5E Lesson Plan Template

Grade Level and Subject: Name of Teacher:

9th grade Algebra I Jenna S. Saldaña

Length of Lesson: Title of Lesson:

90 minutes I Got a New Phone!

Main Idea of the Lesson:

Writing and Graphing Linear Equations
State or National Standards for Lesson:
A.3B: calculate the rate of change of a linear function represented tabularly, graphically, or algebraically in context of mathematical and real-world problems;
A.3C: graph linear functions on the coordinate plane and identify key features, including x-intercept, y-intercept, zeros, and slope, in mathematical and real-world
problems;
A.2C: write linear equations in two variables given a table of values, a graph, and a verbal description;

Objective/s- Write objective/s in SWBAT form… Evaluation

In the space below, write at least one question to match the objective you listed or describe what you will
look at to be sure that students can do this.
The SWBAT:

1. Identify slope and y-intercept given a real-world scenario. Students will use linear functions vocabulary to explain their reasoning in
2. Write an equation in slope intercept form to represent the real choosing the most cost effective cell phone plan.
world scenario.

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Engagement: Estimated Time: __5 minutes__

Description of Activity:
Goal of this discussion is to get students excited about getting a phone and to begin thinking about what costs are associated with a cell phone plan.

What the teacher does: What the student does: Possible questions to ask students – think like a
student and consider possible student responses

Ask class:

How old do you think you have to be to get your Students are allowed to popcorn out their
first cell phone? opinions

Is this old enough? (show slide with babies using Students are allowed to popcorn out their
cell phones) opinions

How about them? Are they old enough? (slide with Students are allowed to popcorn out their
toddlers) opinions

What about these children? (slide with young

children)
Take a moment to poll the class. Raise hands for
yes, then raise hands for no.
Invite 1 student on each side to explain their
reasoning.
Students raise their hands to vote yes or no.
Two students are allowed to explain their
reasoning.

How about these teenagers?? Are they old enough
to receive their first cell phone? Why or why not?
Quick poll on class again.
Invite 1 student on each side to explain their
reasoning.
Students raise their hands to vote yes or no.
Two students are allowed to explain their
reasoning.

Explain that it is always up to each family’s beliefs

but today, we are going to play a little pretend.

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 5E Lesson Plan Template

“Congratulations! Your family has decided to give

you the new phone you’ve always wanted,
whether it’s the new iPhone 20 or the latest
Android phone. You get your choice. What phone
would you like if you could choose? Take a Students think silently about their dream
moment to think about the type of phone you phone.
would like.”

“Please let your partner know.” Students share the “phone of their dreams”
with their partner.

Ask 1 or 2 students to share their dream phone Students share their dream phone with the
with the class. class.

“However, there is a catch. The catch is that you

must pay for half of your own phone bill.

We’re going to do some mathematical research

online so you can choose the most cost effective
plan to fit your needs.”

Ask students what kind of costs they think are
associated with a phone bill. Give students a
moment to think silently, then work with their
partner to come up with two to three ideas to
share with the class.
Students collaborate with their partner,
write a couple of ideas down, be ready to
share with the class.

Ask students to share with the class what they Students volunteer/popcorn out a few ideas Possible student responses: activation fee, data
believe phone bills charge for. Generate list on of charges. charges, talk/text charges, access charges, etc.
board of class ideas.

Teacher must inform students, “The cellular

service companies we will be looking at today all
charge by the amount of data you want each
month. Because we know how much you like to
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 5E Lesson Plan Template

stream videos, listen to music, do Snapchat,

etc….you will only be considering plans that give
you AT LEAST 10GB of data every month.”

**Please note that two plans have unlimited data.

This follows the requirement of at least 10GB
every month.

Resources Needed:
Powerpoint with slides of kids with phones
Safety Considerations:
None

Exploration: Estimated Time: 40-45 minutes

Overview of Activity:
Students use handout to research costs of 3 major providers. Using data collected, students will create a table, then a graph of their information.
Students will then identify difference between one-time fees and monthly fees in order to generate an equation for their phone bill in slope-intercept
form.

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 5E Lesson Plan Template

What the teacher does: What the student does: Possible questions to ask students – think like a
student and consider possible student responses

Before allowing students to pick up a tablet,

hand out recording sheets with QR codes.
Remind students that they will be doing research
on three cell phone service providers. They are
to look up cost per month for at least 10 GB of
data. Plus they must also be searching for any
“hidden fees” or activation fees, etc.

Applicable to ALL service providers:

Instruct students to pick up a tablet per student. Does the website show you activation fees? *Suggest
During this time, teacher should pass out googling the fee* Why would companies not want to
recording sheets with websites. One provider per make these fees easier for customers find?
Students go to websites and record the
group.
activation fees, costs associated with at
least 10 GB of data, and access fees, if any.

Disclaimer: Please note that I created

these tinyURL’s to allow the students to
spend the bulk of their “research time”
creating the table, graph, and equation. I
didn’t want them to get lost on each
providers’ website. That said, the providers
Verizon: There is no 10 GB plan, what’s the next best
change their websites ALL the time, so
option?
before you conduct this lesson, verify the
Student should say 6 isn’t enough, so we must choose
correct website, adjust as needed.
the 12 GB option.
Verizon:
What does the fine print say about Verizon’s fees?
www.tinyurl.com/verizoncost
Student should notice that it states plan cost PLUS
**Google “Verizon Activation Fee” – if
$20/month…
necessary
Does this $20 fee occur only once or every month?
Student should notice that it states “$20/month”.
5

Once students have their costs written on their
recording sheet, teacher should instruct students
to put away their tablet.
5E Lesson Plan Template
T-Mobile
www.tinyurl.com/tmobilecost
**Google “Activation Fee TMobile” – if
necessary
Sprint
www.tinyurl.com
**Google “Activation Fee Sprint” – if
neccessary
Students should then start creating a table
for each company that represents the cost
over 6 months INCLUDING month 0.
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T-Mobile
Which plan best suits our data needs?
Student should choose Unlimited.
What does the fine print say about T-Mobile’s
“unlimited plan”?
*Unlimited 4G LTE customers who use more than 21 GB of data in a bill
cycle will have their data usage de-prioritized compared to other
customers for that bill cycle at locations and times when competing
network demands occur, resulting in relatively slower speeds
Teacher should push students to understand what
this really means. Is it REALLY unlimited?
Students answers will vary.
Sprint
What is different about this data plan initially? Be sure
to check the fine print.
It includes the phone.
What would the plan cost if we already had our own
phone?
Includes service and $20/mo. lease for 24 mos. for well-qualified customers
with new line activation or eligible upgrade on your choice of iPhone 6 (16GB),
Galaxy S6 (32GB) or HTC One M9.
Students might suggest subtracting the $20 from the
total monthly price. Teacher should encourage this
mindset.
How much will it cost at “month 0?” What does
month 0 mean in context of this situation?
Activation fees, before they start charging per month
for data.
 5E Lesson Plan Template

How do we calculate slope from a table?

Students should use their tables to create a
single plot for all three companies. Students
should either color code or differentiate
their lines on the graph.
Finally, students should use their tables and
graphs to write an equation for each
company.
Change in y divided by change in x.
Is the slope different than what we expected it to be?
Why or why not?
Students should recognize that Sprint and Verizon
charge an ‘access fee’ every month for each line on
the plan. Some students may have realized this before
making the table, others may not have noticed.
Always good to point it out/discuss.
How do know what the y-intercept is?
It’s at month 0.

How/where is the y-intercept shown in the graph?

on the y-axis, at month 0

Can we “see” the slope on the graph?

It’s the rise over run. Controls steepness of the graph.

Remind students about our slope-intercept form of a

line. Y=mx+b

Resources Needed:
Internet access, recording sheets
Safety Considerations:
None
Explanation: Estimated Time: 20 minutes
Overview of Activity:
Students share explanations of findings with the class.

What the teacher does: What the student does: Possible questions to ask students – think like a student
and consider possible student responses

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 5E Lesson Plan Template

Give each group a set of cards with sentence
stems on each card. Each student is
responsible for presenting at least one card
to report their groups’ findings to the rest of
the class.
Students fill out their sentence stem about their
research. Then present to the class.
Students who are not presenting should be
plotting the graph and writing the equation on
their own graphs. This is their opportunity to get
the information about the companies they did
not research.
Explain how you calculated the slope.
Explain how you calculated the y-intercept.
Show the slope and y-intercept in the graph to the class.
After the second group, which of the two companies do
we believe has a better deal? What about the third? How
do we know?

How does having the same activation fee affect the graph?

Resources Needed:
Explanation Sentence Stems
Safety Considerations:
None

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 5E Lesson Plan Template

Elaboration: Estimated Time: 10 minutes

Overview of Activity: Allows students an opportunity to process and extend their understanding of the functions generated in the Explore by answering
real world questions.
What the teacher does:
Teacher hands out Elaboration questions.
Instructs students that they have 10-12 minutes
to answer the six questions with their partner.
These questions are just about the table, graph,
and equation they’ve already created.
Students should also know that their
work/answers will be shared with the class on a
random basis, so they should be detailed in
showing their work and writing their answers.
What the student does:
Works with partner to answer questions in
detail.
Each student should be answering the
questions on their own paper and be
prepared to discuss the answer and show
their work on the document camera by
themselves if called upon.
Possible questions to ask students – think like a
student and consider possible student responses
The following questions are just in case a student is
stuck on the Elaboration questions.
a) What part of the equation represents months?
b) What part of the equation represents the total
cost?
c) At what point do the lines/functions meet up on
the graph?

Suggestion: After the students have had
sufficient time to answer the questions, class will
“Cube” the answers to go over them.
Rules for “Cubing”
Each pair has 1 die. Each student rolls the die and
answers the question with the corresponding
number. If a number is rolled more than once the
student may elaborate on the previous response or
roll again.
Students are to write a conclusion
paragraph explaining their pick for the most
cost effective plan and why they believe it to
be the best option.
d) Look at the graph, which plan is always the
“highest?”
3) What do you think someone means by “best” plan?
Are there different ways to constitute “best?” Which
one would you choose?

Resources Needed:
Elaborate Handout
Safety Considerations:
None
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 5E Lesson Plan Template

Evaluation: Estimated Time: 10 minutes

Description of Activity: Students are asked to work as a group to develop their own equation to beat out the competition. They graph theirs on a
poster and compare all plans to choose the best deal.

What the teacher does: What the student does: Possible questions to ask students – think like a
student and consider possible student responses
The teacher should have a poster for each group
with the axes labeled. If there is time, the teacher
could plot the lines for the three companies prior
to giving to the students. Desmos is an awesome
resource as well for graphing!

Part 1) Teacher presents challenge to students:
Your company has allowed you to propose your
own cell phone plan prices to beat all the
competition. However, there are a few guidelines
you must follow so that your company will accept
your proposal. Your plan must:
1) The plan must have an activation fee of
$100
2) The plan must be less than Sprint after 6
months
Part 1) Students work in groups to generate
an equation AND use it to graph it
accurately on their poster.
Part 1)
What amount would you like to choose that fits the
criteria for the activation fee? How can we use that
amount on the graph? In the equation?
How much do you want to charge per month so that
your plan is cheaper than Sprint after 6 months?
How can we check to see if your plan meets all the
requirements?
Would YOU choose this plan if given the option?

3) Your final function for your plan must be

increasing.

Other than that, you can create any

function/plan you want.

Your equation AND graph must be visible on the

posters provided.

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 5E Lesson Plan Template

Part 2) Once the functions and graphs are
created, bring all students back to their desks.
Give each student a sticky note and tell them to
write one sentence using at least 1 of the
provided vocabulary words to support their
favorite plan and/or explain why it’s their
favorite and place it on the corresponding chart.
Since this is the Evaluate, be sure they put their
name on their sticky note so you can check their
understanding.
Part 2) Students walk around to the
different posters, find their “best” plan, and
then write 1 sentence using at least 1-2 of
the provided vocabulary words on their
sticky note. Finally, they should put their
sticky not on the poster of the plan they
choose.
Part 2) Is there a plan that is cheapest overall? How
do you know it’s the “cheapest?”
Are there any other considerations you should have
about choosing a plan other than price? How would
that affect your decision today?

Vocabulary Word Bank:

Total, monthly rate, cost, months, y-intercept,
slope, activation fee

Part 3) Announce the “Most Demanded Cell

Phone Plan!” Read some of the sticky notes out
loud with the class, if you’d like.

Resources Needed:
Sticky notes
Safety Considerations:
None
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