Domain: Measurement and Data Standard Code: 2.MD.4 Teacher Name: Grant Bushman

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?) / Students will demonstrate the ability to compare 2 lengths when each lengths is measured in different units.
·  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 discuss their ideas with each other, use physical space for measuring, and will keep data on their findings.
Students will be able to use rulers, paper strips and scissors, unit cubes (for centimeters) and number tiles (for inches), pencils, and papers.
Students will work in pairs.
Students will present their conclusive findings on a single piece of 8 1/2" x 11" piece of paper, called the presentation page. Other findings will be kept in an investigation notebook, so that the teacher can monitor the solution path.
How will you introduce students to the activity so as to provide access to all
students while maintaining the cognitive demands of the task? / The teachers asks 2 volunteer students to draw a line on the whiteboard. The line can be of any length (within 36 inches). Each student will then name his/her line. This name become the name of the unit. The teacher cuts a strip of poster board to match each of the 2 units. The teacher then writes the name of the unit on each paper. (The teacher will then have 2 strips of different lengths titled Jack and Jill, respectively.)
The teacher then asks the class to decided what is longer, 5 Jacks or 9 Jills, etc. Then the teacher makes the comparisons that Jacks and Jills are just like inches and centimeters.
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? / "What do you know?"
"How can you show lengths?"
"What tools do you want to use?"
"What are you going to figure out first?"
"What is a quick way to measure 4 centimeters over and over again?"
Students might be refocused by assuming the roles of Judy and John. Judy shows how long her train is, and John shows how long his train is. Then they compare.
"Why did you choose to solve it that way?"
"Is there another way that might work?"
"Could you measure the total lengths in feet and inches? How long would each track be?"
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? / "What have you discovered already?"
"What do you know for sure?"
"Where does Judy's track start?"
"How are you going to show how long a track is?"
"Is there another way to show how long each track is?"
"Write a paragraph about how you found your answer."
"If John and Judy had a race to the end of their track, who would win? Write how you know."
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? / Solution Paths I Would Like to See:
- Drawing the Tracks in Total and Visually Comparing
- Using Repeated Addition (Multiplication) to find total lengths
- Making Tracks from Paper
- Using Rulers to Determine Lengths
- Using Manipulatives to Determine Lengths
"What was the hardest part for you?"
"What mistakes did you make, and how did you fix them?"
"How did you compare inches and centimeters in a way that made sense?"
"What things did you figure out one time and then repeat over and over?"
"What other things (not just railroad sections) do we place end to end and measure?"
Student should have a clear representation of their product, displayed in a way that other students can understand. This may include word descriptions, formulae, or visual representations.

Judy has 9 pieces of railroad track. John has 3 pieces of railroad track. Judy's pieces are 4 centimeters long and John's pieces are 7 inches long. Whose train track is the longest?