MGE Lesson Plan Template – Mathematics

Complete this lesson plan in enough detail so that another teacher or substitute can replicate it. This lesson plan
serves as a representation of your content and pedagogical knowledge, so be thorough.
Be sure to consider your learner as you plan this lesson: You are teaching young adolescents, so recall information
from EDUC 2130, EDMG 3300, and other coursework. You are encouraged to provide citations often (when
appropriate) and a reference list to develop the habit in preparation for your edTPA

Name Michele Anderson . Grade & Subject 8th / Math .

Class Duration 50 minutes . School & CT East Cobb Middle School / Mrs. Quenan .

I. Context for Learning

Provide a description of your school, class, and student contexts. School information should include:
• basic community information;
• school type and grade levels;
• special features of your school or classroom setting (e.g., charter, co-teaching, themed
magnet, remedial course, honors course) that will affect your teaching in this learning
segment; and
• district, school, or cooperating teacher requirements, or expectations that might affect your
planning or delivery of instruction, such as required curricula, pacing plan, use of specific
instructional strategies, interdisciplinary teaming, or standardized tests.
Class information should include:
• name and length of the course, class schedule (e.g. 50 minutes every day);
• describe how ability grouping and/or tracking affects your class;
• name of textbook or instructional program you primarily use for mathematics instruction;
and
• list of other resources regularly used for mathematics instruction.
Student information should include:
• grade level and student ages;
• number of students, including broken out by gender identities;
• what you’ve learned about student funds of knowledge that may be drawn upon in this lesson
or lesson segment; and
• required or needed supports, accommodations, and modifications for students that impact
this lesson or lesson segment. You should consider students with IEPs, 504 Plans, language
needs, and others such as students identified as gifted, struggling readers, underperforming,
or with gaps in academic knowledge.
East Cobb Middle School serves grades 6 through 8 but it is set up more like a junior high with
classrooms grouped together by subject as opposed to a typical pod type middle school set up. The
school has on level courses, advanced courses and even offers high-school credit courses. There is
one flex-period each morning devoted to different things. Some days the kids spend this time in
different clubs and other times it is for student and teacher reading time. The teachers are required to
give 3 summative assessments per quarter. They are required to do subject based team planning. The
school has 1357 students between the ages of 11 and 14. There are 639 females and 718 male

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Mathematics 1 rev. 10 apr 2019
 students. They are a diverse population, 46.5% Black, 22.4% Hispanic, 24.6% White 4% Asian and
2.4% Multi-racial.
This classroom is for 8th grade AC math. There are 28 students 14 females and 14 males. 2
students in the class are gifted. Students may need more extension within the problems. There are no
other accommodations needed for this class.

II. Mathematical Content

A. Central Focus
Name the core concept(s), sometimes called enduring understandings, that you want students to
grasp for the unit in which this lesson is embedded. Discuss the purpose for the content you are
introducing. Describe what you want students to know once they have completed the unit.
The purpose of this lesson is for students to be able to understand and apply the
Pythagorean Theorem. Students will use problem solving and reasoning to develop a
conceptual understand of the Pythagorean theorem by exploring the relationship
between the sides of a right triangle. They will then develop procedural fluency by
using the equation for the Pythagorean Theorem to solve for the unknown side of a
right triangle.

B. State Standards
List one mathematics content standard most central to this lesson. List one mathematics practice
standard you will emphasize developing in this lesson. List one additional standard from a second
content area your lesson contributes toward.
MGSE8.G.6 Explain a proof of the Pythagorean theorem and its converse.
Standards For Mathematical Practice 2. Reason abstractly and quatitatively.
S8CS9. Students will understand the features of the process of scientific inquiry. a.
Investigations are conducted for different reasons, which include exploring new
phenomena, confirming previous results, testing how well a theory predicts, and
comparing different theories. Scientific investigations usually involve collecting
evidence, reasoning, devising hypotheses, and formulating explanations to make
sense of collected evidence.

C. Learning Objectives
Learning objectives are brief statements that describe what students will be expected to learn by
the end of the lesson; they are the interim academic goals that teachers establish for students as
they work toward understanding the central focus. A well-written learning objective includes a
measurable verb (language function), content stem, and support.
1. Mathematics Content
Identify the mathematics content knowledge and skills to be achieved. Objective(s) should
align to the content standard listed in II.B. Briefly discuss how the design of the lessons
provides opportunity for students to achieve this learning objective.
Given the lengths of two legs of a right triangle, the student will explain a proof
the Pythagorean theorem using diagrams drawn on grid paper.

2. Mathematics Practice
Identify the mathematics practices students will engage. Objective(s) should align to the

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Mathematics 2 rev. 10 apr 2019
 practice standard listed in II.B. Briefly discuss how the design of the lessons provides
opportunity for students to achieve this learning objective.
The student will reason abstractly and quantitatively to develop an argument for
a proof of the Pythagorean theorem by noting patterns and structures in models
drawn on grid paper.

3. Interdisciplinary/Integrative Objectives
Identify an objective paired to the non-mathematics standard listed in II.B. Provide a brief
description of how this lesson connects to these cross-curricular standards.
The student will use features of the process of scientific inquiry to investigate right
triangles to explore the Pythagorean theorem by collecting data, reasoning and
formulating explanations to make sense of the data that was collected.

D. Mathematical Understanding
Describe how the standard(s) and learning objective(s) in this lesson contribute to students’
development of conceptual understanding, procedural fluency, and mathematical reasoning
and/or problem solving.
The primary component of this task is problem-solving and reasoning. Students are being
asked to reason out the proof of the Pythagorean Theorem. They are developing their
conceptual understanding. Once they determine how to explain the proof then procedural
fluency will begin to factor in as they practice in subsequent lessons.

III. Instructional Strategies and Learning Tasks

Provide an overview of the lesson by describing the Launch, Explore, and Summarize phases.
Respond in a way that would allow another teacher to carry out the activity as you imagine and that
makes clear connections to the learning objective(s). In each section, organize your response by
describing the sequence of events and approximate times. Write out the important statements you
will make and questions you will ask.
A. Anticipatory Set – i.e. Launch
A brief introductory activity or question that engages students’ curiosity, activates their
background knowledge, builds background when needed, focuses their thoughts on the learning
objective, and ensures all students have access to the learning task. Should be directly related to
the instructional objective. This lesson opener may be an opportunity to draw out initial
conceptions students have about the topic. List specific questions you will use to provoke wonder
in (to puzzle) your students. List specific prompts that guide or direct activity.
I want each table group to work on two problems. (Display slide with triangle 3, 4, c. The first
problem is this using grid paper I want you to draw this triangle and measure c. Then on the back
of the paper I want you to build an equation that contains 4, 3, addition and multiplication. The
answer we are looking for is 5^2. You have two minutes in your groups. (Hand out Pythagorean
Relationship handout while they work and listen for mathematical discourse.) Ok who wants to
share what measurelment they got for side c? “5” Did anyone else get a different answer? “no”
Ok. Did anyone find an equation that was equal to 5^2? (if so, invite to share out) (Display:
Pythagorean Area Slide) What do you notice about this figure? (make a list of what they tell me, I

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Mathematics 3 rev. 10 apr 2019
 will be looking for mathematical vocabulary, such as right triangle, area, squares, leg,
hypotenuse)

B. Learning Tasks – i.e. Explore

Describe the learning tasks, specifically providing evidence how the task provides students
opportunity to achieve the learning objectives. During the lesson, students must engage in
cognitively demanding tasks and be supported during paired or small group discussion. List
specific prompts that initiate activity for this phase. List specific questions you anticipate will be
helpful to advance or extend student reasoning. Briefly describe the types of responses to the
task you anticipate from students, and how you plan to sequence these responses for discussion.
For our task today we are going to explore the relationships between these three areas. (hand out
triangle information) I am giving you each the side lengths for a triangle. Using the handout as a
guide, you are going to explore the triangle that I have given you first on your own. Then you will
work in your table group gathering data about each triangle at your table. I am going to give you
a couple of minutes on your own, then I want to see what questions you have. What questions do
you have for me about this task? You may now begin working in your groups. Questions to ask as
I observe: How would I find the area of a square? Can you find the length of the hypotenuse of the
triangle? Can you find the length of an unknown side of a triangle, given the other two sides?B

C. Closure – i.e. Summarize

An activity that helps students bring together the experiences of the lesson and identify what
they have learned. A student-centered summary that engages students in discussion is an
effective way to do this. A student-centered summary begins with several students sharing
solution methods with one another. Next, the teacher helps students draw connections between
their solutions and other’s solutions, as well as the key mathematical ideas in the lesson. An
effective lesson concludes with the teacher restating these key mathematical ideas learned
during the lesson, and possibly foreshadowing what comes next—hopefully a new wondering
raised as a result of the lesson. List specific concluding comments to summarize the important
learning of the lesson.
Once students have wrapped up the activity) Ask: Who can share something their group noticed?
Can you show us how you figured that out? (make a list of student observations, being mindful of
mathematical discourse and vocabulary) “if you add the area of a and b together, it’s the same as
the area of c” Ask: Would you show us what you mean with this triangle on the board? Let
student show their work:9+16=25 Ask:What else did you notice? “They hypotenuse length can be
found by taking the square root of the area of c” Have student demonstrate this with the triangle
on the board. Ask: Can you explain how you figured this out? “the area of a square is side times
side, which is the same as the side squared. So if you have the squared area size, you can take the
square root to find the length of one side. The square root of 25 is 5 so side c is equal to 5” Point
out the first expression we got. So in this equation, 25 could be represented as something else?
“yes, 5^2” what about the legs of the triangle? “3^2 and 4^2” Write this down. Draw a right
triangle with sides a, b and c. Ask: if I didn’t know the area but I know that the side lengths were a
b and c, what expression could I write to represent this relationship? “a^2 +b^2 =c^2” Ask: How
could I say this verbally? “The square of a plus the square of b equals the square of c” Say: There
is an important relationship in geometry called the Pythagorean theorem. It says that the square
of the length of the hypotenuse of a right triangle equals the sum of the squares of the lengths of
the other two sides. The expression we developed is the converse to this theorem. Remember

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Mathematics 4 rev. 10 apr 2019
 that converse means in reverse order. They are both true statements. Who has questions for me
about this task?

IV. Assessments
In your responses to the three sections below, cite resources that justify the value and
appropriateness of the assessment methods you’ve identified.
A. Assessment of Prior Knowledge
How will you assess prior academic learning and prerequisite skills related to the central focus?
Describe formal or informal pre-assessment activities that will help you determine what resources
(i.e. funds of knowledge: skills, knowledge, experiences, and interests) students bring to the
lesson.
Note: A deficit-orientation focuses on misconceptions, partial understandings, and
misunderstandings. An asset-orientation focuses on what children know and can do (their
"conceptions"), as well as their interests and wonderings. Respond with a greater emphasis on an
asset- or resource-based orientation rather than deficit-orientation. What understandings, ideas,
and/or wonderings do the students bring that you can build upon or provoke them to refine?
I will provide an exit ticket the day before that will allow me to confirm necessary skills. I will
display 3 questions and have them write the answers on a half sheet of paper. The questions will
be: How could I determine the area of a square? What is the area of this square? (I will display a 3 x
3 square). If x^2=25, what is the value of x. This will tell me what concepts students may need a
review of as well as what questions I may need to ask to help students that are stuck. I will have
students hand their answers to me as they leave the classroom.

B. Formative Assessments
Formative assessments provide information needed to adjust teaching and learning while they
are still occurring, i.e. a checkpoint for understanding that guides future instructional decisions.
This type of assessment can take place during or at the conclusion of a learning activity or lesson.
The purpose is to monitor progress toward the learning objective(s) and/or central focus.
In your description, be specific in terms of what you want students to demonstrate (must be
measurable and connected to your listed objectives) and how you will obtain the information you
are seeking (oral, written response, etc.). As a part of what, discuss which of conceptual
understanding, procedural fluency, or reasoning and/or problem solving your assessment targets.
As part of how, state the specific questions to be posed for the assessment when appropriate.

1. Informal Formative
Informal formative assessments monitor student progress during or after instruction, but
do not usually result in structured feedback. Informal assessments can be used to obtain
information about individuals or groups. These may include responding to student
questions and teacher observations made during student work.
Students will be assessed informally as I observe their group discussions. I will listen for
both conceptual understanding and their reasoning on the Pythagorean relationship task.
In addition to this, students will have an exit ticket out the door that will demonstrate their
understanding of the Pythagorean relationship by explaining. Students will be asked to
“Determine whether the triangle with the given side lengths is a right triangle. The side
lengths are 8, 16, 18.” I will collect the answers to these as students leave the classroom. I

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Mathematics 5 rev. 10 apr 2019
 will be looking for a response that shows them setting up the problem correctly. They will
need to realize that 18 has to be the hypotenuse and that 8 and 16 are the legs. When they
try to solve this problem it will produce a statement that is not true and they will need to
reason out that this means that it is not a right triangle.

2. Formal Formative
Formal assessments are designed in such a way to allow the teacher to provide individual
feedback. Students respond individually, verbally or in writing, to a question or task.
Typically, the teacher’s assessment of these responses is documented in some way. These
may include quizzes, exit tickets, journals, homework, projects, and performance tasks.
For formal assessment, students will complete a problem for homework. “ You want
to determine the distance between your house (Start Position) and your friends
house (End Position) as the bird flies. You usually walk 7 blocks west and then you
turn right and walk 4 blocks north. Find this distance and explain how you arrived at
that distance.” This problem will allow students to demonstrate their conceptual
understanding of the Pythagorean theorem. It also allows them practice to increase
theire procedural fluency.

C. Summative Assessments
Evaluates student learning at the end of an instructional unit by comparing it against some
standard or benchmark. The purpose is to demonstrate attainment of the objective(s).
Summative assessments provide information about each individual student. Assuming the lesson
does not conclude with a summative assessment, briefly state how and when the objective(s)
from this lesson will be summatively assessed.
Students will be asked to choose from a variety of real world problems involving right
triangles. The student will need to use reasoning and problem solving skills to determine
where the right triangle is. The student will then use theire conceptual understanding of
the Pythagorean theorem to solve the problem they chose and explain why they chose to
do the problem in this manner. This assessment will occur after we cover all the standard
in this cluster.

V. Academic Language
The language demands of a learning task include any of the receptive language skills (e.g., listening,
reading) or the productive language skills (e.g., speaking, writing) needed by the student in order to
engage in and complete the task successfully. Your responses below should describe how you will
provide opportunity for students to engage in these skills.

A. Language Functions
These are the measurable verbs embedded in your objectives, i.e. describe, explain, justify, prove,
compare/contrast, etc. List the language functions for your lesson here. Describe how the
language functions you have listed allow students to engage in both receptive and productive
language skills to increase content understandings, e.g., how does the act of analysis engage
students in learning as it relates to your content.
The student will have the opportunity to both explain their understanding of the
Pythagorean theorem and listen to others explain their own understanding during

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Mathematics 6 rev. 10 apr 2019
 group work time and during in class discussions. This gives the student the
opportunity to use receptive listening skills as well as productive language skills
during this task.

B. Vocabulary
1. List vocabulary in the lesson that has different meanings across subject areas, providing the
multiple definitions.
Converse Conversation/ social interaction Something reversed in order
Leg Limb of an animal used for supporting the body and for walking. A pole
or bar used to support an object A side of a right triangle that is not hypotenuse,
also a side of an isosceles triangle that is not the base
Area Surface included within a set of lines The scope of a concept, aperation
or activity: Field A particular extent of space or surface or one serving a special
function A level piece of ground A part of the cerebral cortex having a particular
function
relationship the state of being related or interrelated the relation
connecting or binding participants in a relationship state of affairs existing
between those having relations or dealings romantic
Square An instrument having at least one right angle and two straight edges
used to lay out or test right angles A rectangle with all four sides equal The
product of a number multiplied by itself An open place or area formed at the
meeting of two or more streets An unopened cotton flower with its enclosing
bracts A person who is conventional or conservative in taste or way of life
Table A piece of furniture consisting of a smooth flat slab fixed on legs A
systematic arrangement of data usually in rows and columns for ready reference

2. List subject-specific vocabulary for your lesson here and provide the appropriate definition.
Square root a factor of a number that when squared gives the number
Pythagorean Theorem A theorem in geometry: the square of the length of the
hypotenuse of a right triangle equals the sum of the squares of the lengths of the
other two sides.
Right triangle a triangle having a right(90-degree) angle
Hypotenuse The side of a right angled triangle that is opposite the right angle

3. Describe how the structure of the learning tasks allow students to learn and engage with
the vocabulary you listed here, enhancing the learning of subject-specific vocabulary.
Students will be familiar with many of the terms and syntax from previous lessons. These
will be used to describe the reasoning and problem solving that the students are
performing. As students develop conceptual understanding and an informal proof for the
Pythagorean theorem, they will be given the term Pythagorean theorem and the definition,
which they have already derived.

C. Syntax
Identify any specific syntax, i.e. the rules, special forms, conventions, and/or grammar associated
with (academic) writing or speaking in mathematics, that is part of this lesson. Describe how you

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Mathematics 7 rev. 10 apr 2019
 plan to teach the syntax, and provide opportunity for students to engage with the syntax with
both receptive and productive language skills. Note if no syntax is introduced during this lesson.
Tables
𝒂𝟐 = 𝒂 × 𝒂.
√𝒂𝟐 = 𝒂
Expression of the Pythagorean theorem as 𝒂𝟐 + 𝒃𝟐 = 𝒄𝟐 , where a and b are the
lengths of the legs of a right triangle and c is the length of the hypotenuse.
Students have already learned the syntax involved in using tables, squared quantities
and taking square roots. Students will derive an equation like 𝒂𝟐 + 𝒃𝟐 = 𝒄𝟐 using
their observations of data from the tables in the activity. Once, they have established a
version of this equation, we will talk about the Pythagorean theorem and how it is
often expressed as 𝒂𝟐 + 𝒃𝟐 = 𝒄𝟐 .

D. Discourse
Describe how you will use or facilitate discourse in which your students participate in both
receptive and productive language tasks that serve to demonstrate or increase an understanding
of content including the academic language you are teaching. There will likely will be multiple
opportunities for and forms of discourse throughout your lesson for you to describe. Include
citations for the discourse structures you identify.
The students will use discourse during the lesson by participating in discussions with the teacher,
with group members and during whole-class discussions. During the launch, we will discuss
vocabulary words used to describe parts of a right triangle and the terms square and square root.
During the summary, students will be encouragesd to use academic vocabulary and to explain
what it means while they reason a proof of the Pythagorean Theorem.

VI. Support for Varied Student Learning Needs

This section allows you to describe how the lesson has been differentiated for the young adolescent
student population described in Section I, context for learning, to develop conceptual understanding,
procedural fluency, and mathematical reasoning and/or problem-solving skills. In your responses to
the three sections below, cite resources that justify the value and appropriateness of the instructional
strategies you’ve identified.
A. Build on student resources
Describe how you have designed or modified the learning task(s) in response to what you learned
in the pre-assessment about resources students bring to the lesson: their funds of knowledge and
their academic/mathematical assets.
Click to enter text

B. Respond to learning needs of the whole class

Identify the instructional strategies that provide opportunities for all students, given the variety
of physical, cognitive, emotional, social, and behavioral development among adolescents in a
middle grades classroom. Specifically, identify how students have multiple options learning and
demonstrating what they’ve learned. (Identify the differentiation and/or Universal Design for
Learning strategies implemented.)

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Mathematics 8 rev. 10 apr 2019
 During the explore phase, students will begin working on their own so they they can begin
reasoning and have time to think about the task. Then students will be asked to work within their
table groups to allow for mathematical discourse. Students will be assigned a triangle to work
with based on their abilities and pre-assessments. If they need a triangle with smaller numbers, I
can provide thse as I hand out triangles. For students who need extensions larger numbers can be
used as can numbers that produce decimal answers. They can also be given cards that leave one
side of the triangle unknown. They will then need to solve for the unknown side.

C. Respond to learning needs of individuals and groups with similar needs

How you will support the needs of the individuals and groups with similar needs—including
emergent bilinguals (ELs), students with IEP's, etc.—that you identified in Section I. (Name
specific modifications or accommodations, specifically as they related to the lesson design and
learning objectives.)
Two students in this class are gifted but underperforming. They will be provided with extension
problems such as solving for unknonwns as they demonstrate conceptual understanding of the
Pythagorean theorem.

VII. Preparation
A. Materials Needed
List all materials needed by the teacher and the students for the lesson; assume that students
have writing paper and utensils.
Pythagorean Relationship Handout, Rulers, grid paper, homework handout, powerpoint slides.

B. Resources
List all resources used in the development of this lesson, including books, websites, and other
teachers. Cite all sources appropriately.
GSE 8th Grade Unit 3: Geometric Applications of Exponents. (2006). Georgia Standards of
Excellence Framework. Retrieved March 15, 2019, from
https://www.georgiastandards.org/Georgia-Standards/Frameworks/8th-Math-Unit-3.pdf

C. Attach
When submitting this lesson plan to professor, CT, supervisor, etc., include all worksheets,
handouts, quizzes, slides, etc. that you have prepared to use in the lesson.

VIII. Reference List

You are encouraged to provide citations often in your responses above (when appropriate) and a
reference list for those citations, to develop the habit in preparation for your edTPA. Your citations
throughout the paper and reference list provided here must adhere to the guidelines defined in the APA
Publication Manual (6th Ed.).

GSE 8th Grade Unit 3: Geometric Applications of Exponents. (2006). Georgia Standards of
Excellence Framework. Retrieved March 15, 2019, from
https://www.georgiastandards.org/Georgia-Standards/Frameworks/8th-Math-Unit-3.pdf

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Mathematics 9 rev. 10 apr 2019
Lawler, B. (2019). Classroom Lectures. Kennesaw, GA. Kennesaw State University, EDMG
3350.
Waddy, T., and Villarreal, A. PowerPoint: Differentiated Instruction in Content Areas.
Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, 2019.

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Mathematics 10 rev. 10 apr 2019