Term III

Jackie Kim

Math Term III Lesson Plan Core Decisions In my sixth grade class, my classroom mentor typically starts off her math lesson by having students complete a few problems either independently or as a whole group (i.e., using white boards to write their answers and raise them in the air). Afterwards, she sometimes reviews the concept with them, but more often than not, the students usually go on to do more practice problems. Generally speaking, the class can be spilt into three groups: students who quickly finish all the problems and get them correct, students who do not have a strong grasp on the concept but show some understanding, and students who the lack a mathematical foundation or show little to no understanding (this includes ELLs and students with IEPs). The first group will usually finish the work quickly and go on to more challenging independent practice or can play a math review game. The second group will take longer to complete the problems but get them mostly correct, completely the first few questions correctly and then struggle with the harder ones, or do all of the problems incorrectly. The members of the last group with an IEP will usually leave them room to work with a special education teacher, while the rest either work with in a small group with my classroom mentor or struggle the entire period. This approach has raised many questions for me, as we continue to move forward with the curriculum regardless of whether or not the majority of the class has a firm grasp on the topic. My classroom mentor believes that sixth grade is a review of all the content the students learned up to that point, and therefore they have already been taught the material before and should know it1. However, this approach fails to meet the needs of all the groups, as the students who know the material do not benefit from doing more practice problems, and the students who do not know the material will not learn the concepts simply by doing practice problems without more direct instruction or guided practice. For this assignment, I will be working with a group of six of the top performing students and would like to give them an opportunity to expand their mathematical understanding beyond simply doing practice problems. As we have discussed extensively in our class, getting the right answer does not mean students understands what they are doing or how/why the concepts they are using work. From my observations, it seems that even the students in my class who are getting all the answers correct have a very instrumental understanding of math and have been taught that all that matters is getting the right answer. This idea is reinforced through the constant drilling we do in class, the majority of which entails solving problems that involve procedures without connections. Therefore, for my lesson, I would like to challenge the students to work on a single high-level task that will force them to reflect on the mathematical process rather than completing several practice problems with the focus on simply getting the right answer. I will be focusing on selecting and using different representations in solving the task in order to get the students to think of math concepts in a more integrated way, rather than as isolated procedures. When I was initially searching for a task for my students to solve, I wanted to use a problem that involving fractions as has been working on adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing
1

Comment [CE1]: Sounds to me like there isnt any instruction

Comment [CE2]: I agree

It is not that my classroom mentor is trying to avoid doing extra work or teaching, but she seems to believe that the students who are not getting the problems correct are simply not trying or have been coddled and need to experience what it is like to struggle.

Term III

Jackie Kim

fractions for the past few weeks. However, in searching through the math resources on the canvas page, I could not find a problem that I thought was both interesting and an appropriate match for the skills of my sixth grade students involving only fractions. Upon searching the Figure This website, I found a problem involving number patterns and rates that I thought would not only be challenging yet feasible for my students to solve, but also representative of a relevant real-world situation: Would you rather work seven days at $20 per day or be paid $2 for the first day and have your salary double every day for a week? I believe the students will be more interested and engaged if they can see how these concepts carry over into their lives. However, after trying to solve the problem myself and come up with multiple strategies, I found that the problem seems to be geared towards solutions involving algorithms more easily than other forms of representations. I decided to edit the problem and rewrote it as follows: Your neighbor asks you to watch his dog for a week while he goes on vacation for seven days. He offers you the choice between two different plans to pay you for watching his dog: Plan #1: $20 per day Plan #2: $2 for the first day, with the amount doubling each day after You want to choose the plan under which you will get paid more. How will you make your decision? I based my changes on the NT&T and P-Mobile problem of the week. While the original problem would lead me to simply answer the second plan, asking how I will make my decision (or advise my friend, as was the case with the problem of the week) forces me to show how I am justifying my answer. I believe that this question will force students to reflect on how they will prove their answer and how they can justify their strategy. In solving for their answers, I decided to allow my group to use calculators as the problem is not testing their arithmetic skills but if they understand the different rates and how they set up the problem. In addition, I have chosen to have my students first share their strategy with a partner so that they may practice explaining and justifying what they did to solve the problem. Then, I will have them share their strategies with the whole group, which will hopefully expose them to multiple strategies and get them thinking about different ways of reaching the same conclusion. During this group discussion, I will make sure to challenge the students to justify their strategies and introduce alternative methods for solving the problem that may not arise. You have done a nice job of explaining why you chose this problem and adapted it in the way you have. What you still need to do is focus in on the mathematical contentbeyond finding different strategies to solve a problem, what is the mathematics? You have two functions here, one is a constant linear function and the other is exponential. So really students are exploring functional relationships and rate of change (like the paper folding example we did in class)

Comment [CE3]: Yes, this sounds like a good idea. Another way to make it more open ended would be to take away the fact that it is for seven days. Then it doesnt have a correct answere.g., if its only two days, the first plan is better. This requires more analysis to determine when each plan is better

Term III

Jackie Kim

Please review Chapin & Johnson Chapter 9, Section 4 (198-207). Also see Activity 3 which is similar to your problem, and the list of books that tell stories with similar problems (The Kings Chessboard, A Grain of Rice, etc.). Goals/Objectives SWBAT identify and compare two different types of patterns. Students will explain the mathematical strategies they used to solve the problem and justify why their strategies and answer make sense. Standards Use models, properties and relationships to draw conclusions and explain reasons for conclusions (2.4.6.A.) Develop a plan to analyze a problem, identify the information needed to solve the problem, carry out the plan, check whether an answer makes sense, and explain how the problem was solved in grade appropriate contexts (2.5.6.A.) Materials and Preparation 8 sheets with the problem 6 calculators Have the students bring a pencil 7 giant post-its (poster sized) Different colored markers Classroom Arrangement and Management Issues All six students will sit around one large table, and I will let them pick their own seats. As I have worked with all of these students before, I know that they get along and believe they can handle sitting closely together and choosing their own seats. Plan 1. I will tell the students that we are going to (3 min) 2. Go over the problem and have them work (12 min) a. Hand out papers with the problem on it and read it out loud b. Tell the group: Think carefully about how the two payment plans are different and how you will choose between them. I want you to justify your choice and explain why it makes sense. After this, you will be sharing your strategy with a partner, and later with the whole group, so be ready to explain how you found your answer. You should be able to explain what method you used to youre your decision and why it makes sense. c. Walk around and look at the strategies the students are using make note of different strategies and answers d. If students finish early, are very confident about their method, and know how to explain it, tell them to try to think of different ways to solve the problem 3. Have students discuss their strategy and answer with a partner (5 min) a. Tell your partner how you found your answer. Explain what you did and why you did it. If you do not understand what the other person did, ask them questions.

Comment [CE4]: See above. You also need some math content objectives here. See the Algebra standards for grade 6 for standards that deal with patterns and functions

Comment [CE5]: This needs some fleshing out. Think about how to engage them in the problem. You might read the beginning of the one of the stories mentioned, or pose the problem and ask which seems better.

Comment [CE6]: Or to represent the solution since that is your focus. Again, if you take away the seven day stipulation, they will need to represent the function rather than just calculate for 7 days. They might graph it or create a table for example for each number of days.

Term III

Jackie Kim

After youre done sharing, we will come back together, and I want you to share your strategy with the group b. Walk around and listen to conversations make note of how the students are explaining their strategies 4. Have the students share their strategies (15 min) a. Ask for volunteer to share how s/he solved the problem to start us off eventually have everyone share have them write on the poster i. Encourage the students to ask questions if they do not understand ii. I will ask questions and draw/write on the posters to clarify or explain a point b. Questions to ask i. Who else used this strategy? ii. Why did you do that? iii. What does that mean? iv. Does this make sense to everyone? v. How are the two plans different? vi. What if your neighbor was leaving for 5 days instead of 7, would you still choose the same plan? Why or why not? [I considered adding this question to the initial problems but thought it would be too long] vii. When is it better to choose the first payment plan? When is it better to choose the second payment plan? c. If there is time remaining after everyone has shared his/her strategy have them share alternative strategies they came up with or can think of or introduce other strategies to them Jackiethis is a good problem to use and youve taken the time to think through how to set it up so that the focus is on reasoning and making sense. My main suggestion is to focus more on the mathematics of the lesson in terms of patterns and functions, in your core decisions, your objectives, your questsions, and your assessment checklist. I also think either opening up the question to include any number of days, or adding some additional questions about different number of days will enhance the task and lead to more strategies. Possible Strategies: Set up algorithms $20 7 days = $140 $2 + $4 + $8 + $16 + $32 + $64 + $128 = $254 (21) + (22) + (23) + (24) + (25) + (26) + (27) = $254

Comment [CE7]: Think about what you want to draw out here in terms of functions and rate of change Comment [CE8]: OK. I think it makes it a better problem and open to more solution strategies Comment [CE9]: Some other good extension problems would be: what if he went away for two weeks, how much do you think you would earn? How about a month? How long would it take to earn a million dollars (they will likely find this engaging to figure out)? Or can we write an equation to represent this relationship, using d for the number of days (they can probably only do this for the linear equation at this point, since the other one involves a variable in the exponent). This is also a good place to introduce the idea of a graph if it has not come upusing a table that was made, you can sketch the graphs together and talk about how it shows the one plan increasing at a faster rate than the other. Comment [CE10]: Its great that you thought this out. Im just wondering if they will go to the table or graph if they are only calculating for 7 days.

Make a table

Term III

Jackie Kim

Plan 1 Plan 2

Day 1 $20 $2

Day 2 $40 $6

Day 3 $60 $14

Day 4 $80 $30

Day 5 $100 $62

Day 6 $120 $126

Day 7 $140 $254

Make a chart Plan 1 $20 $40 $60 $80 $100 $120 $140 Make a graph
$300 $250 $200 $150 $100 $50 $0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Plan #1 Plan #2

Plan 2 $2 $6 $14 $30 $62 $126 $254

*Point of possible confusion when visually representing students might compare the amount earned each day instead of the cumulative amount of earnings

Assessment Checklist
Uses an appropriate strategy to solve the problem Able to explain and justify strategy used Answers problem correctly

Name

Comment [CE11]: Here I would also add something about understanding of functionse.g., is able to use patterns to understand the relationship between number of days and total pay, identifies the rate of change in each situation, etc.

Term III

Jackie Kim