Lesson Plan for Implementing

NETS•S—Template I
(More Directed Learning Activities)
Template with guiding questions
Teacher(s)
Name Michael DeFusco

Position 6th, 7th, 8th grade math, special education

School/District Palmer Middle School/Cobb County

E-mail defusco@gmail.com

Phone 404-227-4751

Grade Level(s) 6th

Content Area Math

Time line 7 days – culminating project

Standards (What do you want students to know and be able to do? What knowledge, skills, and strategies do you
expect students to gain? Are there connections to other curriculum areas and subject area benchmarks? ) Please
put a summary of the standards you will be addressing rather than abbreviations and numbers that indicate which
standards were addressed.
Content MGSE6.G.1 Find area of right triangles, other triangles, quadrilaterals, and polygons by
Standards composing into rectangles or decomposing into triangles and other shapes; apply these
techniques in the context of solving real-world and mathematical problem.
MGSE6.G.4 Represent three-dimensional figures using nets made up of rectangles and
triangles, and use the nets to find the surface area of these figures. Apply these techniques
in the context of solving real-world and mathematical problems

Page 1 of 6
 NETS*S Empowered Learner
Standards: Students leverage technology to take an active role in choosing, achieving and
demonstrating competency in their learning goals, informed by the learning sciences.
Students use technology to seek feedback that informs and improves their practice and to
demonstrate their learning in a variety of ways.
Students understand the fundamental concepts of technology operations, demonstrate the
ability to choose, use and troubleshoot current technologies and are able to transfer their
knowledge to explore emerging technologies

Digital Citizen
Students engage in positive, safe, legal and ethical behavior when using technology,
including social interactions online or when using networked devices.

Knowledge Constructor
Students plan and employ effective research strategies to locate information and other
resources for their intellectual or creative pursuits.
Students curate information from digital resources using a variety of tools and methods to
create collections of artifacts that demonstrate meaningful connections or conclusions.
Students build knowledge by actively exploring real-world issues and
problems, developing ideas and theories and pursuing answers and solutions.

Innovative Designer
Students select and use digital tools to plan and manage a design process that
considers design constraints and calculated risks.

Creative Communicator
Students choose the appropriate platforms and tools for meeting the desired objectives of
their creation or communication.
Students create original works or responsibly repurpose or remix digital resources into new
creations.

Overview (a short summary of the lesson or unit including assignment or expected or possible products)

This lesson is a culminating assignment on area and surface area. Students will be responsible for calculating
the total number of sheets required to wrap a new house in plywood. Student will work in groups of 3 to design
and build a house. They will use Microsoft Teams to collaborate, share ideas, and links to the types of houses
they would like to design. They will use Sketchpad to create a rough design of the house. The final version of
the house will be constructed using Minecraft Education. There will be guidelines on minimum length, width
and height of the house. Using the internet and the Google search engine, students will research a minimum of
3 different stores to find the best price for the plywood. Students will apply their knowledge of area and surface
area to find the surface area of the house, and then calculate the number of sheets required. Students will
need to think about door placement, the number of windows, the shape of the roof in order to come up with an
accurate cost of materials. Groups will complete the calculation sheet to ensure accuracy, and they will write a
constructed response explaining their design, and how they came up with the total cost. This constructed
response will be used to help them with the voiceover for their final presentation. Students will utilize Sway or
another presentation tool of their choice (Canva, PowerPoint, Prezi) to create a presentation that will be shared
with the classroom.

Essential Questions (What essential question or learning are you addressing? What would students care or
want to know about the topic? What are some questions to get students thinking about the topic or generate

Page 2 of 6
interest about the topic? Additionally, what questions can you ask students to help them focus on important
aspects of the topic? (Guiding questions) What background or prior knowledge will you expect students to bring
to this topic and build on?) Remember, essential questions are meant to guide the lesson by provoking inquiry.
They should not be answered with a simple “yes” or “no” and should have many acceptable answers.

How can we find the area of figures? How do we measure the area of a composite shape without a formula?
How does the calculating the area of a face relate to the surface area of a composite figure? How can we use
the total surface area of a composite shape to calculate the number of sheets needed? What is the area of a
full sheet of plywood? What is the formula for area of a rectangle and triangle?

Assessment (What will students do or produce to illustrate their learning? What can students do to generate new
knowledge? How will you assess how students are progressing (formative assessment)? How will you assess
what they produce or do? How will you differentiate products?) You must attach copies of your assessment and/or
rubrics. Include these in your presentation as well.

Students will create a presentation using Sway, PowerPoint, Canva, or Prezi to demonstrate mastery of the
content. In the presentation, they will have screenshots of the house created in both Sketchpad and Minecraft
Education, and they will show how they calculated the surface area and the total cost of the sheathing. They
will also have a verbal explanation (voiceover) explaining how they arrived at the answer, why they chose the
design that they did, and what they would have done differently. The presentations will be assessed using the
teacher created rubric to determine if students are able to show mastery of computation of surface area of
composite figures. There will be two checkpoint formatives along the way. As part of the Sketchup, students
will determine the measurements of their house, and using the created House Form, they will input the data
before showing the calculations. The second checkpoint will be before they move onto the presentation, where
students will actually calculate the surface area and calculate the final cost. Students have only learned how to
calculate the surface area of rectangular prisms, triangular prisms, and pyramids. They have learned how to
calculate the area of triangles and rectangles. Students are free to design a house however they wish. If they
choose to use circles, or cones, or cylinders (turrets), then the group will need to research how to calculate the
surface area of those different shapes. The students have the freedom to make the house simple or complex.
They can create a house with a flat roof or a complex pitched roof. Students will have a choice on presentation
software. Students have been exposed to all of the software so they will get to choose the software that best
suits their strengths.

Resources (How does technology support student learning? What digital tools, and resources—online student
tools, research sites, student handouts, tools, tutorials, templates, assessment rubrics, etc—help elucidate or
explain the content or allow students to interact with the content? What previous technology skills should students
have to complete this project?)

On this project, technology will support the authentic task of calculating the cost of wrapping a new construction
house in plywood. To assist students with the calculations of the composite figures, students will have access
to Geogebra. Geogebra is a website that has interactive tools where students can learn how to calculate the
surface area of various figures. This will assist students that use cones and cylinders in their houses, as they
will have to explore and discover how to calculate the surface area of those shapes since that is not a 6 th grade
standard. Additionally, students will have access to Khan Academy to review how to calculate the surface area
of composite figures. The teacher will provide an exemplar product that meets the mastery requirement of the
rubric. Additionally, the teacher will also provide a poor example of a project so that students understand the
expectations. Students have been using Minecraft Education in the classroom, and their previous knowledge
will help. The students had a review tutorial of Minecraft Education with our media specialist, as she has had
extensive training on how to utilize the program. Students have previously worked with the presentation
products, and students have had the opportunity to search for the cost of items on the internet in a previous
lesson, when they were calculating the “better buy” of a product when working on unit rate.

Instructional Plan
Preparation (What student needs, interests, and prior learning provide a foundation for this lesson? How can
you find out if students have this foundation? What difficulties might students have?)

Page 3 of 6
 Students have been working on area of triangles and rectangles, and surface area of rectangular prisms,
triangular prisms, and pyramids for the past 3 weeks. The concept of surface area is difficult, so students need
to be able to deconstruct the shape for a composite figure to find the area of the individual pieces. Formative
assessments and a performance task have allowed me to set up groups heterogeneously, so that peers can
assist those students that might need extra help in mastering the standards. One of the prior performance
tasks in Unit 1 had students create a presentation, so students are familiar with how to use the technology.
Additionally, students have had a review tutorial on Minecraft Education. 6 th graders often have difficulty
conceptualizing shapes in three dimensions. Geogebra and Khan Academy will provide visuals to help
students see all dimensions. Additionally, Minecraft Education allows students to walk their avatar around the
house so they can see the various sides to get a better understanding of what needs to be calculated.

Management Describe the classroom management strategies will you use to manage your students and the use
of digital tools and resources. How and where will your students work? (Small groups, whole group, individuals,
classroom, lab, etc.) What strategies will you use to achieve equitable access to the Internet while completing this
lesson? Describe what technical issues might arise during the Internet lesson and explain how you will resolve or
trouble-shoot them? Please note: Trouble-shooting should occur prior to implementing the lesson as well as
throughout the process. Be sure to indicate how you prepared for problems and work through the issues that
occurred as you implemented and even after the lesson was completed.

Students will be working in groups of 3. Students will be paired heterogeneously based on prior formative
assessments and a performance task on the standards. Students will be working in the computer lab and in
the classroom using checked out laptop carts. This lesson plan will be implemented in cotaught classrooms,
and there will be two teachers to guide and facilitate as students work through various aspects of the project.
In order to ensure equitable access, students that do not have technology students will have the opportunity to
check out electronic devices to continue collaboration and work on the project (outside of the classroom). I
have acquired 24 smartphones and 8 android tablets over the course of three years. Students will be allowed
to check these out. Most work will be done in the classroom; however, ideas can be presented digitally on
Microsoft Teams outside of the classroom. If students do not have high-speed internet access, there will be
time set aside before and after school if a student or group wants additional time to work on the project. During
the lesson, the internet or various programs might be unavailable. If the occurs, students will have the
hardcopy of the tasks they need to complete. If some reason Minecraft Education or Sketchpad goes down for
an extended period, we will pivot to creating a 3D model of the house using construction paper.

Post Lesson: We did not run into any technology issues. Students were able to have access to the programs,
and those that chose to check out devices had internet access at home.

Instructional Strategies and Learning Activities – Describe the research-based instructional strategies you will
use with this lesson. How will your learning environment support these activities? What is your role? What are the
students' roles in the lesson? How can you ensure higher order thinking at the analysis, evaluation, or
creativity levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy? How can the technology support your teaching? What authentic,
relevant, and meaningful learning activities and tasks will your students complete? How will they build knowledge
and skills? How will students use digital tools and resources to communicate and collaborate with each other
and others? How will you facilitate the collaboration?

Page 4 of 6
 During this project, my co-teacher and I will act as guides and facilitators. We will help students work their way
through the project and make sure they are hitting the various checkpoints. Students will need to utilize their
communication and collaboration skills, as they come up with ideas for their house, and figure out how to
sketch it, build it, and perform the calculations necessary to come up with the cost of the house. Microsoft
Teams will be a resource for the teams to be able organize, collaborate, and communicate with other team
members. Additionally, students are true creators in this project. They are designing and building a house.
Their design will determine the difficulty of the calculations. Teachers will remind students to be creative and
make changes base on their confidence of being able to correctly calculate the surface area. Additionally, if
students pick a shape they do not know how to calculate, they will need to use critical thinking skills and
resources to help figure out how to make the correct calculation. Khan Academy and Geogebra are resources
that will assist students in discovering how to calculate the surface area of a shape they have not yet learned.
This requires students to incorporate working knowledge of the subject material to extend their learning and
increase their skills by figuring out how to calculate something unknown. If students select shapes that contain
circles, they will be extending their learning and preparing themselves for 7th grade content. As part of the
rubric students will need to have artifacts and a log of their ideas posted into Teams. The log will ensure that all
team members are participating in the project. This is a real, world authentic task where students are able to
show their creativity, and also their ability to perform complex calculation that will be applicable in the future
(whether they build a dog house, a shed, finish a basement, etc). As part of their presentation, students need to
collaborate and work as a team to produce a quality product that meets the requirements of the rubric.

Differentiation (How will you differentiate content and process to accommodate various learning styles and
abilities? How will you help students learn independently and with others? How will you provide extensions and
opportunities for enrichment? What assistive technologies will you need to provide?)

Content will be delivered visually, aurally, and kinesthetically. Students will have access to their interactive
notebooks that have visuals paired with notes and examples. Additionally, they will be able to see and listen to
videos on Khan Academy and Geogebra. For my EL students the videos will have captions to help them listen
and see the words. The students will have 3D nets of various shapes including cylinders and cones so they
can use those shapes to help them derive the surface area of unknown shapes. Both the co-teacher and the
special education teacher will be available to assist in guiding the students. Students will submit separate
formatives for the two checkpoints. Based on a student’s learning needs these assessments will be
differentiated. For example, for students with writing weaknesses, the constructed response will have sentence
starters to help these students construct a cohesive response. For students that have reading weaknesses,
they will be able to use Read-Aloud to review copies of online notes. As part of differentiating process,
students will implement the Think-Pair-Share strategy when coming up with the designs and when performing
calculations. This will increase collaboration in the classroom and provide students that are shy or have
weaknesses in verbal expression or the content an opportunity to listen and receive information from a peer.
Students that need to be extended and did not choose an unknown shape (one involving circles) will be given a
sheet that will extend their thinking by having an unknown shape and asking them to figure out the surface
area. Students will be able to utilize online resources to achieve that goal. For students that struggle to
conceptualize 3D objects, they will have the option of constructing the model using construction paper, so they
can get a better understanding of how to calculate the surface area of the house.

Reflection (Will there be a closing event? Will students be asked to reflect upon their work? Will students be
asked to provide feedback on the assignment itself? What will be your process for answering the following
questions?
• Did students find the lesson meaningful and worth completing?
• In what ways was this lesson effective?
• What went well and why?
• What did not go well and why?
• How would you teach this lesson differently?)

Page 5 of 6
 As part of the final checkpoint, students will write a constructed response explaining how they arrived at the
answer, why they chose the design that they did, and what they would have done differently. After the lesson, I
will have a Microsoft Forms for a survey where students can provide feedback on the lesson. There will be a
section where students can write what they would have changed about the project. I can use these surveys to
help me make changes and tweaks to the project.

Post Lesson: This lesson was very effective. The students had a great time designing the houses and then
creating them in Minecraft Education. The technology employed played to their enjoyment of playing online
games. Having the checkpoints was critical to ensuring that the students did not get bogged down. The one
thing that students struggled with was assigning measurements to their house. I liked using Sketchpad and the
students used the grid template to draw their initial sketches. However, they had difficulty assigning values for
length, width and height, even after I told them that 1 unit was equal to 10 feet. In the future, I think that before
they build the final house in Minecraft, it will be a requirement to construct a 3D physical representation of the
house using construction paper or legos, assign it a scale factor, and then actually take measurements. It
introduces scale factor ties in real-world applications of creating a model before the actual finished product. It
will also help students conceptualize the house by seeing a physical representation.

Closure: Anything else you would like to reflect upon regarding lessons learned and/or your experience with
implementing this lesson. What advice would you give others if they were to implement the lesson? Please
provide a quality reflection on your experience with this lesson and its implementation.
Whenever I implement technology, I always ask myself “is it meaningful, is it useful, is it purposeful?”. I feel
that there is a big push to use technology in our county, but I do not want it to become another box I have to
check. In constructing this project, I wanted to find tools that were both engaging and useful. Microsoft Teams
is a platform that I use as a teacher to both organize and collaborate with other team members. I wanted my
students to start to use it and get used to it, so that it could be something that they could use as they move to
high school. Minecraft Education is a game. By tossing that carrot out there, my students immediately became
engaged. They wanted to do that piece right away. It was a good hook to get them interested in learning the
project. The presentation software students used will be helpful as they have to create more projects in high
school and college. I want technology to work for my students, but I want them to be able transfer what they
have used and apply it to new setting and assignments. Since I had co-taught classes, I paired my groups
heterogeneously. I think that next time I am going to try to pair them homogeneously. The drawback to making
this shift would be that there would be less peer support in students that do not quite have mastery of the
subject. However, it would be easier to differentiate, and I could provide additional support to those groups that
need it, while allowing other groups to really push, create, and extend themselves. I will be curious to see what
the results are with the different types of groups. If another Cobb County teacher wants to implement it, it
should be seamless, as I made sure that the technology used was easily accessible and approved in Cobb
County. Overall, I enjoyed this project. Surface Area is a very difficult concept for 11 and 12 years old to
conceptualize. By providing them with this project, their end-results definitely displayed a better understanding
of the concepts. I really wish I had done that physical 3D model, as I feel that would help kinesthetic learners
visualize the concepts by physically rotating the shape to see it from different perspectives.

Page 6 of 6