Unit+Plan

CD8FBAA3-4963-9D7E-881C-8187DC4DBEE41.02.05 **Unit Plan: Number Sense and Number Relationships ** Overview | Howard County Objectives | Lesson Plans | Rationale | Assessment Data and Analysis | Unit Reflection

**Unit Plan Rationale ** What is this artifact? How does this artifact demonstrate your mastery of the INTASC principle? In what ways did this artifact have a positive impact on student learning? Where does this artifact fit in the JPTAAR cycle?

1B -- 6B 2B -- 7A 3A -- 8B 4A -- 9B 5B -- 10B
 * INTASC Principles**



** What is the artifact? **
- I This artifact is a **number sense** unit that I taught to a group of 20 first grade students at Forest Ridge Elementary School in Howard County, Maryland. In my first grade math class, there are 20 students. In this inclusive classroom, there are not any students with an IEP, but there are six ESOL students who received regular services. The unit consisted of pre-assessment, ten lessons with anyalsis and reflections, a post assessment, and a unit analysis and reflection. that were taught between September 29, 2010 and October 12, 2010. The purpose of the unit was to introduce students to skills associated with basic number sense from 0 to 100. The students learn the foundation of numbers 0 to 100, subitizing numbers 0 to 10, the vocabulary equal and unequal, how to use ten frames, the vocabulary one more, one less, increase, decrease, and in-between, how to use number-lines, and how to sequence numbers 0 to 100. These skills are alligned to both the Howard County and the Maryland State Curriculum.

** How does this artifact demonstrate your mastery of the INTASC principle? **
 ** INTASC Principle 1B **: **T**he teacher plans a variety of learning experiences that make subject matter meaningful for ALL students. Day 7 Day 10

I used two lessons to demonstrate my understanding and ability to make content meaningful for all students. In my first lesson, **I was able to successfully make the subject matter meaningful for my students by using music, art, and fun activities**. I made the lesson engaging by planning a variety of learning experiences in this lesson that **allowed the subject to come alive and be more meaningful** for all of the students in my class. I kept in mind all of the **different learning styles** of the children in my class. **I knew my auditory learners would do better when I called out the numbers for the students to color in, but I also wrote down the numbers for my visual learners**. I appealed to my **spatial and visual learners by having the students turn a hundreds chart into a picture**. Also, I was able to **interest my musical and visual learners by playing a video about counting to 100**. In the second lesson, I took a different approach to making content meaningful. I sent a note home to every student's family asking them for two countries their family is from. The students returned the note and then we used the information to create a culture graph. The lesson was engaging because were able to talk about their family and where they were from. **I used the students' prior knowledge to make the lesson more meaningful to the students**. It was amazing to see the students start talking about different countries and cultures, but using the math vocabulary we were learning at the same time.

 Day 2
 * INTASC Principle 2B **: The teacher designs instruction that meets the developmental needs of ALL learners.

This lesson demonstrates my ability to design instruction that meets the developmental needs of ALL learners. **The foundation of my lesson was based on the age and academic achievement and performance levels of my students**. My students are 6 and 7 year-olds in first grade. At the beginning of the year, the students took a pre-test that placed my students into the second lowest math class out of six classes. Also, before we began the unit, the students took a pre-test on number sense. **The pretest proved that the students needed to learn about and how to apply subitizing**. **I used the Howard County standards and objectives to help steer and formulate ideas for my lesson**. Then, I created activities and reinforcements that would not only interest my students, but give them the best opportunity to learn and succeed. In this lesson I **used manipulatives (dice) in order to put an abstract concept into more concrete terms**. The students love using the dice because not only was **it tangible and fun for the tactile and kinesthetic learners, but it also gave the students a personal connection to the concept**. Also, when teaching the students about subitizing, in order to benefit the **auditory learners, every time I said the word, subitize, I said it in the goofy, sassy voice**. The students loved repeating "subitize" after me because it was contagiously fun.



**INTASC Principle 3A **: The teacher integrates a multicultural perspective in instruction. Day 10

This lesson demonstrates **multicultural perspectives in numerous ways**. The students were able to place different countries in different continents on the world map. We **discussed the different regions and languages associated with each country**. We also discussed the **heritage and background of each student.** I praised the fact that we all come from different places and have different backgrounds and that is what makes us special as individuals, as well as unique when we all come together to make a whole class. Not only did they get to share about themselves, but they were able to **make a personal connection with their heritage and with the graph**. The students took what they knew about themselves and applied it to math by using mathematical vocabulary and terms we discussed throughout the unit. **This artifact demonstrates evidence of diverse perspectives in my instruction, as well as my ability to reach my students and impact their perception of multiculturalism.**

 Day 4
 * INTASC Principle 4A **: The teacher understands principles, techniques, advantages, and limitations, associated with various teaching and learning strategies.

I **demonstrated my ability to use multiple teaching strategies throughout the entire unit.** In my Unit Overview, I listed all of the teaching strategies I used throughout the unit to **demonstrate my understanding and knowledge of the importance of using a diverse mixture of strategies**.Throughout my unit I used strategies such as whole group discussion, direct instruction, asking questions, and many more. **I used a variety of instructional strategies to acheieve different purposes and meet the needs of the students**. In particular, on @Day 4, I used a variety of teaching and instructional strategies. First, I used whole group instruction and played a game with the students, "Equal or Unequal." The students raised a red unequal sign if they believed the quantities I showed were unequal or a green equal sign if they believed the quantities I showed were equal. **This game was used to introduced the new vocabulary "equal" and "unequal," but it was also used to review the concepts of ten-frames and subitizing**. Next, I used a game involving **partner practice to reinforce the vocabulary more or less**. This game was extremely effective because the students who understood the vocabulary could help clarify to their partner who may or may not understand the vocabulary. The next strategy **I used was a three group rotation**. In one rotation, the students played "Bingo" in order to review the vocabulary "more" and "less." This gave the students a chance to use their prior knowledge about the game and have fun while learning. In the second rotation, the students used counters to practice the vocabulary "increase" and "decrease." Finally, in the last rotation, the students used **independent practice** to complete a seatwork about the new vocabulary they had learned. **This particular lesson, and the entire unit, incorporated multiple teaching strategies to enrich the curriculum and benefit the students. In my instruction, I try to steer away from direct instruction as much as I possibly can. If I must, I will still have the students actively participating and telling me what they notice. I firmly believe when the students come up with their own findings it is a much more powerful and memorable experience for them in comparison to them being given the information they need.**

 Day 2
 * INTASC Principle 5B **: The teacher plans active learning experiences involving ALL students.

This lesson **demonstrates my ability to plan active learning experiences involving ALL students**. This lesson was about subitizing. After a quick introduction and explanation of the topic, the students were able to go on their own and **actively learn the meaning of subitizing**. Instead of looking at flashcards over and over again, the students were able to roll the dice and **explore** how many dots come together to make each number. This was a **hands-on activity** that **excited and motivated all of the students**. This activity **made the students responsible for their own learning**. Every student was **engaged and involved throughout the entire lesson.**

 Day 5
 * INTASC Principle 6B **: The teacher models effective written, oral, and non-verbal communication to foster active inquiry, collaboration, and supportive interaction in the classroom for ALL students

This artifact demonstrates my ability to communicate with my students in **non-verbal forms** in order to foster a positive learning environment for my students**.** **I used sign language to demonstrate my ability to model non-verbal communication** with my students. The students learned the numbers 0 to 10 and the numbers 20, 30, 40, and 50 in sign language in order to help them learn the numbers 0 to 50. This especially **benefited the kinesthetic and visual learners** because they were able to repeat the sign language to themselves in order to figure out the written numbers.

@Seat-Work This artifact demonstrates my ability to communicate with my students in **written forms** in order to foster a positive learning environment for my students.This artifact is a seat-work comprised of literal comprehension questions that I created for my green group of readers. This seat-work was from the beginning of the academic school year when **I modeled how to create sentence starters** by using the questions. First, I stressed the importance of reading the question and understanding what it was asking. Next, I modeled how to cross off the question marks because our goal was to turn each question into a statement. Then, I showed the students how to underline the words I wanted to use in my response. On the first and third question, I explained that some words might need to be added or changed to make the sentence starter make sense. On the second and fourth questions, I modeled how to circle words that were out of order. Next, I showed the students how to highlight the words they underlined. Finally, I wrote down the words I highlighted and my sentence started was complete! **This artifact shows my ability to model effective written communication. I modeled the correct way to create sentence starters and I demonstrated my ability to create age-appropriate and professional worksheets**.

@Day 2 This artifact demonstrates my ability to communicate with my students in **verbal forms** in order to foster a positive learning environment for my students.For most people subitizing is a foreign concept; however, in my class every student is well-aware and excited by the term, "subitize." When I first introduced the concept of subitizing to my students, I said the word "subitize" in a goofy, sassy voice. The students repeated me in the same goofy, sassy voice and since then the term is constantly at the front of their brains. The students love saying the word subitize anytime they possibly can. Using a different tone of voice had a u**nique impact on my students, especially the auditory learners**. Using a different voice gave the students a **personal connection to the concept and made it more meaningful and fun for my students**. This artifact **demonstrates my ability to use verbal communication in order to aid my students in positive, meaningful learning within the classroom.**



** INTASC Principle 7A: ** The teacher plans instruction based upon knowledge of content, students, community, and curriculum goals. Day 9


 * This artifact demonstrates my ability plan instruction based on my knowledge of content, students, community, and curriculum goals**. I used the Howard County Objectives to demonstrate my ability **//to// plan instruction based on curriculum goals**. This lesson was a summation and review of everything the students had learned in the unit, so every Howard County Objective was applied during the lesson. I used the book, __The M&M's Count to One Hundred Book__ by Barbara McGrath to **enrich the content** the students were learning. Also, I used three online games to help the students practice the content for their "Big Test." I used my **knowledge of the students** in order to plan the activities for the day. For example, **the main weakness my students demonstrated throughout the unit was their use of the vocabulary "more" and "less." The students had a hard time applying the vocabulary to the concepts they were learning. For this reason, all three of my activities incorporated using the vocabulary in one way or another.**

 Day 1 Day 4 Day 8 Assessment Data and Analysis Unit Reflection
 * INTASC Principle 8B **: The teacher analyzes the data from a variety of formal and informal assessments to increase the continuous achievement of ALL learners.

In order to show my ability to analyze data in a variety of formal and informal assessments, I administered a preassessment on @Day 1, a postassessment, and used multiple forms of informal and formal assessments on Day 4. The preassessment steered my instruction during the unit. For example, none of my students correctly filled out the ten frame, so I knew I had to spend more time on that concept. **I used the pre-assessment and post-assessment to measure the growth, learning, and overall success that occurred during my unit**. On Day 4, I used multiple forms of informal and formal assessments. Within the Day 4 lesson plan, I highlighted informal assessments in blue and formal assesments in yellow. One time I used informal assessment was during the introduction. I could do a quick scan of the room to make sure every student was holding up the correct color sign. **This let me analyze quickly which students understood the terms "equal" and "unequal" and which students did not**. I also used i**nformal assessment during the partner practice**. I could visually see which students had more and which students had less. If students were struggling on who "won" and who did not "win," it was an easy way for me to see which students were understanding the new vocabulary. Once the class go to the three group rotation, I used three different assessments. During Bingo, I used **informal assessment by scanning each students' Bingo boards every time I called out a number**. If I noticed a student having trouble, I took **anecdotal notes by writing their name on a sticky note** (I did not include the sticky note because of privacy purposes). Informal assessment was used while the students were practicing with the counters. My mentor teacher used **anecdotal notes and we discussed her findings after class**. The last rotation was a **formal assessment**. The students were given “[|One More, One Less, or In Between.]” The students are asked to give the number that is one more in one column, one less in another column, and in between in the third column. Finally, I used **informal assessment** to test the students' comprehension as the students were lining up to go back to their homeroom class. **All of the assessments I used helped me to diagnose, monitor, and document student progress. I was able to target the students who were not quite up to par, as well as identify the students who had mastered the concept.** In addition, I used Day 8 to demonstrate a different set of teaching strategies. On day 8, the students needed to practice and get extra reinforcement sequencing numbers 0 to 100. This is a vital skill, so I had the students do fun activities like "Connect the Dots" and "Garden Path" to disguise the fact the students were practicing sequencing from 0 to 100.

 Day 3
 * INTASC Principle 9B **: The teacher seeks out opportunities to grow professionally.

On Friday, September 3, 2010, I attended a professional development at Bushy Park Elementary School. One of the breakout sessions I attended was "Brain Compatible Activities for Mathematics." The session was all about **incorporating activities into mathematics that stimulate the brain**. We learned about a book called [|Brain Compatible Activities for Mathematics: K-1]. I fell in love with the book as soon as I placed my hands on it at the professional development breakout session! The book is full of **activities that allow the students to see math in a different light**. This artifact is a **lesson plan that I incorporated one of the activities from the professional development into my lesson plan**. The activity was centered around subitizing. It allowed the students to not only practice, but become more independent and comfortable with subitizing. The students loved the activity. They loved being able to race themselves and try to find the next card as fast as they possibly could. **The students were motivated and on task during the entire activity**.

 @Plan Book
 * INTASC Principle 10B **: The teacher consults and utilizes school-based resource personnel to support ALL students’ learning and well-being.

This artifact **demonstrates my ability to consult and use school-based resource personnel**. This artifact is **a page from my plan book** during my number sense unit. Every week I plan for math class with my first grade mentor teacher and one of the first grade ESOL teachers, who I will refer to as Mrs. D. for privacy purposes. Mrs. D spends 12:00 to 1:00 in my math class daily. During that time, **we plan activities for three educators in the room in order to promote the most learning and growth**. My weekly consultation with the ESOL teacher is intended to **support not only the students who speak English as a second language, but ALL of the students' learning and well-being**. Sometimes Mrs. D. will work with the ESOL students; however, there are other times when she will work with other groups of students. On Monday, each teacher had one group of students at a time. The students rotated every 20 minutes. The groups were predetermined so each group had a mix of ESOL students, as well as the students that needed **extra reinforcement**. In Mrs. D's case, this allowed her to spend one on one time with the students who needed her undivided attention while they were working on their seatwork. In addition, this allowed my mentor teacher to focus on one set of skills, while I was able to focus on a different set of skills. In comparison, on Thursday, the students were participating in a guided activity. While I was at the head of the classroom, we decided to put my mentor teacher specifically helping two tables, while Mrs. D was specifically at one table. These tables were chosen based on the needs of the students demonstrated throughout the unit. The time spent working alongside with Mrs. D has taught me the importance of using any and all school-based resource personnel at my disposal, but also the importance of differentiating my lessons for the unique needs of my students. **The comparison of these two days shows my mastery of the INTASC principle because I am able to consult with and use the resource personnel in my room to improve the overall learning environment for ALL students.**

** In what ways did this artifact have a positive impact on student learning? **
Evidence shows that **this unit had a positive effect on student learning**. On the pretest, **the average score was a 65%, a failing grade; however, the average on the post-test was a 96.5**. Not including the students who scored a 100% on the pre-test, the **average margin of improvement on the post-test was 14 points**. Every student passed the post-test with a score of 75% or higher. In fact, out of 20 students, **14 of them scored a 100%, 5 scored 90% or higher, and one student scored a 75%**. The **results of the post-test demonstrate that EVERY student was positively impacted by this unit**. These post-assessment scores were all possible because of the understanding demonstrated on the daily assessments. Thankfully, there were not any topics or skills that needed to be retaught based on the daily assessments; however, there were skills that I decided needed more or less reinforcement. For example, every student received a star or star minus on their assessment about subitizing. This told me the students had mastered subitizing and did not need another whole day of instruction as planned. Instead, I did a review of subitizing and introduced the next topic. As the unit continued, the students continued displaying a strong understanding of the topics being taught. There were only four students going into the test that demonstrated areas of concern. On the day before the test, those students were given one on one extra assistance by either me, my mentor teacher, or the ESOL teacher in order to give them the best chance to succeed. All four students passed the post-test.



** Where does this artifact fit in the JPTAAR cycle? **
This artifact shows my ability to use and implement every part of the JPTAAR cycle. This artifact demonstrates all six components of the JPTAAR planning-teaching-learning cycle. I gave a pre-assessment to **judge my students' prior knowledge** and used that vital information to **plan** for instruction. Also, I planned my unit using the Howard County objectives and the Maryland VSC. While planning my lessons, I demonstrated my ability to collaborate and use resource personel by planning my lessons with the first grade ESOL teacher. I **taught** 10 lessons in my unit using a variety of instructional strategies. I varied the presentation of my lessons in order to keen in on visual, kinesthetic, and auditory. I **assessed** used a variety of formal and informal assesments as well as a post-assessment at the end of my unit. Finally, I reflected on every day's lessons as well as the unit as a whole. Reflection is an extremely important part of the JPTAAR process. It is important to reflect in order to grow professionally in order to improve not only the next go around of the lesson, but your strengths and weaknesses as a teacher. It's important to reflect on classroom management, instructional strategies, and differentiation techniques in order to find out what works with each group of students.

CD8FBAA3-4963-9D7E-881C-8187DC4DBEE41.02.05 CD8FBAA3-4963-9D7E-881C-8187DC4DBEE41.02.05