One Week Unit Plan (Interactive Geometry Lesson)

Noha Bushra

EDSS 511

UNIT TOPIC:  Motion Geometry/ Geometric Transformations

1. UNIT CONTEXT       

Subject/Content Area Geometric Reflections

Course Geometry A

Grade Level      9^th-11^th  

Length of Unit: This unit will be covered in 4 days (1 week), four 55 minute periods.  

             

2. FACTS ABOUT THE LEARNERS      

Whole Class Information

·         Number of students in class    24 students in the class

·         Demographic Information: 13 males and 11 females. 17 students are Hispanic, 5 Caucasian, 1 Native American, and 1 African American student. 18 of my students receive free or reduced lunches. 5 of my students are Early Advanced ELLs, 1 student Early Intermediate, and 12 of my students are RFEP. Spanish is the primary first language. 1 of my RFEP students has an IEP; he is diagnosed with ADHD and struggles to stay on task.

·         Developmental Needs:

Readiness Almost 100% of my students read and write below grade level.

Interests Students in the class enjoy social interactions, music, and art.

Learning Profiles (learning styles/dispositions) Students in the class are a mix of visual, kinesthetic, and auditory learners. Information has to be written on the board or presented using the projector for visual learners while read aloud for auditory learners. Students are provided with various opportunities to explore concepts and have hands on learning experiences to encourage those who learn by doing.

Affective-Management Strategies & Classroom Learning Environment Most of the students enjoy classroom discussions and actively participate, while some students prefer to work independently. Collaboration is essential in daily lessons; guiding and provoking questions are necessary to generate discussions on topic. Students enjoy music and are allowed to listen to their iPods while working on independent tasks.

 

Individual Student Information and Differentiation Strategies

1.     Elena:

Elena is a 15 year-old 10^th grader and an English learner.  She has been in the United States for one and a half years.  She is literate in Spanish and often reads Spanish literature.  Her report cards from her school in Mexico indicate above average grades.  Elena is somewhat shy socially but is well liked and works well in small groups.  She is seldom absent from school. The CELDT results indicate overall score in the Early Intermediate range, and she has been identified as an English learner. 

Developmental Needs

Readiness: Elena is a level 2 ELL. She needs to work on her reading, writing, and speaking skills.

Interest: Elena is very proud of her cultural traditions especially dancing.

Learning Profile: Elena prefers to work in small groups. She is a kinesthetic learner who enjoys learning by doing.

Differentiation Strategies

Process/Readiness: Teacher will choose a bilingual (English/Spanish) supportive student as Elena’s partner to assist her with any translations or clarifications as needed. Elena will be working with small groups and will be monitored frequently by teacher.

Content/Readiness: Teacher will provide a graphic organizer to the class with common vocabulary words.

Product/Learning Profile: Elena will be able participating in various hands on activities such as poster makings.

Differentiation strategies will be assessed through informal assessments such as monitoring student’s participation in small groups, and checking student’s work during class to provide extra support. In addition, formative summative assessments will be used such as turned in worksheets, quick quizzes, and tests. Additional instruction will be provided to assist Elena throughout the unit.

2.     Maggie:

Maggie is a 16 year-old 11^th grader and an English learner.  She has been in the United States for 3 years.  She speaks Spanish fluently however is not proficient in reading and writing. Maggie is shy socially but works well with a partner.  She is seldom absent from school. The CELDT results indicate overall score in the Early Intermediate range, and she has been identified as an English learner. 

Developmental Needs

Readiness: Maggie is a level 2 ELL. She needs to work on her reading, writing, and speaking skills.

Interest: Maggie enjoys drawing and appreciates art.

Learning Profile: Maggie is a kinesthetic learner who enjoys learning by doing.

Differentiation Strategies

Process/Readiness: Teacher will pair Maggie with a bilingual (English/Spanish) supportive student to assist her with any translations or clarifications as needed.

Content/Readiness: Teacher will provide a graphic organizer to the class with common vocabulary words.

Product/Learning Profile: Maggie will be able participating in various hands on activities such as poster makings.

Differentiation strategies will be assessed through informal assessments such as monitoring student’s participation in small groups, and checking student’s work during class to provide extra support. In addition, formative summative assessments will be used such as turned in worksheets, quick quizzes, and tests. Additional instruction will be provided to assist Maggie throughout the unit.

3.     Alex:

Alex is a 15-year-old boy in the 10th grade.  He had difficulty with the development of his early literacy skills, including the acquisition of sound/symbol relationships and word identification, demonstrated in both his reading and writing.  In the second grade, Alex was identified as a student with specific learning disabilities. He is able to independently read text at a 7th grade level and continues to struggle with decoding words. He is a self-isolating person who does not readily join into whole-class conversations or contribute to group learning situations.

Developmental Needs

Readiness: Alex needs to improve his oral communication skills and continue working on his reading and writing skills.

Interest: Alex is a self-isolating person who does not readily join into whole-class conversations or contribute to group learning situations.

Learning Profile: Alex is a shy student who prefers to work independently.

Differentiation Strategies

Process/Readiness: Assigning students to small groups instead of having whole class discussions will be better for Alex. Assigning a specific part to each student during class while giving Alex a small part a day before so he can read it at home and practice what to say will encourage him to contribute to his group.

Content/Readiness: Graphic organizers will be provided to increase reading comprehension and clarify content vocabulary.

Product/Learning Profile: Students draw visual representations to demonstrate comprehension.

I will assess student’s progress informally through monitoring his discussions with his group. Through monitoring Alex’s contributions to his group I will be able to determine if my adaptations helped him overcome his social struggles. As a formal assessment I will assess Alex’s turned in assignments to see what he understood and was able to demonstrate. I will also assess Alex’s progress by checking if he made corrections after debriefing and summarizing.

4.     David:

David is a 17-year-old 12th grader.  He had difficulty with the development of his early literacy skills demonstrated in his reading and writing.  During his elementary school years, David was identified as an ELL and was diagnosed with ADHD. Currently David is identified as a Re-designated English Language Proficient. David is very smart and demonstrates proficiency with content when asked questions about the topic. Yet, He struggles to stay on task and gets distracted very easily. David enjoys drawing, listening to music, and socializing with his friends. He is a visual learner who also prefers to learn by doing.

Developmental Needs

Readiness: David needs to improve his reading and writing skills.

Interest: David needs to learn to complete his assignments and socialize on topic.

Learning profile: David is a visual and kinesthetic learner.

Differentiation Strategies

Process/Readiness: Chunking is a strategy that is used to support David. To help David stay on task, he is assigned small tasks and is asked to finish each part then move on to the next.

Product/Learning Profile: Students draw visual representations and writes a short paragraph to demonstrate comprehension.

I will assess student’s progress informally through monitoring his discussions with his group while reminding him to stay on topic. As a formal assessment I will assess David’s turned in assignments to see what he understood and was able to demonstrate. I will also assess his progress by checking if he made corrections after debriefing and summarizing. His written paragraphs will display his progress with writing.

5- Josue

Josue is a 17 year-old 11^th grader and an English learner.  He has been in the United States for about 7 years.  He is literate in Spanish and speaks it fluently. He needs to work on his speaking, reading, writing skills in English. Josue is extremely shy socially; he refuses to work with others and prefers to work independently. The CELDT results indicate overall score in the Early Advanced range. He enjoys art and likes to draw.

Developmental Needs

Readiness: Josue is a level 4 ELL. He needs to work on her reading, writing, and speaking skills.

Interest: Josue enjoys drawing and likes to show his art work.

Learning Profile: Josue is a kinesthetic learner who enjoys learning by doing.

Differentiation Strategies

Process/Readiness: Teacher will place Josue with a partner, since Josue doesn’t like to work in groups, teacher will have him work with one partner so he is not intimidated.

Content/Readiness: Teacher will provide a graphic organizer to the class with common vocabulary words.

Product/Learning Profile: Josue will be able to show his artistic talents through working on posters. Teacher will allow Josue to choose various symbols or pictures and apply reflections to them, this will motivate Josue to demonstrate his understanding.

Differentiation strategies will be assessed through informal assessments such as monitoring student’s participation in discussions with his partner, and checking student’s work during class to provide extra support. In addition, formative summative assessments will be used such as turned in worksheets, quick quizzes, and tests. Additional instruction will be provided to assist Josue throughout the unit.

2. Unit Rationale: Enduring Understandings & Essential Questions

 Enduring Understanding
Students will use their logical approach to develop a deep understanding of the topic. They will link geometry to their surroundings; they will be able to make connections with real life applications. The ability to understand the basics of geometry will help students build on this knowledge and progress faster in the course. Students will use deductive reasoning to approach problems and reach conclusions. Students will develop a deep understanding of reflections. They will be able to use multiple reflections to learn about motion geometry. They will be able to link their knowledge to real life applications.

Essential Questions

How can we use motion geometry in real life applications?

How can we use various transformations on geometric figures?

What is the effect of transformations on figures?

Does changing the order of transformations on a figure changes its congruence to the original shape?

Reason for the Instructional Strategies & Student Activities

Exploring a mathematical concept allows students to retain the discovered information. Students are encouraged to discuss the topic and contribute to come up with solutions. Team work and collaboration allows students to explain mathematical concepts and demonstrate their level of understanding.

3. STANDARDS

Content Standards

New Common Core Geometry Standard:

G-CO 5

Given a geometric figure and a rotation, reflection, or translation, draw the transformed figure using, e.g., graph paper, tracing paper, or geometry software. Specify a sequence of transformations that will carry a given figure onto another. (Cognitive)

G-CO 6

Use geometric descriptions of rigid motions to transform figures and to predict the effect of a given rigid motion on a given figure; given two figures, use the definition of congruence in terms of rigid motions to decide if they are congruent. (Cognitive)

ELD Standards

Advanced ELD level

Negotiate and Initiate Social Conversations by questioning, restating, soliciting information, and paraphrasing the communication for others.

Intermediate ELD Level

Participate in social conversations with peers and adults on familiar topics by asking and answering questions and soliciting information.

(Cognitive/ Affective/ Language)

4. UNIT OBJECTIVES

·         Cognitive After listening to the questions posed by the teacher, students will be able to explore the mathematical concepts while using deductive reasoning.

 Language Development

After understanding the definitions through discussions and teacher clarifications, they will be able to use the terms in mathematical discussions.

Psychomotor:

After watching demonstrations of the concept, they will be able to draw an accurate reflection of the shape across the given line.

5. ASSESSMENT PLAN

Diagnostic/ Entry Level (Informal)

At the beginning of class, students will be asked questions as a review to assess previous knowledge.

Formative/ Progress Monitoring (Informal)

Teacher will monitor students’ discussions and attempts to answer prompts.

Summative (Formal)

Students will turn in their work at the end of class for grading. Teacher will assess students’ understanding and grade students’ work. Students are allowed to make corrections and turn in their revised assignments for better grades.

A quick quiz will be given during the last 30 minutes at the end of the week to check overall students’ understanding and ability to retain information.

6. STEPS OF INSTRUCTION (based on the day)

A. Anticipatory Set/Into (5 min)

I will instruct students to take their folders out of the assigned drawer and sit down while distributing worksheets. I will remind students about the class blog policy for extra credit points.

I will review the previous topic
B. Instruction/Through (5 min)

I will review with students the previous lesson.

C. Guided Practice/Through (25 min)
I will ask students questions and allow collaboration. Students will explore the topic and attempt to answer prompts.

Then I will display students’ work using projector and compare conclusions.
D. Independent Practice/Through (10 min)
I will give students the opportunity to write a paragraph to explain relationships that they found as well as make corrections to their work.
E. Closure (5 min)

I will summarize and debrief with students.

F. Beyond (5 min)

I will ask questions or show a short clip that introduces the next lesson.

REFLECTION

Designing a unit plan highlights the importance of “getting to know your students”. It is essential for a teacher to know students’ backgrounds, readiness levels, interests, and learning profiles. This information affects planning and instruction significantly. Furthermore, planning a unit made me realize how important it is to use various types of assessments for accurate evaluation of all students’ understanding even students with learning disabilities or language barriers.

Differentiation strategies that I used to support my students I believe will assist and encourage them to reach their full potential. For high achievers I always provide them with a leading role in the classroom, I ask them to help students in their groups and explain to them what they did. Using various forms of assessments is strength in my unit plan; I use different measurements to assess students’ knowledge, understanding, and participation. Implementing all of these strategies in my unit helped me realize how important it is for a teacher to think of different aspects continuously, I will plan my next unit and I will take into consideration all of this information when designing it for effective teaching.

Unit Calendar: (Reflections)

	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Day 4
Content Standards	New Common Core Geometry Standard: G-CO 5 Given a geometric figure and a rotation, reflection, or translation, draw the transformed figure using, e.g., graph paper, tracing paper, or geometry software. Specify a sequence of transformations that will carry a given figure onto another.	New Common Core Geometry Standard: G-CO 5 Given a geometric figure and a rotation, reflection, or translation, draw the transformed figure using, e.g., graph paper, tracing paper, or geometry software. Specify a sequence of transformations that will carry a given figure onto another.	New Common Core Geometry Standard: G-CO 5 Given a geometric figure and a rotation, reflection, or translation, draw the transformed figure using, e.g., graph paper, tracing paper, or geometry software. Specify a sequence of transformations that will carry a given figure onto another.	New Common Core Geometry Standard: G-CO 6 Use geometric descriptions of rigid motions to transform figures and to predict the effect of a given rigid motion on a given figure; given two figures, use the definition of congruence in terms of rigid motions to decide if they are congruent.
Learning Objectives	Cognitive After listening to the questions posed by the teacher, students will be able to explore reflections.	Cognitive After listening to the questions posed by the teacher, students will be able to explore the mathematical concepts as groups while using deductive reasoning. Language Development After understanding the definitions through discussions and teacher clarifications, students will be able to   identify lines of symmetry in their drawings.	Cognitive and psychomotor After watching the teacher’s demonstration of diagonal reflections, students will construct various shapes and reflect them. Students will explore the effect of applying reflections on their shapes.	Cognitive and psychomotor After discussing congruence based on reflections in class and listening to teacher’s explanation, students will be able to draw congruent images of various shapes.
Student Activity	Students will draw reflections based on their understanding of the word; they will collaborate and compare their drawings.	Students will collaborate and write terms and definitions on the graphic organizer	Students will work in pairs to construct accurate reflections using different angle measures and side lengths.	Students will work in pairs to construct accurate reflections using different angle measures and side lengths while showing congruence sides an angles.
Assessment	Diagnostic students will be asked questions about the topic to assess their level of understanding and their previous knowledge. Formative/ Progress Monitoring Teacher will monitor students’ discussions and encourage all students to participate and share their ideas. Summative Students will turn in completed worksheet.	Formative/ Progress Monitoring Teacher will monitor students’ discussions and encourage all students to participate and share their ideas. Summative Students will write the definitions on the graphic organizer, illustrate their understanding with drawings, and turn it in at the end of class. Students will turn in completed worksheet.	Formative/ Progress Monitoring Teacher will monitor students’ discussions and constructions. Summative Students will turn in completed worksheet.	Formative/ Progress Monitoring Teacher will monitor students’ discussions and constructions. Summative Students will complete a quick quiz on reflections.

End of Trimester Survey

Effective Instruction (BLOG 5 for 521)

This semester, I have been surprised by the literacy levels of my students. They are able to read simple text, use basic vocabulary words to define terms, and communicate using simple English. However, they are not able to communicate in academic English, dissect text and make sense of word problems, and spell terms correctly.

September 30, 2013
To support students' learning I will create a literacy rich classroom that helps them succeed. I will use a variety of effective instructional strategies such as integrating easy text in daily lessons, provide graphic organizers with vocabulary terms and definitions, incorporate more visuals to clarify terms and concepts, model my thinking by reading aloud to understand different words, and build on what students already know (break the term into meaningful parts that students know). My literacy rich classroom will involve a lot of hands on learning activities and projects, group work, class discussions, and less lecturing. By doing that I will provide opportunities for students to develop communication skills, and will ensure that students are engaged in their learning "Whoever does the most work, does the learning".

December 15, 2013
By that time, my literacy rich classroom will reflect students' achievements;  students will engage comfortably in academic conversations while using content vocabulary, they will be used to reading text and will be able to summarize and reflect on their readings orally and in writing, and they will be able to demonstrate their understanding in group projects and in-class activities.

May 30, 2014
At that point my students will become the experts; they will be the source of information when it comes to literacy, they will be able to research terms and definitions using technological resources available, and they will be able to demonstrate independent learning by choosing various ways to show their understanding. In addition, they will be capable of independent learning in concept exploration; they will do that by reading different texts and discussing it with each other, summarizing and reflecting on readings in class, and building on each others' perspectives. Furthermore, they will be the guide to new students who need extra support. This classroom environment supports students' success, motivates them to thrive, and engages them in myriad ways!

Project Tomorrow

Speak Up Report:

"LEARNING IN THE 21ST CENTURY MOBILE DEVICES + SOCIAL MEDIA = PERSONALIZED LEARNING"

http://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/MobileLearningReport2012.html

Incorporating social media and making use of students’ smartphones in classroom instruction benefits students and educators. The increasing support given by parents, schools, and districts to include mobile learning in classrooms is changing teacher practice as it is presents a critical challenge. Sharing the vision on how to personalize learning through mobile device use and social media is crucial for the future of education.

During my experience in clinical practice this semester I have come to know that students are incorporating social media and mobile device use in their learning already. Most of the students own a smartphone that they use to look up information to enhance their learning experience. It wasn’t surprising to me to read that students support technology use in education, based on my teaching experience this semester I find it essential for teachers to support this move as well to personalize learning for students. It did surprise me however to read that “87 percent of parents say that the effective implementation of technology within instruction is important to their child’s success (50 percent label it as extremely important)”, I was surprised because during parent conferences and meetings I saw many parents talking to their child about turning off his/her cellphone during class and discouraging them from the use of any type of mobile devices. I believe that cellphone use has to be incorporated with caution so it doesn’t turn to a distraction and take away from students’ learning. In my opinion, principal’s perspectives on cellphone policies as presented in the report are valid; network security, internet safety, and digital equity concerns are aspects that have to be considered. In my classroom, I encourage technology use through school devices while students ‘personal device use is kept to a minimal. Since some of my students don’t own a cellphone, I see that incorporating the use of students’ personal devices in learning during class as un-equitable. Also I fear that students will get distracted and search off-topic information. My hope is that schools will have the funds to provide more mobile devices to support the incorporation of social media in students’ learning; in that case students will be provided a safe and equal opportunity for success.

Speak Up Video:

“Is ANYONE listening to students? Students Speak Up About Education Technology”

http://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/IsAnyoneListeningVideo.html

In this video, 3 students are asked to present their opinion on the use of technology in the classroom. Students supported cell-phone use and shared the advantages of immediate “internet look up” during instruction; they emphasized that being able to learn in depth outside of book covers provides a greater opportunity for learning. They also said that looking information up when they are interested in it is way more effective than waiting until they get home, as they may forget or lose interest in the topic. The third student surprisingly disagreed on cellphone use; she stressed on the fact that students do get distracted while using their cellphones during class, and it would be much better if classroom had computers where students can use school provided devices to fulfill these needs.

It was very surprising to see how that last student discouraged cellphone use in the classroom, I believe her point is very valid; most students do get distracted when using their cellphones during class. The use of school devices is much more effective since schools provide a safe internet search where inappropriate websites are blocked, also the teacher can monitor students’ computers/iPads from her master device. Listening to students gave more confidence to trust their judgment and to include them in classroom decisions. Self-directed learning is the future of education; teachers have to support students’ interests and link them to the learning experience.

YOUTH TEACH2LEARN:

http://www.tomorrow.org/programs/teach2learn.html

This program encourages students to explore the teaching career, it motivates students to explore math and science at an early age, and provides students with an opportunity to teach math and science lessons at an elementary school. As a result, students gain public speaking and presentation skills, develop relationships with mentors and educators, and learn about the teaching career before going to college or university. At my school site, I can implement a similar program by reaching to administrators and counseling staff; adding a career class as an elective or creating a career club can help students get a valuable career experience. This program will help students make informed decisions on what career they want to pursue after graduating high school. Creating an interest in math and science will play a vital role in our community; students can explore these fields and become interested in learning more about them. This will reflect on their college education and their career choice in the future.

Student Survey II

21st Century Skills: Creativity in my Geometry class!

Creativity is an essential component that has to be included in daily lessons. I believe students are creative by nature and it is the teacher’s obligation to make sure that they don’t grow out of originality and imagination. To encourage creativity in my classroom I always provide my students with options; it can be options on assignments or options on tool use…. etc. Problems are posed in a way that allows various types of solutions; students choose the tools to use and also a way to solve the problem. I encourage different answers and urge students to collaborate in groups to share their ideas to reach solutions. In addition, I often solve problems incorrectly and show students the answer; this urges the students to use their judgment and think critically to suggest changes to be made to my answer. In that way they show their creative approaches to reach correct answers and become the experts on the topic. Collaboration and classroom discussions are components that are found in my classroom on daily basis. I am the mediator and the guide however the students are the ones discussing, sharing, and reinventing mathematics to teach one another.

Integration is my approach to support literacy in and beyond mathematics. I always provide graphic organizers where students can add new vocabulary words; next we use this work in a descriptive paragraph that students write at the end of each lesson. In that paragraph students write what they know about the problem, how they approached it, what conclusions they found, how they are planning to continue explore it. Furthermore, students are asked to draw a visual representation of their understanding of the topic. In this teaching approach I am integrating Mathematics, English, and Art in daily lessons to offer maximum opportunities for creativity and innovation.  In various lessons I encourage students to further research the history of the concept using media tools such as computers, smart phones, and iPads when available. As an example on this strategy, students were asked to work with country flag components and illustrate their understanding of multiple geometric topics on the flag design. I instructed students to gather data on the history of the flag and the changes that happened to it overtime. Students worked in groups to gather data, demonstrate their understanding of geometry, and write a brief summary on the flag’s history. Students are further encouraged to present their work and share with their peers various interesting facts. In this lesson, History, English, Mathematics, and Art were integrated to allow and promote creativity.

Group activities and team work is crucial for students’ life long learning and success. Nonetheless, I acknowledge the importance of independent practice and it’s effect on students who prefer self-learning. To ensure all students have the opportunity to show independent work, I plan time for independent practice in all of my lesson plans. Students have the opportunity to read problems independently and start approaching it at the beginning of each class and also have time at the end of class to complete assignment after collaboration. In my opinion, this gives the students the opportunity to understand the prompt and think of ideas, additionally at the end of class they can incorporate different ideas or choose to continue working on their own idea after exploring different perspectives. Students turn in independent work for assessment; this gives me a deep understanding of their content comprehension to inform my instruction in following lessons.

Sociocultural Aspects of Schooling for ELLs

An aspect that always comes to mind when thinking of ELLs is their sense of belonging due to their limited ability to communicate in the most commonly used language at their school. Language is the essence of culture, being able to share cultural elements with others through teaching a language is motivating for all students. As a plan to address that I will work on creating Language Clubs at the school, all students can join these clubs even if they don't know the language. Contests can be organized at the school to encourage students' participation. Students can research a certain language and make presentations about it's origin, different dialects, and it's cultural aspect. I believe this will put ELLs in a position where they are the source of information or the expert rather than feeling different, it will help build their confidence and help them develop a sense of belonging as they feel valued.