Microteaching Lesson Plan

Complete this lesson plan in enough detail so that another teacher or substitute can replicate it.
Be sure to consider your learner as you plan this lesson: You are teaching young adolescents, so recall information from EDUC 2130 and EDMG 3300.
Be mindful of your document presentation. Attend to the formatting.
When complete, upload to D2L.

Name(s) Maria Arredondo Grade Level/Subject 8th grade/mathematics

I. Description of Student Population from your Context for Learning Provide a brief description of your student population, including
items such as number; languages; SES; gender identity; funds of knowledge such as cultural resources, academic, and other assets; and
other key qualities that shaped your decision making in planning the lesson segment. This should be a summary from previous work done
analyzing your context for learning.

Based off of Urie Bronfenbrenners bioecological model, we know that students microsystems, exosystems, and macrosystems suggest that the
interactions between the individual and their environment shape their learning. The students everyday experiences and cultural backgrounds
are shaped by their community. The community is formed of a mixture of lower and middle working classes. Many of the students are raised in a
single family household and are raised by someone other than a biological parent such as a grandparent, aunt or uncle, etc. The students in the
classroom are either Hispanic or African-American, 4 of which are English language learners. Within its ethnic distribution, there is a lead
population of Hispanic students with a percentage of 46.6. The second largest population is African-American students with a percentage of 42.
The minorities of the school are Caucasian and Asian students.
The cultural diversity is evident in the classrooms. I noticed that the main languages spoken are English and Spanish. Although, we do have a
student who speaks French in French. As a result, we have several students who attend ESOL as a connection course or receive ESOL reading.
We have 4 students who are placed in Intensive English Language classes. Students are allowed read-aloud, extended time, etc. and are
differentiated with their workload. I, as a Spanish speaker, have also helped students a lot in providing clarification and assisting them in small
group instruction. The classroom is co-taught and with my collaborating teacher we tend to focus on small group instruction to help differentiate
instruction for these students.
Even though the students are young, some of the students are not anticipating attending college with many looking at career/vocational
training or the military. Because of the cultural and community assets that the students bring into our classroom, it can be a somewhat difficult
to engage students into the content. Therefore, building on their connections to the real-world experiences and scaffolding instruction turn into
my main goals of my instruction to develop their algebraic thinking.

EDMG 4401 Fall 2017 Lawler

1 rev. 20 oct 16
II. Central Focus List important (enduring) understandings and core concepts that you want students to comprehend for the lesson. Address
the purpose for the content you are introducing and describe what you want students to know once they have completed the lesson.

The central focus of this lesson for this unit is that students develop understanding of number sense. Students are to consider the context of a
problem and look at the numbers in a problem in order to make a decision about which strategy would be most efficient in that particular
problem. Number sense helps students develop deep understanding about flexibility between several strategies and not just one. Students are to
understand that multi-step equations are there to help students problem solve. Multi-step equations are algebraic expressions that require more
than one operation and in order to solve for the variable students must have the skills that involves using additive and multiplicative inverses
that will make the equation true.

III. State Standards List one content standard most central to this lesson segment. List one practice standard you will emphasize developing
in this lesson segment.

MGSE8.EE.7b. Solve linear equations with rational number coefficients, including equations whose solutions require expanding expressions
using the distributive property and collecting like terms.
Standards for Mathematical Practice:
1. Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.
2. Reason abstractly and quantitatively.
3. Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.
4. Model with mathematics

IV. Objectives Identify the knowledge and skills to be achieved. Each objective should include a measurable verb, the content/skill stem, and
support.

Students will be creating representations in order to solve a multi-step equation given a word problem.
Students will be able to identify the variable of their algebraic expressions

V. Academic Language The language demands of a learning task include any of the receptive language skills (e.g., listening, reading) or the
productive language skills (e.g., speaking, writing) needed by the student in order to engage in and complete the task successfully.
a. Language Functions These are the measurable verbs embedded in your objectives, i.e. analyze, determine, compare, etc. List the
language functions for your lesson segment here.

EDMG 4401 Fall 2017 Lawler

2 rev. 20 oct 16
 Students will be creating representations that will lead to their multistep equations. This attends to their productive skills of speaking to
their peers and to the teachers. Students will also be using their productive skills when they are writing their representations on the big
Post-It paper. Students will be using their receptive skills when they are listening to instruction and to their peers.

b. Vocabulary List vocabulary that you will use in the lesson that has different meanings across subject areas. Then list subject-
specific vocabulary for your lesson here.

-Distribute Property
-Equation
-Multistep Equation
-Variable
-Combining Like Terms
-Inverse Operations

c. Syntax Describe how you plan to teach the rules, special forms, conventions, and/or grammar associated with (academic) writing
or speaking in the content area.

There is no syntax for this lesson.

d. Discourse Describe briefly instances in the lesson segment in which you will include reading, writing, listening, and/or speaking
tasks that serve to demonstrate an understanding of the academic language you are teaching.

I will facilitate discourse throughout all the tasks. Students will be answering the questions about the warm-up in order to develop a
better understanding of exponents for the Unit 2. While students are working on their tasks, I will be facilitating discourse by getting
students to figure out the representations that they can use in order to solve the problem. I will also encourage students in their
algebraic thinking by asking students to create an equation for the problem and to recognize any patterns

VI. Assessments Be sure they correlate with lesson objectives.

a. Pre-assessment/Assessment of Prior Knowledge How will you assess prior knowledge? Challenge yourself to utilize an asset-
orientation (rather than deficit-orientation) to what understandings children bring that you can build upon. A deficit-orientation
focuses on misconceptions, partial understandings, and misunderstandings. An asset-orientation focuses on what children know
and can do (their conceptions), as well as their interests and wonderings.

EDMG 4401 Fall 2017 Lawler

3 rev. 20 oct 16
 The pre-assessment was summative assessment that had 20 multiple choice questions. These questions had problems about evaluating
squared and cubed roots, computing with scientific notation, exponents, and rational and irrational numbers. This allowed me to take
the time to go back and review some of the 7th grade standards on equations before doing this task.

b. Formative Assessment Formative assessments provide information needed to adjust teaching and learning while they are still
occurring and function as an understanding checkpoint that guides future instruction decisions. This type of assessment can take
place during or at the conclusion of a learning activity or a lesson. The purpose is to monitor progress toward mastery of the skill
being taught.

i. Informal Informal assessments monitor individual student progress during or after instruction, but do not usually result in
structured feedback. Briefly state when and how.

During the warm-up, students will respond individually or as a group to the questions. During the task, I will be monitoring their
work and asking if students need help understanding. This will help me understanding if they need help with their reading
comprehension or more guided practice.

ii. Formal Formal assessments are designed to provide individual feedback. They can occur during or at the conclusion of a
lesson or activity. Briefly state when and how.

The formal formative assessment will their posters (the big Post-It papers) that they will present at the end in which they
demonstrate how they reach their answers. This will help guide tomorrows instruction. If students can analyze, create, and
evaluate the material then we declare the they have shown understanding of the concept of multi-step equations.

c. Summative Evaluates student learning at the end of an instructional unit by comparing it against some standard or benchmark.
The purpose is to demonstrate attainment of the objective(s). Briefly state what/how and when.

The Unit 2 test will be the summative assessment that students will take in about two weeks. Students will see a problem like, Solve for
X: 4(x-3)=5x+21

VII. Preparation
a. Materials Needed- List all materials needed by the teacher and the students for the lesson. You may assume that students have
writing paper and utensils. List number of items needed per student, per group, or per class, as appropriate.

-Have big sheets of the Post-It Pad for the students to work on.

EDMG 4401 Fall 2017 Lawler

4 rev. 20 oct 16
 -Color pencils so if they want to have different colors to work with.
-Two-sided counters

b. Preparation- Describe all preparation that must occur before the lesson. What does the teacher need to have ready to go by the
time the bell rings?

Must have your groups assigned for the activity:

Groups of 4 will work best for this activity.

c. Resources- List all resources used in the development of this lesson. Cite all sources appropriately, including books, websites, and
other teachers.

https://www.illustrativemathematics.org/content-standards/8/EE/C/7/tasks/999

VIII. Instructional Strategies and Learning Tasks

a. Motivator/Anticipatory Set (i.e. Launch) A brief activity that effectively engages students' attention, activates their background
knowledge, builds background when needed, and focuses their thoughts on the learning objective. Should be directly related to the
instructional objective. This lesson opener may be an opportunity to draw out initial conceptions students have about the topic. Be
sure you can refer back to this lesson opener at a later time in instruction to clarify connections for learners.)

Before we start with the problem task, I will begin the class with multiple ability treatment. I will announce that in order for you to solve
this problem, you must be able to do some of the following:
Making representations like t charts
Able to use manipulatives such as counters or calculators
Identify a variable
Create an equation
All of you are great at one of these things, but not all are great at all. Together you must work together to solve the following problem.
Students will be presented with the problem for the problem-based learning task. The students will receive the following problem:
For a science project, Sammy observed a chipmunk and a squirrel stashing acorns in holes. The chipmunk hid 3 acorns in each of the
holes it dug. The squirrel hid 4 acorns in each of the holes it dug. They each hid the same number of acorns, although the squirrel needed
4 fewer holes. How many acorns did the chipmunk hide?

EDMG 4401 Fall 2017 Lawler

5 rev. 20 oct 16
 b. Learning Tasks (i.e. Explore) Learning tasks must demonstrate evidence of what students are supposed to be learning. For
mathematics, during the lesson, students must engage in cognitively demanding tasks and be supported during paired or small
group discussion. Your instructor/supervisor/cooperating teacher may have specific requirements.)

Students will have 3-5 minutes to get started on their own. Then they will be separated in groups of 4 (groups are separated above).
They will have the remaining of the class period to work as a group on this problem. Each group will receive a sheet of the big post-
it notes for them to describe their method of solving the problem.
There are several ways that students can solve the problem. For example, through a table, graph, or by writing an equation.
Q: How can I represent this word problem?
Q: What is the important information from this word problem, and how can I represent it?
A table will be the most common to see since students are more familiar with working with tables. It will also be the easiest to get
students to get started by using a table. You could say start by making a table with the number of holes dug by the chipmunk and
squirrel and the number of acorns that they have buried. We are looking for a common number of acorns and the need to study the
number of holes.
Holes for ChipmunkChipmunks Acorns Holes for Squirrel Squirrels Acorns
1 3 1 4
2 6 2 8
3 9 3 12
4 12 4 16
5 15 5 20
6 18 6 24
7 21 7 28
8 24 8 32
9 27 9 36
10 30 10 40
11 33 11 44
12 36 12 48
13 39 13 52
14 42 14 56
15 45 15 60
16 48 16 64
Students might want to stop when they reach the first common number of acorns that we find is 12. The chipmunk hides 12 acorns
in 4 holes while the squirrel hides 12 acorns in 3 holes.
4 holes 3 holes = 1 hole.

EDMG 4401 Fall 2017 Lawler

6 rev. 20 oct 16
 So the number 12 acorns are incorrect. They have to keep going so that the difference is a total of 4 holes as the original problem
asked. For here, you might see more of a variety of answers between students. Some students may just multiply this scenario by 4
and get a total of 48 buried acorns and 16 holes for the chipmunk and 12 holes for the squirrel while other students may continue
the table as the one shown above.
Q: How are things changing?
Q: How can I describe the steps without using specific input?
Q: Now that I have an equation, how do the numbers (parameters) in the equation relate to the problem context?
Q: What are the variables and what do they represent? After students are reaching an answer, have students create an equation for
the word problem by introducing variables to them. Using their equations, they can verify that the information that they found in
the table or representation is correct.
Here students might struggle a little more, but it will help them with the multistep equations and actually make sense of what is
going on in their table.
Start with introducing h as the number of holes that the chipmunk has dug.
3h would represent the three acorns that the chipmunk hides every time that he digs a hole. The expression for the squirrel would
be a little different. Students must take into consideration that the squirrel dug four less holes than the chipmunk so, h-4, but the
squirrel digs 4 acorns in each hole so that means that the squirrels expression would be 4(h-4). The problem told us that both the
squirrel and the chipmunk had the same number of acorns, therefore:
3h=4(h-4) Here students have to go back and remember how to solve multistep equations. Students must use the distributive
property, combining like terms, and inverse operations to solve the equations.
3h=4(h-4)
3h=4h -16
3h= 4h -16
+3h=+3h +16
16=h; indicating that when the chipmunk had dug 16 holes, he had 4 more holes that then squirrel did but with the same number of
acorns.

c. Closure (i.e. Summarize) Help students draw connections between their and other students solutions, as well as the key
mathematical ideas in the lesson. Summarize the initial problem posed in the launch and student ideas that were generated, and
formalize mathematical goals of the lesson. You might provoke a new question that guides future investigation, or ask an open-
ended question to help students be more aware of what they learned.)

Students will be coming up as a group to demonstrate how they solved the problem. This will lead to a summary of
the concept of multistep equations.

EDMG 4401 Fall 2017 Lawler

7 rev. 20 oct 16
VIII. Support for Varied Student Learning Needs Identify the various instructional strategies that access different learning preferences and
multiple intelligences, giving learners choices in process and product.
a. Responses to misconceptions, partial understandings, misunderstandings, etc. Describe how you have provided supports in
your learning tasks that respond to the potential misconceptions, partial understandings, and misunderstandings described in the
assessment section.

Some common misconceptions of algebra include:

1.) Algebra makes math harder: Students think that algebra makes things more difficult. What students dont realize is that they will
have to use algebraic thinking in order to solve this problem. Students dont to tend to realize that recognizing and describing patterns is
a part of algebra. Students will have to start looking at the patterns that they will get from their tables or other representation that they
will use to find the solution Then, students will use their equations and have to use the distributive property and inverse operations to
find the unknown value as a part of algebra as well. Students may see that using the equation would be a faster or easier approach than
creating the table.
2.) Confusing the variable x with the operation of multiplication (x). Students tend to confuse the two; to avoid confusion students will
be using the variable h.
3.) Interpreting variables:In order for students to write an equation they need to breakdown the problem and identify all the variables
and what they represent.
4.) Integer operations: Students will work with integer

b. Responses to learning needs of the whole class Identify the instructional strategies that address different learning styles and
multiple intelligences, giving learners choices in process and product.

There are several instructional strategies that will take place during the lesson. These students are mostly visual learners, but
students will get the opportunity to use their auditory skills during the task. There will be a visual to go along with the word problem
in order to help students visualize the context. This activity helps students interact with their peers and think about mathematics.
Peer discussion is important in aiding students develop a deeper understanding of mathematics. Students can grasp more
confidence in their own mathematical thinking. Students must listen and build off of each other to make connections in
mathematics.

c. Responses to learning needs of individuals and groups with similar needs How you will support the needs of the individuals and
groups with similar needs including ELs, students with IEP's etc. that you identified in your Context for Learning.

EDMG 4401 Fall 2017 Lawler

8 rev. 20 oct 16
 For the students who are ELs, they will be in a group that has another student that speaks Spanish throughout the class period.
They will receive paraphrasing as well. Flexible grouping has been used for the entire class. In each group, there are students that
struggle with mathematics with a student(s) who struggle less with mathematics. Calculators will also be provided for students who
need it, as well as the color pencils and two-sided counters.

EDMG 4401 Fall 2017 Lawler

9 rev. 20 oct 16
 REFLECTION: Microteaching Planning, Instruction, and Assessment Commentary

Provide your response to each of the prompts below. You may use examples from your lesson plan and/or your performance. Answer these
questions thoughtfully, with your learners in mind. Do NOT summarize your lesson. Explain, describe, and justify what you did and why you
made decisions.

1. Central Focus. Explain how your learning tasks connected to the standards and objectives you listed.

The central focus of this lesson for this unit is that students develop understanding of number sense. Students are to consider the context
of a problem and look at the numbers in a problem in order to make a decision about which strategy would be most efficient in that
particular problem. Number sense helps students develop deep understanding about flexibility between several strategies and not just one.
Students are to understand that multi-step equations are there to help students problem solve. Multi-step equations are algebraic
expressions that require more than one operation and in order to solve for the variable students must have the skills that involves using
additive and multiplicative inverses that will make the equation true.

2. Knowledge of Students to Inform Teaching. For each of the prompts, describe what you know about your student population relative to
the central focus.
a. Prior mathematical assets related to the central focusWhat mathematical assets, abilities, and strengths to your students bring to
this task?
Based off of previous standards such as MGSE7.EE.1, students should know how to use properties of operations to generate equivalent
expressions. For instance, they should know how to apply properties of operations as strategies to add, subtract, factor, and expand
linear expressions. Based off of pre-assessments such as warm-ups, about 2/3 of the students understand how to use the properties of
operations to generate equivalent equations. According to standard MGSE7.EE.4, students should know how to use variables to
represent quantities in a real-world or mathematical problem, and construct simple equations to solve problems by reasoning about the
quantities. As shown with the pre-assessment students still have difficulties with defining the variables in real-world or mathematical
problems. They also struggle with constructing equations from a word problem, but they can use the additive and multiplicative
properties in order to solve the equation once the equation has been created. Students know about the distributive property and about
combining like terms, but they are still learning how to use the distributive property and combining like terms to solve linear equations
b. Personal/cultural/community assets related to the central focusWhat do you know about your students everyday experiences,
cultural backgrounds and practices, and interests relative to the content and how they might approach learning?
Based off of Urie Bronfenbrenners bioecological model, we know that students microsystems, exosystems, and macrosystems
suggest that the interactions between the individual and their environment shape their learning. The students everyday
experiences and cultural backgrounds are shaped by their community. The community is formed of a mixture of lower and middle

EDMG 4401 Fall 2017 Lawler

10 rev. 20 oct 16
 working classes. Many of the students are raised in a single-family household and are raised by someone other than a biological
parent such as a grandparent, aunt or uncle, etc. The students in the classroom are either Hispanic or African-American, 4 of which
are English language learners. Even though the students are young, some of the students are not anticipating attending college
with many looking at career/vocational training or the military. Because of the cultural and community assets that the students
bring into our classroom, it can be a somewhat difficult to engage students into the content. Therefore, building on their
connections to the real-world experiences and scaffolding instruction turn into my main goals of my instruction to develop their
number sense.

c. Young adolescent developmental assets related to the central focusWhat do you know about your students cognitive, physical,
and social and emotional development? Use principles from research and/or theory to support your explanations, where
appropriate.
Students at this age are developing in several ways. According to John Piagets theory of cognitive development adolescents are at
the concrete operational stage where they can think logically about concrete (hands-on) problems. Students understand
conservation and can organize things into categories and in series can reverse thinking to mentally undo actions. An example of
this would be when students are using the additive and multiplicative properties. Some of the students are beginning to go into the
formal operational stage where they are thinking hypothetically and deductively. When it comes to abstract problems they are
thinking about them in a more logical fashion. Algebra is an abstract concept and for students it can remain difficult to understand
if their cognitive development has not reached the formal operational stage. Part of their physical development, students are
experiencing growth spurts. Therefore, providing opportunities for the students throughout the learning segments to move around
would benefit them greatly.
According to Erik Ericksons theory of psychosocial development, students at this age are in stages 4 and 5. Stage 4 (Industry vs.
Inferiority) of this theory states that the child must deal with the demands to learn new skills or risk a sense of inferiority, failure,
and incompetence. Stage 5 (Identity vs. Role Confusion) states that peer relationships are most valuable to students. The students
must achieve identity in occupation, gender roles, politics, and religion. Students are just now beginning to get into stage 5, but it is
evident in the classroom that the peer relationships are vital to their existence. In addition to this theory, Lev Vygotskys social
development theory states that social interaction plays a fundamental role in the process of cognitive development. Therefore, it is
beneficial for students to structure instruction that provide social interactions amongst their peers

3. Supporting Students Learning. Respond to prompts 3ac below. As needed, refer to the instructional materials and lesson plans you have
included to support your explanations. Use principles from research and/or theory to support your explanations, where appropriate.
a. Explain how your understanding of your students prior academic learning and personal/cultural/community/developmental assets
(from prompts 2ac) above guided your choice or adaptation of learning tasks and materials. What specific student information
guided your choices as you created your lesson plan, and how did that information affect your choices?

EDMG 4401 Fall 2017 Lawler

11 rev. 20 oct 16
 As previously mentioned, scaffolding instruction remains as one of the main goals given the students cultural and community
assets. Lev Vygotskys social development theory also supports the use of scaffolding and the zone of proximity. I built on their
knowledge of knowing how to represent given situations using algebraic expressions from the word problems encountered in Real-
Life Equations worksheet that only required two-step equations in order to introduce the multi-step equation word problem for the
Chipmunk and Squirrel word problem task. This task also included numbers that were not too large so that students could
experiment with some more small values and eventually find a solution that way instead of getting discouraged during the
exploratory phase given their mathematical dispositions.

b. Describe and justify why your instructional strategies and planned supports are appropriate for the learners identified in your
Context for Learning with specific learning needs.
There are several instructional strategies that will take place during the lessons. These students are mostly visual learners, but
students will get the opportunity to use their auditory skills during the task. There will be a visual to go along with the Chipmunk
and Squirrel word problem task in order to help students visualize the context as well as seeing the warm-ups on the Smart Board.
The Chipmunk and Squirrel word problem task helps students interact with their peers and think about mathematics. Peer
discussion is important in aiding students develop a deeper understanding of mathematics. Students can grasp more confidence in
their own mathematical thinking. Students must listen and build off of each other to make connections in mathematics. For the
students who are ELs, peer structured instruction provides an opportunity for them to ask questions to myself or their peers and
grow in their English abilities by observing the models of the students around them. In addition, students who are EL will be in a
group that has another student that speaks Spanish throughout the class period to receive clarification. They will receive
paraphrasing as well. Flexible grouping will be used for the entire class during the Chipmunk and Squirrel word problem task. In
each group, there are students that struggle with mathematics with a student(s) who struggle less with mathematics. Calculators
will also be provided for students who need it, as well as the color pencils and two-sided counters.]

c. Describe common preconceptions (based on prior academic learning and experiences) within your content focus and how you
identified and addressed them in your plan.
Some common misconceptions of algebra include:
1.) Algebra makes math harder: Students think that algebra makes things more difficult. What students dont realize is that they
will have to use algebraic thinking in order to solve this problem. Students dont to tend to realize that recognizing and describing
patterns is a part of algebra. Students will have to start looking at the patterns that they will get from their tables or other
representation that they will use to find the solution Then, students will use their equations and have to use the distributive
property and inverse operations to find the unknown value as a part of algebra as well. Students may see that using the equation
would be a faster or easier approach than creating the table.
2.) Confusing the variable x with the operation of multiplication (x). Students tend to confuse the two; to avoid confusion students
will be using the variable h.

EDMG 4401 Fall 2017 Lawler

12 rev. 20 oct 16
 3.) Interpreting variables:In order for students to write an equation they need to breakdown the problem and identify all the
variables and what they represent.
4.) Integer operations: Students will work with integer operations such as the -16.

4. Language Demand: Language Function and Additional Language Demand.

a. Identify the language function from your lesson plan and identify a key learning task from your plan that provides learners with the
opportunity to practice using the language function.
Identify: Students will identify what the unknown values are in a given situation or word problem and identify that it is a variable.

b. Describe the opportunities that learners have in your plan to learn the additional language demand(s) you identified.
The learning task of the Chipmunk and Squirrel word problem task is where students are able to practice the language function.

5. Monitoring Student Learning. Refer to your planned assessments.

a. Describe how your planned formal and informal assessments will provide direct evidence of learners mathematical conceptual
understandings and/or procedural fluency.
The formal formative assessment for the Chipmunk and Squirrel word problem task will be their posters (the big Post-It papers)
that they will present at the end in which they demonstrate how they reach their answers. This will help guide the following days
instruction. If students can analyze, create, and evaluate the material then we declare the they have shown understanding of the
concept of representing given situations with algebraic expressions and being able to identify unknown values. In addition to
monitoring, I will use that time to prepare the questions and sequencing of student presentations.
The formal formative assessment for the Chipmunk and Squirrel word problem task will be their posters (the big Post-It papers)
that they will present at the end in which they demonstrate how they reach their answers. This will help guide the following days
instruction. If students can analyze, create, and evaluate the material then we declare the they have shown understanding of the
concept of representing given situations with algebraic expressions and being able to identify unknown values.

b. Explain how the design or adaption of your planned assessments will allow any learners with specific needs identified in your
Context for Learning demonstrate their achievement of the objectives.
Extended time was given for my English Language Learners. Flexible grouping was utilized on the Chipmunk and Squirrel Activity
as an adaptation for the formal formative assessment collected.

EDMG 4401 Fall 2017 Lawler

13 rev. 20 oct 16