacks because that is one of the classroom management techniques I use. When the students do the review of identifying place value by doing a drag and drop this allows the students who have mastered this concept to review and it allows the students who still need more work on it to continue to practice. It also allows me to see who may need individual instruction on place value still. It is the foundation of estimating sums and differences. When the students do the guided practice with their shoulder partner and have one problem that is addition and one that is subtraction where they will be instructed. UNDERLINE the digit in the place value they have been told to estimate by, and CIRCLE the digit to the right of this digit that they look at to decide if it will be rounded or not most definitely addresses students’ needs. They need to make sure they keep track of which number is to be rounded and which one is the one you look at to decide. They often will change the place value that is only supposed to be the digit they look at for the decision.

The students doing the brain break and doing the Kagan Cooperative Learning Show-Down activity that is a team builder is definitely a need. Many of my students become restless during lessons that are long. Some of my students are very competitive and are good at games so it plays into their strengths. This gives them a chance to have a break, but still be focusing on content. Discussing estimation and determining phrases that mean to estimate is a student need because some of my students take things so literal that if it didn’t say “estimate the sum or difference” they would think it wasn’t asking them to estimate. I chose to do the word problem because word problems are where most of my students struggle in math.

c) How did your class demographics inform the design of the learning activities you chose?

Classroom demographics definitely informed my design of the learning activities. This particular class often gets distracted by talking. This is because the students are extremely social and no matter what the seating arrangement is, they can find a friend to speak with. This may not seem like much, but it is a big part of my classroom demographics. If my students love to talk so much, why not use it to enhance my instruction? It makes the perfect opportunity to use cooperative learning and play into the Social Learning Theory. The fact that I have three students that are gifted, one that is off the charts impacted my learning activities too. I have so many kids spread out across the spectrum that doing learning activities that address the multiple intelligences and learning styles was what informed my decision to have such a variety of learning activities. I have one student that has severe ADHD/OCD and staying on one activity too long for her doesn’t enhance her learning. Some of my class sometimes bickers with their team and can’t handle constructive criticism or suggestions from their peers. The Kagan Cooperative Learning team builder a brain break is part of building team comradery which will benefit the students in this lesson and beyond. My student with Bipolar/Tourette’s/Asperger’s is extremely interested in cars and how much EVERYTHING costs, so the word problem I am going to center around vehicle price estimates for him to keep his attention and I know he will love it.

Textbox 3.1.4: Technology

Guiding Prompts

a) What materials and resources will you use to support your instruction?

Provide a rationale to support those choices. I will give my students half sheets of paper with the guided practice problems on them. A blank place value chart will be distributed to my at risk math student prior to the lesson that has two spots for each of the numbers in the number sentence and a place at the bottom for the sum or difference. I will use the Kagan Cooperative Learning Workbook to make sure that I fully understand what the goals and steps of the Show Down game are before conducting it in my lesson.

b) What types of technology do you plan to use for this lesson?

I will be using the SMART Board, SMART Notebook Presentation, and the Kagan Cooperative Learning Software Program for the technology in my lesson.

c) How will your chosen technology enhance your instruction and student learning in this lesson?

The SMART Board will be used throughout my entire lesson to enhance instruction and student learning. The SMART Board is where the SMART Notebook presentation will be shown to the students and where the Kagan Cooperative Learning Software Program will be up so the students can view it. The SMART Notebook presentation will be where I post the directions for all of the learning activities, which will be a good visual to aid my instruction. It will aid student learning because the students can come up to the SMART Board and on my SMART Notebook Presentation they can actually write what answers they found with their partner. It also allows me to highlight and draw circles around important details I want the students to pay attention to. When the phrase “four or less give it a rest, more than four add one more” is discussed SMART Notebook actually allows you to do a voice recording and I will record my voice saying the phrase and play it multiple times to help the students learn the phrase. I will also do an interactive drag and drop of the place value review so a majority of the students can come up and try it. The Kagan Cooperative Learning software puts the spinner up on the SMART Board so that I don’t have to get a physical spinner to do the Show Down game. It also has a built in timer so that students know when time has expired for given activities.

STEP 2: The Focus Students

Textbox 3.2.1: Understanding the Two Focus Students

Guiding Prompts

Focus Student 1:

a) Identify Focus Student 1’s learning strengths and challenges related to the learning goal(s) of the lesson. The learning goal is the student will know that in order to round if the digit in the place value to the right of the selected place value is more than four they round the selected place value up, if it is four or less they keep the digit in the selected place value the same. Focus Student 1’s learning strengths are that she wants to work until she gets it, and comes to me if she isn’t understanding the content. Another learning challenge is memory for her. She will literally be told something and I can ask her a couple of minutes later and she didn’t retain it. She sometimes has problems keeping numbers lined up vertically when doing math problems which makes extremely difficult to get the correct estimation. Both of these challenges and strengths relate to learning goals one and two for her.

b) What evidence will you collect to show the progress Focus Student 1 makes toward the learning goal(s)? I will collect the Independent Practice from Focus Student 1 as the main evidence of what progress she makes towards the learning goal. I will collect her guided practice that she does with her partner just to do a quick check of her comprehension.

Focus Student 2:

a) Identify Focus Student 2’s learning strengths and challenges related to the learning goal(s) of the lesson. Focus Student 2’s learning strength is definitely how he is off of the charts in math. His ability level is much higher than fourth grade. This is also a learning challenge at the same time because he tends to rush through his work and make silly mistakes. This causes his grades to not reflect what he actually knows. He easily becomes bored if work is not challenging enough for him. He gets done way earlier than other students and then can distract them as well.

b) What evidence will you collect to show the progress Focus Student 2 makes toward the learning goal(s)? I will collect the Independent Practice from Focus Student 2 as evidence of what progress she makes towards the learning goal. I will also collect his guided practice that he does with his partner to make sure he is going slow and follow directions and hopefully show him he isn’t taking his time before it’s too late and his grade suffers on his independent practice.

Textbox 3.2.2: Differentiating Instruction for the Two Focus Students

Guiding Prompts

a) How will you adapt the learning goal(s) and objectives to engage each of the two Focus Students and facilitate their learning? Provide a rationale.

For Focus Student 1 I am only adding to the learning goal, not the objective. If I would have not modified the independent practice I would have modified the objective to getting a lower amount correct, but I did modify it so I want her to still get at least 7 out of 10 correct on her independent practice. The additional learning goal for Focus Student 1 I will add is the student will know from least to greatest the places values are ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, ten thousands, hundred thousands, and then millions. I will have her write this second learning goal in her planner in the morning when we are filling out goals and objectives for the day. This will help engage her because if she feels confident in her understanding of place value she will feel more confident about learning how to use it to estimate a sum or difference. This will help facilitate student learning as well because place value is the foundation for understanding estimation. For Focus Student 2 I decided to change the objective for him, but not the learning goal. He was given the independent practice that was for the 3 students in the highest group, but his levels exceed this even more so I want him to get 9 out of 10 correct. I will tell him prior to the lesson that I want him to get 9 out of 10 correct minimum in his independent practice. He will change what he recorded in his planner that morning to 9 out of 10 instead of 7 out of 10. This will also hopefully help him slow down and read the directions and take his time completing the practice. This will help facilitate his learning because he has a goal on paper. This will also engage him in learning because I think he will be trying extra hard to pay attention since he knows the goal I have already set for him. He loves to know a goal and try to reach it.

b) Describe how you will differentiate your instructional strategies and learning activities to engage each of the two Focus Students and facilitate their learning?

Provide a rationale. To engage Focus Student 1 I will start with baby steps, this means paying extra attention to her during guided practice and taking some time when the students are working with their shoulder or eyeball partner to give her some individualized instruction. This will be how I facilitate her learning. To engage her I will make sure she is one of the students called on during the place value drag and drop and that she gets it correct. When I call on her to do this, along with every other student I will ask them why she decided that it was that particular place value which will facilitate her learning. For Focus Student 2 I will also be sure I am calling on him during parts of the lesson that may be much easier for him than others and call him one of my “experts” during the lesson to help engage him. He will know that he is helping me, but at the same time he is helping me when he is helping teach others this is helping his own understanding which is facilitating learning for him.

c) What materials, resources, and technology will you add or adapt to engage each of the two Focus Students and facilitate their learning? Provide a rationale. Focus Student 1 will be given the place value chart to put on her desk to facilitate her learning prior to the lesson that has two spots for each of the numbers in the number sentence and a place at the bottom for the sum or difference. This will help her keep her numbers lined up and facilitate her learning. To keep her engaged because her memory isn’t the best, I will give her a little card to stick on the corner of her desk that says, “4 or less give it a rest, more than 4 add one more.” In the past when we do these I notice she just moves her mouth and doesn’t say the correct words like all of the other students so this makes sure that she is able to do that. The SMART Board will help both of these students stay engaged and facilitate learning, as well for the rest of the class. Material wise to facilitate her learning I also gave her a modified independent practice. It hit on both learning goals that I had given her for the lesson. No other group had to identify place value on their Independent Practice. For Focus Student 2 his independent practice facilitated learning because it forced him to think very critically and abstractly. He had to create his own problems to solve under the given criteria. To engage him I made sure to give plenty of time for class discussion. He thrives when able to explain himself through oral communication. With the word problems, I even included his name and the other members of that ability level. This would hopefully help gain his attention and excitement. It’s hard for him to be excited when he already knows so much about the content.

d) How will you and each Focus Student know that you and he/she achieved the learning goals and objectives for the lesson? I typically conference with the students about their independent practice the next morning when they are filling out their planners when they get to school. I will talk to both students about their independent practice and will be able to address whether they met the learning goals and objectives. In my classroom the learning goals and objectives are written on the board and this is actually what they write in their planner and I will have them look at the day prior to see if they think they met the learning goal and objective for the lesson and I will discuss if I thought they did. The overall score of their independent practice will also be a good indication.

STEP 3: Analyzing the Lesson

Textbox 3.3.1: Analyzing the Lesson for the Whole Class

a) To what extent did the lesson, including instructional strategies, learning activities, materials, resources, and technology help to facilitate student learning? How does the evidence you collected support this finding? I believe that the mixing up the instructional strategies, having a variety of learning activities, enough resources to aid those who needed them, and incorporating the SMART Board throughout the entire lesson facilitated student learning. The evidence I collected to support this finding is that I had only one out of twenty students not meet the objective. This student was not one of my focus students. I had been informed by the counselor that this particular student has a lot going on home currently, and I definitely think this impacted her learning for this lesson and it did the entire week. She had a very difficult time paying attention in every subject. I conferenced with this student about the assignment one on one and she was understood. I allowed her to redo her independent practice and she only missed one point.

b) How did the students demonstrate their understanding of the content presented?

Provide specific examples from the lesson and student work to support your analysis. The students demonstrated their understanding of the content I presented by successfully completely the learning goal and objective. This evidence was also shown through their scores on their independent practice. In all four of my math groups the students were given at least one problem that was set up identical to the format of the guided practice problems I presented in my lesson. All students were able to successfully complete at least that one problem that was set up identical to the format of the last guided practice, including my lowest group.

c) While you were teaching, what adjustments to the lesson did you implement to better support student engagement and learning? Provide examples to support your decisions. During the lesson I noticed that for the Brain Break I wanted to implement they would still probably be engaged sitting down, but I decided I wanted them to stand up and do it so that they could move around and refocus. Later on, I noticed the students start to get antsy right before I gave them their guided practice and I could tell they needed to refocus on learning so I had them stand up and do 15 jumping jacks and bunny hops before they were allowed to begin guided practice. I was standing at the front of the room too much at the beginning of the lesson turning the pages of the SMART Notebook presentation so I then designated a child to do this so that I could circulate the room better to support student learning.

d) What steps did you take to foster teacher-to-student and student-to-student interactions? How did they impact student engagement and learning? To foster teacher-to-student interaction I asked the students to explain their reasoning when they were completing problems on the SMART Board. This helped student learning because they were forced to give an explanation for the answers they chose. To foster teacher-to-student interaction during learning I circulated the room during guided practice. The students knew if I was coming around they better be engaged and on task. To foster student-to-student interactions I incorporated the group and partner discussions. This facilitated learning because they were able to hear the thoughts of their peers on the content. I used student-to-student interaction to help with engagement by allowing them to do a Cooperative Learning brain break that gave them a chance to have a break from the lesson so that they would get back to focusing and because it was still content centered it facilitated learning.

e) What feedback did you provide during the lesson to facilitate student learning? What impact did the feedback have on student learning? Provide specific examples. I gave feedback throughout the entire lesson. I also had the students give each other feedback. I had the students support their answers and continued to ask them questions until I thought they understood the question I was asking them about. Specific examples of this were I would have the students give another student a round of applause if they got the answer correct, or a pat on the back if they got it correct themselves. If a student and their partner got something correct I would l have them give each other an air five. The immediate feedback when I questioned them impacted their learning because it really made them critically think about the topic at hand. It also made them have to have their own answer instead of just thinking it was the correct answer because that’s what their shoulder partner said it was.

Textbox 3.3.2: Analyzing the Differentiation for the Two Focus Students

(Refer to the one page student work sample for each of the two Focus Students in these prompts.)

Guiding Prompts

a) To what extent did each of the two Focus Students achieve the learning goals and objectives of the lesson? Cite evidence to support your analysis. Focus Student one only missed one question on her independent practice! The objective stated that she needed to get 7 out of 10 correct to pass the objective. She exceeded this goal by a lot. She completely all of the beginning problems on the worksheet correctly that were focused on identifying place value which showed that she mastered the first learning goal. (Questions 1-7) She missed number 9 because she subtracted instead of added when she was supposed to estimate. She didn’t pay attention to the sign of operation. She got number 9 correct. She also got number 10 correct which was the hardest problem on the page and was the same format as the questions on the guided practice she completed with her shoulder partner. This means that she remembered how to complete it. I was disappointed that she didn’t follow directions when it told her to underline the digit in the place value she was going to round, and circle the number she would look at to decide. This means that she didn’t even need that additional help, but it also shows that she possibly doesn’t read directions which could be a part of her struggle in math. Focus Student number two didn’t miss any questions on his independent practice. He typically hurries through and makes silly mistakes so this was very exciting, it meant that he followed directions. He also met the objective I set for him specifically of getting 9 out of 10 correct on his independent practice.

b) How did your differentiation of specific parts of the lesson help each Focus Student meet the learning goals and objectives? Cite evidence to support your analysis. I think that giving Focus Student 1 the place value chart helped her reach both learning goals that she had because she didn’t miss any of the questions on her independent practice about place value. Place value understanding was the foundation for understanding of using estimation to find the sum and difference and she only missed one of those questions. She didn’t miss that question because of lack of understanding, because she estimated correctly she just didn’t perform the right operation. Giving Focus Student 2 a different independent practice challenged him to not see it as so easy that he could just fly through it. I also put his name along with others in his group’s name in the word problems, and even though this was a very subtle form of differentiation, he was so excited and even spoke to me about how much he loved it. I think this helped to engaged him and helped him reach the learning goal and objective.

STEP 4: Reflection

Textbox 3.4.1: Reflecting on the Lesson for the Whole Class

Guiding Prompts

a) What specific instructional strategies, learning activities, materials, resources, and technology will you use to help students who did not achieve the learning goals and objectives?

Provide specific examples. I actually only had one student who did achieve the objective for the lesson. I already sat down with the student and went over some major concepts with her and had her redo the independent practice. She was a student that is in my second highest group. She only missed one problem on her redo. I didn’t even give her the exact same number problems, I had her do the same type of problems using different numbers.

b) How will you use your analysis of this lesson and the evidence of student learning to guide your planning for future lessons for the whole class? I will make note that the students were successful because I not only played on their strengths but I kept their learning challenges in mind when creating the lesson. I also kept in mind my classroom demographics which plays a huge role in student learning. If you have a class that is going to talk no matter what, at least make sure I am enhancing their learning. I will also keep in mind that differentiation is so important in order for students to be successful. I must pay attention to the fact that students learn in so many different ways because of having multiple intelligences and different learning styles that I must try to hit as many as I can when teaching. This is what will help make a lesson successful.

Textbox 3.4.2: Reflecting on the Differentiated Instruction for the Two Focus Students

Guiding Prompts

a) How will you use your analysis of this lesson and the evidence of student learning to guide your planning for future lessons for each of the two Focus Students?

Consider specific instructional strategies, learning activities, materials, resources, and technology you will use. Provide specific examples. After looking at the independent practice of my Focus Student 1 for future lesson planning I will look for activities that work on students following directions and paying attention to detail. Even though she only missed one answer, I still want to make sure she understands that she needs to follow directions, because sometimes this could cause her to get the wrong answer. I also want to read the Understanding Working Memory Classroom Guide by Professor Susan E. Gathercole and Dr. Tracy Packiam Alloway. I told the students multiple times that they should underline and circle on their homework and read the directions. Maybe this could be related to what I mentioned earlier about noticing her working memory issues. For Focus Student number 2 when planning future lessons I will keep in mind that Cooperative Learning and the Social Learning theory will probably be two things that benefit him exponentially. Anything that allows him to express his ideas orally help him to learn. I will also look into hearing Jim Delisle speak or read one of his books. He is the author of 19 books about teaching gifted students. He has the motto that gifted kids can take control of their own educational destiny by how they choose to use their giftedness or not use it.