Stage I and Performance Assessment Ideas

Planning Template

(p. 30 Tomlinson and McTighe)

Stage I – Desired Results
Established Goal(s) [all standards/proficiencies]: CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.8.G.A.1 Verify experimentally the properties of rotations, reflections, and translations:            Lines are taken to lines, and line segments to line segments of the same length.            Angles are taken to angles of the same measure.            Parallel lines are taken to parallel lines. CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.8.G.A.2 Understand that a two-dimensional figure is congruent to another if the second can be obtained from the first by a sequence of rotations, reflections, and translations; given two congruent figures, describe a sequence that exhibits the congruence between them. CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.8.G.A.3 Describe the effect of dilations, translations, rotations, and reflections on two-dimensional figures using coordinates. CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.8.G.A.4 Understand that a two-dimensional figure is similar to another if the second can be obtained from the first by a sequence of rotations, reflections, translations, and dilations; given two similar two-dimensional figures, describe a sequence that exhibits the similarity between them.
Understanding (s): Students will understand that… The difference between congruent and similar shapes Rotations, translations, dilations, and reflections have different effects on shapes Shapes can be found and used in everyday life, and throughout different mediums.	Essential Question(s): How can we show the congruence and similarity of shapes in different mediums?
Students will know…                                                           Students will be able to…1)How to rotate, translate, dilate, and reflect                1) Explain and show they can shapes on a coordinate plane.                                           rotate, translate, dilate, and                                       reflect shapes on a coordinate      plane. 2) The difference between congruent shapes                   2) Explain the difference and similar shapes.                                                           between congruent and similar                                                      shapes. 3) Shapes can be found in many different                        3) Express their knowledge of mediums.                                                                           shapes in a new medium (such       as computer programs or       artwork)

One idea I have for a performance assessment during my lesson is an art project that uses similar and congruent shapes. I think this would be a great and creative way for students to show what they know about similar and congruent shapes. A student would need to apply all of the knowledge they gained from my unit to complete this assignment. My rubric will include specific instructions about what they would need to include in the art piece, for example a rotation, dilation, reflection, etc. to make sure that students have applied their knowledge and meet the standards I have set in place for the unit. This piece of artwork will also give students the ability to apply their knowledge about how shapes and art relate by creating their very own piece.

These pieces of evidence show the beginning stages of my planning for a unit in an eighth grade geometry class. They show that I am thinking of the purpose of my unit before I start looking at anything else. This is the root of backwards planning, which looks at the purpose of a unit first, and then plans lessons. A main idea and purpose will help a teacher stay on task, and remember the most important part of the lesson.

This blog will focus on Performance Criteria 7.1: Candidates plan instruction by drawing upon knowledge of content areas to meet rigorous learning goals. This mean that I will focus on showing my ability to plan lessons based on my knowledge of my content area. I believe that Stage one of my Backward planning template and my mind map show that I am meeting this criteria. The evidence shows what I want my students to specifically know about congruent and similar shapes. I want them to be able to explain rotations and reflections. This means that I have an understanding of what these are and why it is important for a student to understand the difference between them. This evidence also shows that I want show students how the material connects to a world outside of mathematics. I must have a very deep understanding of the mathematics if I wish to give my students meaningful connections. The backwards planning guide helps me think of ways I can connect my content area to other areas of the world. This will make my instruction stronger, because it shows that I want my students to make connections to the world around them.

I believe that the evidence shows that I am just barely scraping my understanding of my content area knowledge to create instruction. The evidence currently shows that I have a plan to get there, but doesn’t show much else. I believe as I delve deeper into my unit plan I will have more evidence that shows how I relate my content knowledge to my lessons to give rigorous learning goals. I will learn more about geometric shapes, along with congruence and similarity so I can find deeper meaning in them and find many other ways I can relate them to the real world, so I will have even more rigorous goals for my students.

Shadow Puppet and Explain Everything

Link to Progressivism: https://youtu.be/_u34vE1OsIQ

Link to Literacy: https://youtu.be/PI24YdpslFI

In the shadow puppet a partner and I were asked to describe our definition of literacy, how it has changed over the past few weeks, and how we could relate it to our content area. In the explain everything I was asked to explore my teaching philosophy, research theorists and it, and apply my learning to my future teaching style.

In these two projects I found a lot of similarities. As I researched my teaching philosophy I learned that I believe it is incredibly important for students to actively work with material, and not just listen to me talk about the material. When I gave ideas as to how I would assess my future students literacy in math I said I would do exactly that. A great example is starting at 1:23 of the shadow puppet with my partner. We stated that a student must be able to show they are literate in multiple ways. I then gave an example of how a student could do that. Our shadow puppet also brought up the fact that a person who is truly literate in math can apply it to everyday life. I think these are huge points in my teaching philosophy. Students must be able to find connections to their world to find the subject matter interesting. Along with this they must be able to experiment with the material, and actually do instead of just listen. So I believe there are a lot of connections with literacy in my content area and my teaching philosophy.

Performance criterion 4.1 states that candidates must accurately communicate central concepts of the discipline. My shadow puppet with my partner really showed that. One of the key concepts in high school mathematics is the ability to understand signs, symbols, and important language. My partner's and my shadow puppet talked a lot about the importance of understanding these things to be literate in the content area. I think this also covered the performance criterion 5.2 which states "Candidates integrate cross-disciplinary skills [such as critical thinking, creativity, and collaborative problem solving] to help learners demonstrate their learning in unique ways". In the shadow puppet I stated students will need to show literacy by taking different text styles and applying them to different text styles. An example of this is taking a graph and find the equivalent algebraic equation. Then I also stated that students need to apply the concepts to the real world, which my teaching philosophy believes is very important. This will require critical thinking skills. Students will need to critically think about how they can apply these concepts to the real world. My partner and I had a picture of a student playing basketball in our shadow puppet, and that would be a great way to integrate critical thinking skills. A student would need to figure out how to apply their math skills to the real world, and that requires critical thinking.

As I have explored my presentations and how they relate to the performance criteria I have learned more about how I can apply the different criteria. When I first read performance criteria 4.1, 4.2, 5.1, and 5.2 I was confused as to how I could apply them, but I started to see that my shadow puppet expressed the importance of being able to understand different mathematical mediums and relating them to real world situations, and I felt that performance criteria 4.2 and 5.2 really expressed that. As I keep moving forward I want to find other creative ways I can relate class projects and experiences to the performance criteria and mission statement pillars