Ella Schwalb

Core Decisions & Lesson Planning

Lesson to be done at 11:00 AM on Monday, November 13th, 2017

What

In terms of mathematical content and concepts that I want to address, I am drawing from
Chapin & Johnson, and hoping to help students to strengthen their understanding of how to
handle equal groups, and when to apply multiplicative strategies. More specifically, I want
students to make connections between the unitizing of groups of 10 and 100 which we perform
automatically all the time in our place value system, and unitization as it happens in situations
which are more traditionally registered as multiplicative (Chapin & Johnson, p. 84). Hopefully
from there, students can begin to see the logic that connects 3 x 5 and 300 x 5, for instance,
which is a crucial foundation for using partial products and generally understanding what to do
when multiplying larger numbers. Based on the comfort and challenges I have noticed with this
group of students in doing the multiplication work in class, I want to push students to Commented [1]: based on feedback from Math
meaningfully employ early transitional strategies as listed in the OGAP multiplicative framework, Methods professor, Caroline Ebby
and to strengthen their association between those approaches and the more abstract
operational symbols and multiplication strategies that are being used in classas well as to
develop a sturdier grasp of powers of ten.
As far as mathematical practices the most important practice I want students to grapple
with is making sense of problems and persevering in solving them, really working with the
meaning behind a problem and using that as the foundation upon which all mathematical
decision are made. To support this, I will also encourage students to model with mathematics
specifically with drawings or other visual representations. These are the practices that I want
students to practice in problem-solving, though I hope that through their work they will also hit
upon certain ideas of reasoning abstractly and quantitatively (in seeing the connections between
the objects in the problem and the numbers they are manipulating) and in looking for and
making use of structure (by noticing patterns of place value in multiplying multi-digit numbers).

How

To get students to really make sense of equal groups in a problem and the unitizing of
numbers, I will set them up with a problem-solving task which they will work on in small groups,
and will encourage them to use drawings and/or base-ten models to represent their thinking as
they make sense of the work before them. I hope that the chance to work in small groups will
facilitate sharing of ideas. We will also establish a norm that everyone is expected to work to
solve the problem, and that if they are working in a group, they should make sure they
understand why someone else in the group is proposing any given method. I hope this norm
and the group work will encourage all students to participate more actively in the generation of
problem-solving strategies and explanations, as will the fact that they will be working on a
contextualized task that refers directly to situations the students are familiar with from their own
school environment. I will work to make sure that students fully grasp all the language of the
problems and what their task is before they set out to work on their own. The drawn models will
hopefully serve as a clear reference point from which to make decisions. I will walk around to
prompt students with questions if they look stuck, and make note of the different strategies I see
students using.
When we come back together as a group I will use this information to help me structure
a discussion wherein students will be charged with explaining their thinking to others. I will
endeavor to establish norms that make it comfortable for everyone to ask questions and to
challenge one another respectfully. In our discussions, I will also prompt students to make
connections to the more abstract operations we deal with in class, and fill in those connections
as necessary (for instance: 30 groups of 5how would we write that? [30 x 5])

Why

The beginning of 4th grade in room 202 has felt like a mad dash to master all sorts of
algorithms. While some students in the class seem to understand how to use the algorithms and
what the underlying concepts are, there are many others who often are completely at a loss and
when I walk over to work with them directly it is as though they barely have a sense of what
multiplication means. The teacher often runs through the direct instruction of math lessons,
which is then followed by a series of workbook problems that the students are supposed to do
by themselves and then wait until the teacher goes over the correct answers. Students
questions are not met with understanding, rather students who dare to ask questions are treated
as though they just havent been paying attention or havent tried hard enough and the teacher
repeats the same shallow methodology over and over again as her response.
Given this situation, I am seeing exactly how difficult it is for students to foster genuine
construction of mathematical understanding, and feel it is urgent for students to have new and
different experiences with mathematics. I will be working with students who struggle the most
with the math we currently do in class, and based on observations I have made working with
these students in the past I know that there are a lot of inconsistencies and doubts plaguing
their foundational concepts of multiplicative operations. I hope that by making room for and
centering students voicesbe that in the form of questions, attempts, or explanations
students will themselves be able to practice taking ownership over their own relationship with
mathematical concepts and procedures, which will position them to better make sense of the
math they are supposed to be learning this year and in the future.
Lesson Plan

Here is the task students will be working on: Commented [2]: feedback from Caroline Ebby
prompted me to reconsider the task because having
changing numbers of groups (as opposed to changing
Imagine... number of objects in a static number of groups)
obscured the connection to powers of ten that I wanted
to focus on.
Theres a new public school opening in South Philly called Warksouth. The Warksouth After-
School Director needs some help planningcan you help?

The school community wants to have three after-school programs: a music club, a theater club,
and a basketball team.

- If they hire five after-school teachers for each of the three different after-school activities,
how many after-school teachers will they have in total?

- If they have space for 50 students in each of the three programs, how many students will
be in after-school in all?

- In order to make sure that every family who goes to Warksouth knows about all these
exciting after-school activities, the director wants to print out informational flyers for each
of the three programs. If she prints 500 copies of each of the flyers for the three different
programs, how many flyers will she print in total?

Bonus:
- It turns out there there will actually be 523 families at Warksouth. If the Director still
wants to print all three flyers for each family, how many flyers will she need to print now?

Tarea:

Imagnate.

Hay una nueva escuela que va a abrir en South Philly que se llamar Warksouth. La directora
de programas extraescolares necesita ayuda en planificarpuedes ayudarla?

La comunidad de la escuela quiere tener tres programas extraescolares: un programa de

msica, un programa de teatro, y un equipo de baloncesto.

- Si contratan cinco maestros extraescolares para cada uno de los tres programas
extraescolares, cuntos maestros extraescolares van a tener en total?

- Si tienen espacio para cincuenta alumnos en cada uno de los tres programas, cuntos
alumnos participarn en los programas extraescolares en total?
 - Para asegurarse de que cada familia que va a Warksouth sepa de los programas
extraescolares, la directora va a imprimir hojas informativas para los tres programas
diferentes. Si imprime 500 copias de las hojas diferentes para los tres programas
diferentes, cuntas hojas debe imprimir en total?

Extra:
- Resulta que en efecto 523 familias van a ir a Warksouth. La directora an quiere
imprimir tres hojas para cada familia, cuntas hojas tiene que imprimir ahora?
Goals
Students will see that multiplying a single-digit number by a decade or hundred number yields
products that are related through powers of ten, and be able to use this pattern to solve a series
of multiplication problems that revolve around the same basic multiplication fact.

Standards
Grade 4 PA Assessment Anchors:

M04.A-T.2.1.2 Multiply a whole number of up to four digits by a one-digit whole number

and multiply 2 two-digit numbers.

[Extension M04.B-O.1.1.3 Solve multi-step word problems posed with whole numbers
using the four operations. Answers will be either whole numbers or have remainders that
must be interpreted yielding a final answer that is a whole number. Represent these problems
using equations with a symbol or letter standing for the unknown quantity.]

Grade 3 PA Standards:

M03.B-O.1.2 Solve mathematical and real-world problems using multiplication and

division, including determining the missing number in a multiplication and/or division equation.

Materials Commented [3]: Caroline Ebby wrote a comment

- Copies of printed task (6 copies) asking if students were familiar with base-ten blocks.
After reflecting on this comment, I decided to remove
- Blank paper the base-ten blocks from the list of materials because
- Pencils students have not had the chance to handle these
directly this year and I am not sure what meaning they
- Assessment checklist
have attached to the blocks as a tool. I reckoned that
figuring out how to use the blocks might end up
Plan distracting from the problem itself, and also as students
aren't able to use base ten blocks in the normal course
of their school day it would be more practical to focus
Before: on strategies that they can carry with them to the rest
of their schoolwork.
- Setting norms: discuss that we will be focused on solving a problem, and that means we
need to limit side conversations and distractions. Set expectation that we are helping
one another and encouraging one anotherthis is not about who can finish fastest, and
students will be asked to explain their strategies for solving the problem. We will be Commented [4]: based on feedback from Caroline
working in groups of 2 or 3, and every individual student is still expected to make sense Ebby
of the problem and strategies for himself/herself.
- Launching the task:
- Today were going to figure out how we would help a new school to set up their after-
school program
- Review the task together (task sheet printed above), clarifying tricky vocabulary and
phasing (see accommodations section below) and ask students to rephrase what each
part is asking them to figure out.
 - Tell students they may draw pictures and talk to one another as necessary to solve the
problems.
- Assign groups so students know who their primary collaborators are.

During:
- Observe how students get started on the questions.
- Possible questions to prompt students:
- could you draw a picture to help you visualize the question?
- If students are adding numbers in ways that dont actually reflect what the
problem is asking, prompt students to explain what each number or drawing they
have actually represents.
- When necessary, direct their attention back to the problem as necessary to see if
what they are representing matches up with the language of the problem.
- How can you use what you did in the last problem with 3 x 5, to help you solve
this part?
- Do you see any similarities between this problem and the one before?
- Take notes on students strategies, including the drawings they make or operations they
perform.
- Listen to students explanations for why they choose certain strategies, and if I dont
hear any explanations organically, ask them why they chose to do something a certain
way.

After:
- Call on students to share answers and strategies
- As students explain their thinking, demonstrate the standard numerical expression (eg. 3
x 5 = 15; 30 x 5 = 150 etc) on a whiteboard.
- Ask students did anybody notice any patterns among the different parts of the
problem?

Assessment of the goals/objectives listed above

Checklist:
- Students create 3 equal groups (understanding of equal groups)
- Students treat 5, 50, or 500 as the working unit (either through repeated addition, skip-
counting or known multiplication factsnote which each student uses)
- Students build on previous problems to help them solve subsequent steps which are
different only by powers of ten (make notes of how students are building on previously-
developed knowledge)

Anticipating student responses and my possible responses

- If students hesitate to get started and express that they just dont know how to do it,
ask them what they do know about the problem and encourage them to draw a picture.
 - If one student seems to be relying too heavily upon the work of their partner, intervene to
ask that student to rephrase what their partner has said and why they are making those
problem-solving decisions.
- If students are goofing around ask them to restate the expectations for work timeif
they continue to be distracted, remind them, and tell them that if they do not fix their
behavior they will no longer be able to work with their partner(s) and will have to finish
the task on their own.

Accommodations
- Ensuring that all students understand all vocabulary and concepts of the problems (eg.
after-school director, programs, have space for, informational flyer).
- For Spanish-speaking ESOL students, I have translated the task into Spanish and will
clarify any points of confusion in Spanish the same as I would in English for other
students. The two Spanish-speakers will work together so that they can communicate in
Spanish as they try out strategies for solving the problem.
- Based on the students I will be working with, I am already expecting to have to provide a
fair amount of prompting and encouragement along the way to keep them engaged in
the task without giving up, checking out, or going too far down a misguided path.