Curriculum Development for Pre-Algebra in Select Las Vegas High Schools
Quinn Kendall
NSHE ID: 2002513292
(702) 799-7185 ex. 3808
Curriculum and Instruction in Secondary Mathematics
Dr. Peter Wiens
CIS 684 1001
Formative Assessments
My unit optimizes collaborative learning, so there are three formative assessments that require students to work with others. In addition to those three assessments, there will be four individual exit ticket assessments and brief, ungraded checks for understanding embedded into each lesson. Although some of the formative assessments require group collaboration, all assessments have an individual grade and are structured so that group participation is required for students to be successful in their individual response.
Each lesson will begin with a warm up that relates to their prior knowledge. I am drawing this from the Montessori method, in that student learning builds on prior understanding (Ornstein & Hunkins, p.122). Since the unit is designed around student mastery of solving two-step equations, the reviews will relate to order of operations, distribution, combining like terms, and solving one-step equations.
To engage students, I will design a 3-Act Math activity inspired by Nellis Air Force Base. Rancho has a fairly large ROTC program, so students should be vaguely familiar with the military already–and even if not, commercial airplanes are also a familiar topic. Additionally, Rancho has a pilot program, so overall students will relate heavily to the activity. The first step for this activity is showing the students a video of an airplane gradually descending. Students are asked what they notice about the video, and there is an emphasis on practically any answer being correct. The second “act” is asking students what they wonder about the video, or something they are interested in finding out. After some classroom and group discussion, a single question is posed to the class. In groups of four, students work on the final step, which is solving the problem and explaining the work they have done. Then there is a point at the end of class to reveal the answer and discuss the activity. Students have a worksheet to complete and turn in for this activity, where they are expected to write a paragraph for each act (things they notice, things they wonder, and explaining their work and answer in context) which helps promote literacy in the math classroom. There is also a portion of the page for their calculations.
A second formative assessment is a “pass the problem” activity, inspired by Kagan Cooperative Learning. It is a blend between the “Fan-N-Pick” activity and the “Rally Coach” activity (Kagan & Kagan, p. 6.30, p. 6.58). For the activity, students are in groups of four. Each student receives a worksheet with sixteen problems. At the top of each column is a place for a name, labeled A, B, C, and D. Each student puts the same name for each assigned letter. For example, if a student named Maria was the A for the group, all four students would write Maria’s name above the A column. Then, for the activity, students would complete the problems in only their column, but with a caveat. At the end of each problem, which is timed, the students pass their worksheet clockwise. In between solving the problem, students switch to a pen from a pencil and check the work of the problem that was just completed by their classmate. When each student has completed and checked four problems each, there are two timed blocks for students to discuss with both the person who checked their work and the person whose work they checked.
There will be a performance task related to after school activities at Rancho. It will include a table that has some missing information. Each after school activity will require students to spend after school time as a group and put in additional independent practice relating to the activity. Additionally, it says how many days a week after school the after school activity takes place for group practice. In general, the skill they are practicing is writing an equation to represent the data between time spent as a group per day after school and practice time spent independently at home in total throughout the week. The time per day as a group should contain a variable to represent the change in group practice time depending on how many days of the week that the group practices, and the other variable should represent the total time spent practicing. The individual time practicing will be a constant. To accomplish the performance task, students will need to complete the table and successfully answer the follow up questions. As a final step, they will have to choose one activity in which they graph the line that represents the correlating data.
Each lesson of content instruction will end with an exit ticket that is individually graded. The question each day will be highly related to the new material from the lesson, and heavily modeled throughout the lesson. The goal of the exit ticket is to make sure that the majority of the class understood the material, and to give the teacher an indication of if a concept needs to be retaught on a second day in a new way to increase student understanding. Additionally, throughout lessons, there will be non-graded checks for understanding. Sometimes this will be a thumbs-up/thumbs-down check, while other times it will be proximity throughout the room while giving students brief windows of independent work time.
Summative Assessments
My unit will consist of two smaller quizzes instead of one large test. The first assessment is procedural based. There will be two algebraic expressions for students to distribute a coefficient and then combine like terms, two equations to solve using provided double number lines, two equations to solve using any method, and one table to complete and then write an algebraic expression to represent the table with a follow up question requiring students to use their equation to find the answer.
The second quiz focuses on real life application questions. There will be two four part questions that require students to draw a visual model of their choice and use that model to determine the unknown. In the process students will have to write an expression to represent the two categories in the question and then an equation to represent the situation.
Summative assessment questions such as this one utilize a few key beneficial theories that we have discussed in class. First, by relating the question to the school, students will feel connected to the data and thus be more engaged in the lesson. This aligns with the DEI philosophies discussed in section one. Second, it incorporates visual models, which is both a crucial skill to have, beneficial for conceptual understanding, and helpful for English Language Learners.
Quinn Kendall, Educator 