EDUC 628 Methods Key Assessment – Unit Plan: Math

Overview

The Unit Plan Key Assessment requires teacher candidates to plan and develop a set of lessons around a particular topic (a unit, approximately 500 minutes of instruction), support materials, and assessments. This unit of instruction must be developed in consultation with the mentor teacher and taught during the internÕs full time teaching portion of the phase 2 internship.

An overall grade of “Proficient” is required to progress from Phase 1.

Purpose

Teaching involves more than just developing individual, stand-alone lessons. A teacher must be able to develop coherent lessons organized around a central theme to support student understanding of concepts, procedures, and relationships. To accomplish this task, a teacher must be able to develop lessons that are interconnected across extended periods of time. The Unit Plan Key Assessment provides teacher candidates the opportunity to demonstrate their ability to plan a coherent unit of instruction.

Connections to Standards

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics 2012 Elements	Unit Plan Component
2a) Use problem solving to develop conceptual understanding, make sense of a wide variety of problems and persevere in solving them, apply and adapt a variety of strategies in solving problems confronted within the field of mathematics and other contexts, and formulate and test conjectures in order to frame generalizations.	• Individual Lesson Plans
2b) Reason abstractly, reflectively, and quantitatively with attention to units, constructing viable arguments and proofs, and critiquing the reasoning of others; represent and model generalizations using mathematics; recognize structure and express regularity in patterns of mathematical reasoning; use multiple representations to model and describe mathematics; and utilize appropriate mathematical vocabulary and symbols to communicate mathematical ideas to others.	• Individual Lesson Plans
2d) Organize mathematical thinking and use the language of mathematics to express ideas precisely, both orally and in writing to multiple audiences.	• Individual Lesson Plans
2e) Demonstrate the interconnectedness of mathematical ideas and how they build on one another and recognize and apply mathematical connections among mathematical ideas and across various content areas and real-world contexts.	• Unit Plan Description Alignment Chart • Individual Lesson Plans
2f) Model how the development of mathematical understanding within and among mathematical domains intersects with the mathematical practices of problem solving, reasoning, communicating, connecting, and representing.	• Individual Lesson Plans
3a) Apply knowledge of curriculum standards for secondary mathematics and their relationship to student learning within and across mathematical domains.	• Alignment Chart
3b) Analyze and consider research in planning for and leading students in rich mathematical learning experiences.	• Individual Lesson Plans
3c) Plan lessons and units that incorporate a variety of strategies, differentiated instruction for diverse populations, and mathematics-specific and instructional technologies in building all studentsÕ conceptual understanding and procedural proficiency.	• Unit Plan Description • Individual Lesson Plans
3d) Provide students with opportunities to communicate about mathematics and make connections among mathematics, other content areas, everyday life, and the workplace.	• Individual Lesson Plans
3e) Implement techniques related to student engagement and communication including selecting high quality tasks, guiding mathematical discussions, identifying key mathematical ideas, identifying and addressing student misconceptions, and employing a range of questioning strategies.	• Individual Lesson Plans
3f) Plan, select, implement, interpret, and use formative and summative assessments to inform instruction by reflecting on mathematical proficiencies essential for all students.	• Assessment Plan
3g) Monitor studentsÕ progress, make instructional decisions, and measure studentsÕ mathematical understanding and ability using formative and summative assessments.	• Assessment Plan
4a) Exhibit knowledge of adolescent learning, development, and behavior and demonstrate a positive disposition toward mathematical processes and learning.	• Individual Lesson Plans • Assessment Plan
4b) Plan and create developmentally appropriate, sequential, and challenging learning opportunities grounded in mathematics education research in which students are actively engaged in building new knowledge from prior knowledge and experiences.	• Individual Lesson Plans
4c) Incorporate knowledge of individual differences and the cultural and language diversity that exists within classrooms and include culturally relevant perspectives as a means to motivate and engage students.	• Individual Lesson Plans
4d) Demonstrate equitable and ethical treatment of and high expectations for all students.	• Individual Lesson Plans
4e) Apply mathematical content and pedagogical knowledge to select and use instructional tools such as manipulatives and physical models, drawings, virtual environments, spreadsheets, presentation tools, and mathematics-specific technologies (e.g., graphing tools, interactive geometry software, computer algebra systems, and statistical packages); and make sound decisions about when such tools enhance teaching and learning, recognizing both the insights to be gained and possible limitations of such tools.	• Individual Lesson Plans
5a) Verify that secondary students demonstrate conceptual understanding; procedural fluency; the ability to formulate, represent, and solve problems; logical reasoning and continuous reflection on that reasoning; productive disposition toward mathematics; and the application of mathematics in a variety of contexts within major mathematical domains.	• Assessment Plan
5b) Engage students in developmentally appropriate mathematical activities and investigations that require active engagement and include mathematics-specific technology in building new knowledge.	• Individual Lesson Plans
5c) Collect, organize, analyze, and reflect on diagnostic, formative, and summative assessment evidence and determine the extent to which studentsÕ mathematical proficiencies have increased as a result of their instruction.	• Assessment Plan
6c) Utilize resources from professional mathematics education organizations such as print, digital, and virtual resources/collections.	• Individual Lesson Plans

Requirements

The curriculum project needs to include the following components:

I. Cover Page

• Includes driving question or title, intended grade level(s), content area, your name (s) and date.

II. Description of Unit

1. Overall Rationale

• A written statement (about 1 page) in which you summarize your philosophy of mathematics teaching and how it influences the unit you are developing.

• A description of an essential or driving question and how it serves as the focus of the unit.

2. Curriculum Alignment Chart (Concept Map or Outline)

• A table/chart(or other appropriate mechanism) showing the connection among Lessons, Content standard(s), and Summative Assessment Item(s).

III. Assessment Plan

• A pre-assessment to determine the baseline knowledge of students. This assessment should be the same as the summative assessment.

• A formative assessment plan to identify how students are progressing toward lesson/unit objectives during the unit (e.g., observation, homework, classwork)

• A summative assessment to determine the impact of the unit on student learning.

v Assessment items need to be aligned to the unitÕs curriculum goals.

v Assessment items must include higher order thinking (e.g., Levels 4-6 of BloomÕs).

IV. Daily Lesson Plans

• Lesson plans for 500 minutes of instruction should be fully developed and "classroom-ready." The lesson plans must use the official UMBC Secondary Program Mathematics Lesson Plan template.

• Support Materials (such as copies of handouts, worksheets, journal pages, overheads, etc.) should be embedded in the lesson plans to which they are connected.

• Physical and/or technology tools are required in each lesson. Both physical and technological tools are required at some point in the unit. A rationale for each tool should be included in the lesson plan reflection component of the lesson plan template.

• By the end of the unit, all eight standards of mathematical practice must be addressed at least once. The lesson plan should make explicit how students will be engaged in the practices.

• Identify resources from professional organizations explicitly (e.g., NCTM, MAA, MSRD). At least one resource from a professional organization is required.

• Identify relevant research addressed in the lesson plan reflection component of the lesson plan template (e.g., UDL, multiple intelligences).

• Although direct instruction and the ÒI Do-We Do-You DoÓ method may be appropriate occasionally, such methods should not be the foundation of your unit because they generally do not deeply engage students in the mathematical practice standards. Your lesson plans should demonstrate your ability to vary your instructional role (e.g., coach, facilitator).

• Include complete bibliographical information on all sources

V. Calendar

• Include a calendar with dates for activities, investigations and artifact production. Since you are not teaching the unit this term, the dates will probably be hypothetical, but the purpose of this requirement is to convert your brainstormed project into an ordered timeline, taking into account weekends, holidays, etc.

Process

The curriculum project is constructed throughout the fall semester in collaboration with your mentor teacher. You are required to have your mentor review and Òsign offÓ during multiple checkpoints of the project construction. These checkpoints include:

1. Identification of content standards to be addressed. The content should address standards that you will be teaching during phase 2 (generally during Feb and/or March).

2. Development of appropriate Pre/Post assessments

3. Outline of curriculum unit lessons

4. Development of one completed lesson plan

The curriculum project is due during finals week of the fall semester.

Rubric link