Domain: Measurement and Data Standard Code: 3.MD5.a, 3.MD5b Author Name: Brenda Miller & Elizabeth Torgerson

Title of Task: ____Design A Dream Playground______

Adapted from: Smith, Margaret Schwan, Victoria Bill, and Elizabeth K. Hughes. “Thinking Through a Lesson Protocol: Successfully Implementing High-Level Tasks.”

Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School 14 (October 2008): 132-138.

PART 1: SELECTING AND SETTING UP A MATHEMATICAL TASK
What are your mathematical goals for the lesson? (i.e., what do you want
students to know and understand about mathematics as a result of this lesson?) / Recognize areas as an attribute of plane figures and understand concepts of area measurement.
·  What are your expectations for students as they work on and complete this task?
·  What resources or tools will students have to use in their work that will give them entry into, and help them reason through, the task?
·  How will the students work—
independently, in small groups, or in pairs—to explore this task?
·  How will students record and report their work? / Students will be able to discover, explore and create their own idea of a square unit and how it is used to measure area.

*Slide presentation with a picture of a playground and
questions
Resources:
Graph paper or large chart graph paper, paper, markers,
colored pencils, crayons, tiles, cm cubes
Grouping: partners or groups of 3
How will you introduce students to the activity so as to provide access to all
students while maintaining the cognitive demands of the task? / Your dad has decided to finally let you have a play area in the back yard. He wants you to design it. Before you can put any equipment on your playground you will need grass underneath everything. You have a rectangular shaped yard, how much grass will you need to cover the whole backyard?
Extensions: Plan the rest of the playground and find the area you will need for any equipment or play areas you want. How much area will each one take?
PART 2: SUPPORTING STUDENTS’ EXPLORATION OF THE TASK
As students work independently or in small groups, what questions will you ask to—
· help a group get started or make progress on the task?
· focus students’ thinking on the
key mathematical ideas in the task?
· assess students’ understanding of
key mathematical ideas, problem- solving strategies, or the representations?
· advance students’ understanding
of the mathematical ideas? / Focus:
What do you know? What do you need to find out? Show me your pictures. What have you done? What tools have you used?
Assess:
Can you explain that to me? How do you know? How did you figure that out?
Advance:
Is there another way you can do that? How do you know? What have you discovered?
What other choices do you have? How are these similar? How are these different?
Where can you find that answer? What do you find difficult or challenging?
Describe……. Explain…… Tell………. List……..
Restate-“Can you tell me what he said?”
How will you ensure that students remain engaged in the task?
· What assistance will you give or what questions will you ask a
student (or group) who becomes
quickly frustrated and requests more direction and guidance is
solving the task?
· What will you do if a student (or group) finishes the task almost
immediately? How will you
extend the task so as to provide additional challenge? / Frustrated: Class members present ideas on document camera or Promethean (Smartboard) with a graph paper background provided. Allow time for questions and clarification. Teacher, walks around room, monitors and guides with questions if frustration level is reached. Give time for students to go to another group and see how they are doing it.
Extensions for Fast Finishers: Plan the rest of the playground and find the area you will need for any equipment or play areas you want. How much area will each one take?
Most yards are not a rectangle? What is your yard really look like? Describe your yard and try and graph it. Plan a playground for your yard or for a different shaped yard?
PART 3: SHARING AND DISCUSSING THE TASK
How will you orchestrate the class discussion so that you accomplish your mathematical goals?
· Which solution paths do you want to have shared during the
class discussion? In what order will the solutions be presented? Why?
· What specific questions will you ask so that students will—
1. make sense of the
mathematical ideas that you want them to learn?
2. expand on, debate, and question the solutions being shared?
3. make connections among the different strategies that are presented?
4. look for patterns?
5. begin to form generalizations?
What will you see or hear that lets you know that all students in the class
understand the mathematical ideas that
you intended for them to learn? / Use a way to choose partners to show and explain their strategies to the whole group. Use large chart paper, document camera or Promethean (Smartboard). Allow for questions and comments.
Did anyone do it the same way? Did anyone do it a different way? How is this strategy like your strategy? How is it different? What else could you use this strategy for? Explain the problem and the methods used to solve the problem.
Responses: Energized conversation and facial expressions. Presentation and discussion of strategies will confirm understanding. Have students respond in their journal.