102098

CONTEMPORARY
TEACHER LEADERSHIP
Assignment 1

Lan Yu
19497192
Contents
Executive summary...............................................................................................................................2
Background information of this unit......................................................................................................2
Comparative table.................................................................................................................................3
Recommendations.................................................................................................................................5
Reconstructed unit................................................................................................................................8
1. Scope and sequence for year 7......................................................................................................8
2. Assessment has been created using the UbD framework and was not provided..........................9
3. Marking criteria...........................................................................................................................11
4. Concept map................................................................................................................................12
5. Redesigned unit outline...............................................................................................................13
References:..........................................................................................................................................25
Original unit plan.................................................................................................................................26
Executive summary

This report suggests a few necessary changes to a mathematics unit plan provided by Kingswood
High School designed for students on stage 4. The unit plan is designed for the topic of length,
perimeter and circumference, which I used to teach students in year 7 during my practice. The
changes implemented in this case will align with the Understanding by Design (UbD) framework
raised by McTigue and Wiggins (2012) in order to improve student outcomes.

Kingswood Highs school locates in Kingswood, a suburb in western Sydney, and according to ACARA
(2018), more than half of the students in the school are in the bottom quarter with
underperformance in NAPLAN. In 2018, 9% of the students are Indigenous, while 22% have language
backgrounds other than English (ACARA, 2018).

This report will provide replicable and practical recommendations derived from field research for the
maths faculty to facilitate student engagement with mathematics and improve their outcomes. The
recommendations are as below:
 Adjust the sequence of teaching content and learning activities to align with the cognitive
development of desired outcomes and skills;
 Efficiently incorporate open-ended questions into teaching activities to improve student
engagement and aid in the development of expected outcomes and skills;
 Differentiate tasks to enhance the personalised link to prior knowledge and life experiences
and cater to different learning needs.

Background information of this unit

The unit plan has been designed for students in year 7 and taught after students finish the topic of
fractions, according to the scope and sequence. I designed my lesson plans and taught students
based on the unit plan in my professional experience in 2018. During the practice, I started teaching
fractions for the first two weeks and then moved to this topic for the rest three weeks. Therefore,
the unit plan discussed in this report will be for three to four weeks.

Moreover, I also helped students to develop and practice their integral numeracy skills such as using
appropriate length units and converting between different units while learning the syllabus content.
Students were given activities in class to use the knowledge to solve simple but authentic real-life
problems.
Comparative table
Area of Strengths of the area of
consideration consideration
The original unit plan
recognises a few essential
Literacy terms raised in this section
and the importance of using
mathematical terms in
different contexts.
The original unit plan
incorporates written and
Numeracy mental strategies into problem
solving where students can
apply knowledge learnt in
class on basic problems.
Visualisation via ICT tools is
actively used in the unit plan
to scaffold students’ learning.
The critical thinking is
Critical and cultivated by guiding students
Creative to solve questions similar to
Thinking examples or prior knowledge
by themselves.
Concerns of the area of
consideration
The original unit barely
incorporates literacy skills into
teaching activities, whilst
students are expected to
efficiently use mathematical
terms. Most tasks are done
individually without
abundance chances of
communicating.
The real-life problems are not
differentiated in terms of
settings and difficulties to
cater to students’ learning
needs.
The creative thinking is
omitted in the unit plan as
most tasks are standardised
and students are required to
give a standard answer.
Suggested Changes to
counteract concerns
The unit outline should
incorporate project-based
learning where students can
actively communicate their
ideas with peers by using
multiple literacy skills such as
identifying, describing, arguing
and justifying.
Students should be provided
with tailored contexts that can
closely connect to and evoke
their life experiences.
The difficulty of real life
problems should also be
tailored to cater to different
learning needs.
The learning activities should
involve open-ended questions
where students are
encouraged to think out of box
and build personalised
connections between textbook
Research support for the
changes suggested.
Students have shown
improved understandings of
particular themes and words
in STEM when they study via
project -based learning with
their peers as project-based
learning fosters direct and
meaningful conversations
between students (Chu et al.,
2011; Afriana et al., 2016).
Students are motivated and
engaged in solving problem
which are closely related to
their lives as they can clearly
see how mathematics can be
used in reality (Voss, &
Rickards, 2016).
Students on higher levels will
be given more challenging
tasks to explore the depth of
curriculum (Zmood, 2014).
Students have shown more
engaged and encouraged to
explore alternative solutions
with an open-ended question
(Sole, 2016; Parish, 2016).

The existed outline aligns with
the outcomes raised by the
Understandin syllabus and designs
g by Design assessment tasks accordingly
to collect evidence.
Students do not have
prerequired knowledge to
understand integral concepts
and achieve expected
outcomes due to the sequence
of teaching topics and
activities.
knowledge and their life
experiences.
The scope and sequence
should be adjusted to allow
students to develop
fundamental concepts to
further study geometry.
The desired outcomes should
be developed and practiced
gradually in an appropriate
sequence.
The backward design requires
that teachers consider what
enabling knowledge and skills
are in need for students to
effectively participate in
teaching activities (McTighe &
Wiggins, 2012).
The cognitive skills are
improved with more higher-
order skills involved where
knowledge is the foundation
of further development
(Adams, 2015).
Recommendations

The original unit plan has shown the involvement of ICT tools and basic real-life problems in which
students can develop their conceptual understandings and basic numeracy skills. The unit plan
attempts to achieve the desired outcomes raised by the syllabus and general capabilities raised by
ACARA, but the backward design is not fully integrated into planning the unit outline without
considering what learning evidence should be collected and how the teaching activities should be
arranged. The sequence of topics restrains students from understanding particular concepts and
learning new skills as they are not equipped with prerequired knowledge. Meanwhile, the
opportunities for students to create and personalise the connects between textbook knowledge, and
their life experiences are omitted in the design of teaching activities as students are given tasks with
standard answers. Another problem with the teaching activities is disengagement due to lack of
differentiation. The real life contexts showcased in this unit outline are not tailored to closely link
students' life experiences and cater to their different learning experiences. The positive effects of
real-life contexts are largely limited by the standardised solutions in this unit plan.

Strategically, the reconstructed unit outline is underpinned by UbD raised by McTighe & Wiggins
(2012). According to backward design (McTighe & Wiggins, 2012), the outcomes should be identified
at the first stage to determine what learning evidence should be collected and how the outcomes
can be achieved via effective integration of different teaching strategies. The following
recommendations are raised to foster meaningful and insightful learning experiences.

 Adjust the sequence of teaching content and learning activities to align with the cognitive
development of desired outcomes and skills;

 Efficiently incorporate open-ended questions into teaching activities to improve student

engagement and aid in the development of expected outcomes and skills;

 Differentiate tasks to enhance the personalised link to prior knowledge and life experiences
and cater to different learning needs.

Adjust the sequence

In the original scope and sequence, stage 4 students start their studying of geometry from the topic
of circumferences and perimeters after finishing fractions. In the reconstructed scope and sequence,
students start from geometrical properties and Pythagoras' theorem where they can progressively
develop basic understandings of geometry. According to Van Hiele (1959), students progress their
geometry reasoning from five hierarchical levels which are visualisation, analysis, abstraction,
deduction and rigor. Learning perimeters and circumferences requires student to at least recognise
different two-dimensional figures and identify their properties, which is on the level of abstraction.
The five levels are in fixed sequence which means students cannot skip one level to achieve the next
outcome (Van Hiele, 1959). Pythagoras' theorem also is prerequisite knowledge and a tool to
explore the meaning of Pi. Therefore, perimeters and circumferences are taught after students
develop a solid knowledge of two-dimensional figures.
The sequence of teaching activities is also adjusted to align with the development of cognitive
objectives raised in Bloom's taxonomy, where the knowledge is fundamental to further develop
cognitive skills including application and synthesis (2015). In the redesigned unit plan, the tasks are
arranged in accordance with the increasing involvement of higher-order thinking. Students develop
solid conceptual understandings by exploring concepts from the discussion with peers and the
teacher. Further teaching activities will provide them with opportunities to improve their cognitive
skills.

Incorporate open-ended questions into project-based learning

The reconstructed unit plan is also underpinned by project-based learning which incorporates open-
ended questions derived from real life contexts. Students are given opportunities to work in group
or in pair to solve open-ended questions where they can personalise the connection with their prior
knowledge and further improve general capabilities, including literacy and numeracy skills, and
critical and creative thinking.

Contexts are carefully tailored to ensure students' life experiences are actively involved in these
contexts. Given the background of this high school, the contexts used in projects are derived from
household chores and pop culture where students can clearly see how the textbook knowledge can
be used in everyday life and be motivated to solve these problems (Voss & Rickards, 2016).
Meanwhile, solutions to these questions are not standardised and what is more important is the
process of exploring multiple solutions and justifying the answers, from which students can have
meaningful discussions involving the frequent use of mathematical concepts and terms with
classmates or the teacher (Chu et al., 2011; Afriana et al., 2016). For instance, in the revision of
different length units, students will recognise more than one unit can be used in some contexts, such
as describing their heights. Students can use either centimetre or metre in this case as long as they
can justify their choices.

Moreover, students are inspired to investigate open-ended questions in-depth as they realise there
are multiple solutions to the same question, which further aids in the development of creative and
critical thinking (Sole, 2016). According to Parish (2016), students also show more engaged and
motivated to think independently and critically to the solutions when they are encouraged to
explore alternative solutions.