Action Research Plan

Integrating Social Emotional Learning and the Standards for Mathematical Practice
Field Study Action Plan
Katrina Bech
Whitworth University
EDG 581: Field Study and Action Research
Dr. Rebecca O’Brien
December 17, 2021

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Table of Contents
Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................ ii

Description of the classroom and the students taught ..................................................................... 1
Unit Description .............................................................................................................................. 2
Learning Targets ......................................................................................................................... 2
Understanding Goals and Essential Questions ........................................................................ 2
Knowledge Goals .................................................................................................................... 3
Skill Goals ............................................................................................................................... 3
Common Core State Standards ................................................................................................... 4
Washington State SEL Standards and Benchmarks .................................................................... 5
Pre and Post Assessment ................................................................................................................. 6
Unit 0 Preassessment ................................................................................................................... 7
Preassessment Results ................................................................................................................. 8
Instructional and assessment strategies utilized to engage students in the learning ....................... 9
Instructional Plans and Reflections ............................................................................................... 10
Final Reflection ............................................................................................................................. 51
Degree to which students demonstrated learning as a result of instruction .............................. 51
To what degree did instruction have a positive impact on student learning? ........................... 51
What worked? What didn’t? Why? Describe ways in which you adjusted your instruction based
on formative assessments from students. .................................................................................. 54
Description of the overall strengths of the learning activities designed ................................... 55
What did you learn from your action research plan? ................................................................ 55
What would you do differently if you were to do it again? ...................................................... 56
References ..................................................................................................................................... 58
Appendix – Activity Descriptions ................................................................................................ 59
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Description of the classroom and the students taught

This action research will occur in four different Algebra 1 classes at Lewis and Clark
High School all taught by the researcher. One class, period 6, will be co-taught with a special
education teacher. This is the first year the researcher has worked with her teaching partner.
Periods 1, 5, and 6 will be in the researcher’s home classroom, while period 3 will be in a
different classroom. Both classrooms have seating for 24 students and necessary student
supplies. Algebra 1 is the typical class regular ninth grade students take.
Period 1 has 22 students, eight girls and fourteen boys. One student is in ELD. Two
students have 504 plans, two students have IEPs, and two students are on the Becca bill for
attendance. Two students are 10th graders, twenty students are 9th graders. The ethnic makeup of
the class is majority white, with one student who is Asian, one student who is Pacific Islander,
and three students who are black.
Period 3 has 24 students, eleven girls, eleven boys, and two non-binary students. One
student is in ELD and one student has recently exited ELD. One student has a 504 plan, two
students have IEPs, and two students are on the Becca bill for attendance. One student is a 12th
grader, 23 students are 9th graders. The ethnic makeup of the class is majority white, with one
student who is Pacific Islander, two students who are Hispanic, and one student who is Asian.
Period 5 has 23 students, twelve girls and eleven boys. Two students have 504 plans, two
students have IEPs, two students have been identified as highly capable, and three students are
on the Becca bill for attendance. One student is in the HEART program which is for students
who need housing assistance. One student is an 11th grader, 22 students are 9th graders. The
ethnic makeup of the class is majority white, with one student who is black and two students who
are Asian.
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Period 6 has 16 students, five girls and eleven boys. Four students have IEPs, one student
has been identified as highly capable, and four students are on the Becca bill for attendance. All
students are in 9th grade. The ethnic makeup of the class is majority white, with three students
who are black and one student who is Asian.
Unit Description
This unit is intended to effectively blend the Standards for Mathematical practice (SMPs)
as described in the Common Core State Standards (Common, 2021) and the Washington State
SEL standards and benchmarks (Washington, n.d.) so that students see connections between their
social emotional learning and skills and their mathematics learning and skills. It is also designed
to develop a community of learners who will support each other throughout the school year and
create a space where it is safe to take academic and social risks. The focus of the unit is on
building students’ collaboration and problem solving skills.
Learning Targets
Understanding Goals and Essential Questions
1. Mathematics can be used to solve problems in everyday life, the community, and school.
(When am I going to use my math knowledge?)
2. Solving problems involves multiple steps, using a variety of strategies and tools,
evaluating progress, adjusting course as needed, interpreting solutions, and effectively
communicating the results. (How do I solve problems?)
3. Understanding the cultural context of a situation is necessary for interpreting stated
assumptions, effectively communicating progress and ideas, and reaching productive
solutions. (Why is cultural context important?)

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4. My feelings, emotions, and goals, as well as the feelings, emotions, and goals of others
must be considered when deciding how to respond to a situation or problem. (What do I
need to consider before responding to a situation or problem?)
Knowledge Goals
1. Available resources for solving problems include paper and pencil, calculators,
computers, textbooks, notes, graphic organizers, classmates, and teachers.
a. Communication strategies can be verbal, such as discussions and presentations, or
non-verbal, such as posters and including explanations with your work.
b. Writing an equation, drawing a picture, making a graph, or trying special cases
are strategies for making sense of a problem.
3. Effective communication and problem-solving skills include listening and responding to
others while considering their cultural context and knowledge base.
4. Data occurs in a context and must be interpreted in terms of that context.
5. Mathematical results must be considered in terms of the context and reasonableness of
the answer.
6. Asking questions is an important component of analyzing or improving arguments and
communicating effectively with others to understand different viewpoints.
Skill Goals
1. I can use problem solving strategies to solve problems.
a. Identify, analyze, and understand the problem
b. Identify quantities and their relationships
c. Use appropriate tools and resources
d. Look for patterns and similar problems
e. Reflect on potential consequences and challenges

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f. Make a plan
g. Evaluate and revise plan as needed
h. Analyze and consider different approaches
i. Step back and shift perspective
j. Interpret solution in terms of the context
k. Explain and justify process and results
2. I can monitor my progress toward meeting goals, analyze the effectiveness of my actions,
evaluate the results, and make changes as needed.
3. I can justify my conclusions, communicate them to others, and respond to the arguments of
others.
4. I can adjust my communication style based on the intended audience and constructive
feedback.
5. I can work cooperatively with others, including using conflict-resolution skills,
acknowledging opinions, compromising, contributing, encouraging, and listening to move
group efforts forward.
Common Core State Standards

• SMP1: Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them
• SMP2: Reason abstractly and quantitatively
• SMP3: Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others
• SMP4: Model with mathematics.
• SMP5: Use appropriate tools strategically
• SMP6: Attend to precision
• SMP7: Look for and make use of structure

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• SMP8: Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning
Washington State SEL Standards and Benchmarks

• Standard 1 – SELF-AWARENESS – Individual has the ability to identify their emotions,
personal assets, areas for growth, and potential external resources and supports.
• Standard 2 – SELF-MANAGEMENT – Individual has the ability to regulate emotions,
thoughts, and behaviors.
o BENCHMARK 2B – Demonstrates responsible decision-making and problem-
solving skills.
• Standard 3 – SELF-EFFICACY – Individual has the ability to motivate themselves,
persevere, and see themselves as capable.
• Standard 4 – SOCIAL AWARENESS – Individual has the ability to take the perspective of
and empathize with others from diverse backgrounds and cultures.
• Standard 5 – SOCIAL MANAGEMENT – Individual has the ability to make safe and
constructive choices about personal behavior and social interactions.
• Standard 6 – SOIAL ENGAGEMENT – Individual as the ability to consider others and show
a desire to contribute to the well-being of school and community.
o BENCHMARK 6C – Demonstrates the ability to work with others to set, monitor,
adapt, achieve, and evaluate goals.

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Pre and Post Assessment

The researcher will give students a survey during the first few days of the unit to
determine SEL skills, student self-perceptions, and attitudes towards mathematics. At the end of
the unit, students will respond to the same survey so that the researcher can measure the impact
of the unit on student SEL skills and mathematics. The survey is below.
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Unit 0 Preassessment
Please read each question and circle your response. There is no right or wrong answer and your
responses will not be shared with the class.
Question Response Options
When complicated ideas are
presented in math class, how Not at all Slightly Somewhat Quite Extremely
confident are you that you can confident confident confident confident confident
understand them?
How confident are you that you

can learn all the material Not at all Slightly Somewhat Quite Extremely
presented in your math class? confident confident confident confident confident
How confident are you that you

can do the hardest work that is Not at all Slightly Somewhat Quite Extremely
assigned in your math class? confident confident confident confident confident
How confident are you at setting

and achieving personal goals? Not at all Slightly Somewhat Quite Extremely
confident confident confident confident confident
When you get stuck while

learning something new, how Not at all Slightly Somewhat Quite likely Extremely
likely are you to try a different likely likely likely likely
strategy?
Before you start on a challenging

project, how often do you think Almost never Once in a Sometimes Frequently Almost
about the best way to approach while always
the project?
How often are you able to

control your emotions when you Almost never Once in a Sometimes Frequently Almost
need to? while always
How often do you use ideas from

math class in your daily life? Almost never Once in a Sometimes Frequently Almost
while always
How carefully do you listen to

other people’s points of view? Not carefully Slightly Somewhat Quite Extremely
at all carefully carefully carefully carefully
To what extent are you able to

work well with others? Not at all A little bit Somewhat Quite a bit A
tremendous
amount
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Preassessment Results
The researcher took the response options in the survey and numbered them from 1 to 5,
with 1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest. The most common response from students on
the preassessment survey was a somewhat or sometimes, the middle option, which scored a 3.
The responses were averaged per class, by student and by question. An average below 3 was
considered low and an average above 4 was considered high. All response averages ranged
between 2 and 4. Classes were similar in their averages across all questions. Question 8, how
often do you use ideas from math class in your daily life?, scored low in all classes and question
7, how often are you able to control your emotions when you need to?, scored high in all classes.
Period 5 also scored high on question 9, how carefully do you listen to other people’s point of
view? And to what extent are you able to work well with others? Period 5 scored low on question
1, when complicated ideas area presented in math class, how confident are you that you can
understand them? Period 6 scored low on question 1 and question 3, how confident are you that
you can do the hardest work that is assigned in your math class? The averages across all
questions, by student, was similar for all classes.
These results indicate that students do not see mathematics as relevant to their lives and
will require some specific examples and practice using it in practical ways to see connections
between mathematical ideas and their everyday lives. Student self-confidence in math abilities
was low in 5th and 6th period, so they will need additional prompting, encouragement, and
examples to experience success and see themselves as capable mathematicians. While
generalizations can be made from the averages, there are students in all classes who indicated
scores that differed from the whole class statistics and these students need to be supported and/or
challenged to keep growing and learning throughout this unit.

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The class averages by question are below.
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7 Q8 Q9 Q10
Period
1 3.21 3.526 3.526 3.368 3.316 3.263 4.263 2.111 3.895 3.842
Period
3 3.15 3.65 3.052 3.25 3.6 3.7 4.3 2.05 3.75 3.8
Period
5 2.684 3.474 3.056 3.5 3.632 3.833 4.211 2.316 4.053 4.158
Period
6 2.769 3.786 2.929 3.571 3.357 3.286 4.214 2.5 3.786 3.857
All
students 2.972 3.597 3.157 3.408 3.486 3.535 4.25 2.225 3.875 3.917
Instructional and assessment strategies utilized to engage students in the learning

To engage students in the learning, this unit employs multiple strategies that encourage
student participation, reflection, and collaboration. Attendance questions are a platform for all
students to share their opinions in a low-risk situation so that they are more comfortable
contributing to more complex math tasks. Circle Time creates an inclusive community where all
students are expected to equally participate and be involved in the activity. Data talks provide
students with relevant situations that they can analyze and discuss. The rich math problem
solving practice tasks all have low floors and high ceilings so students from all readiness levels
can participate and contribute to the group work and collaboration and class discussion. The
assessment tasks are all collaborative so while students are responsible for their own work, they
can also utilize classmates for ideas and assistance. This format also holds students responsible
to their classmates for completing their part of the assignment. Many assignments and
assessments included a reflection component for students to think about how their behaviors,
attitudes, and effort impacted their learning and progress as well as what steps they need to take
to ensure they are understanding the concepts, adding another layer of student participation in the
instructional and assessment strategies.

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Instructional Plans and Reflections
Lesson Title: First day of school Lesson Date: 9/2/2021

Lesson Length: 55 minutes
CCSS: Essential Questions:

SMP5: Use appropriate tools strategically 1. Why is cultural context important?
2. What do I need to consider before
responding to a situation or problem?
Learning Objective: Assessment:

K3 – Effective communication and problem-
solving skills include listening and responding
to others while considering their cultural Formative: Listening to student responses to
context and knowledge base. attendance and circle time questions; reading
student responses on name tent prompts
S4 – I can adjust my communication style
based on the intended audience and
constructive feedback.
Summative: n/a
Learning Sequence:
1. Greet students at the door by name.
• Help students find their assigned seat.
2. Attendance question: Dogs or cats?
3. Name tents
4. Circle Time: What was something fun you did over summer break?
• Teacher led
• Explain the purpose and expectations
5. Who am I? cards
• Teacher example
• Students complete their own
Journal Entry:
Journal Entry 9/2/2021 (4 hours teaching)
Today is the first day of the school year. It is the first time in 1.5 years that my entire class is
in the same classroom at the same time. As always, I was nervous and excited. I created a
seating chart for students so they have a place to sit on day one and didn’t have to worry about
social pressures on who to sit by. I looked at historical grades and put students who had
mostly As in the back row and students who had mostly Fs in the front row. I did this so that I
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could focus on students who will likely struggle from the beginning and engage them in the
learning process as quickly as possible. I know it is not a perfect metric for creating a seating
chart, but it is the information I have right now. I met students at the door, asked them their
name and helped them find their seats. I also had the seating chart on the board. I tried to say
every students name as much as possible to help me learn them. The attendance question was
“which are better, dogs or cats?” There was a lot more debate and opinions than I expected, so
that made every class start off well. The first task was for students to make a name tent.
Talking with my coworker yesterday, she was also doing name tents, but formatted one side to
have a place for students to answer a question each day and then then teacher would respond
back. I used her template and today’s question was “what sports, clubs, or activities are you
excited about being a part of this year?” It has been fun to read student responses and then
write something back. Lots of kids are interested in joining anime club. Then we did our first
Circle Time. I explained the purpose and expectation and answered the question first.
Students used the name tents to call on their classmates by name, which I emphasized was an
important aspect of Circe Time. Everyone participated, another positive. The last activity
today was the Who am I? cards. I did my example first and had students stand up. Jasmine in
3rd period has also been to Australia so we made that connection right away I am going to
a few of these each Friday.
Lesson Title: 12 Envelopes Lesson Date: 9/3/2021


SMP1: Make sense of problems and persevere 1. When am I going to use my math
in solving them knowledge?
2. How do I solve problems?
SMP5: Use appropriate tools strategically
SMP7: Look for and make use of structure
SMP8: Look for and express regularity in
repeated reasoning

K1 – Available resources for solving Formative: Listening to student responses to
problems include paper and pencil, attendance and circle time questions; teacher
calculators, computers, textbooks, notes, observations during group work time; reading
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graphic organizers, classmates, and teachers. student responses to name tent prompt
to others while considering their cultural Summative: n/a
context and knowledge base.
S1 – I can use problem solving strategies to
solve problems.
S5 – I can work cooperatively with others,
including using conflict-resolution skills,
acknowledging opinions, compromising,
contributing, encouraging, and listening to
move group efforts forward.
Learning Sequence:
2. Attendance question: Pineapple belongs on pizza. Agree or disagree?
3. Circle Time: What is your favorite candy?
• Teacher led
• Remind students of the purpose and expectations
4. 12 Envelopes
• Students are working with their assigned groups.
• Be sure that students physically turn their desks towards each other
Journal Entry:
Day 2. I greeted students at the door and tried to say their name as they walked in. I asked
students for help when I needed it, but I am pretty close to knowing everyone’s name. The
attendance question for today was about pineapple on pizza and this sparked some fun
conversations about what foods belong together and some serious outrage from both sides
about the other liking/disliking pineapple. I reminded students of the purpose and expectations
of Circle Time and then led it again. The question for today was “what is your favorite
candy?” Again, everyone participated. There was some surprise when a few students
responded that they did not like candy. After Circle Time, we did the 12 Envelopes activity.
Students worked with their groups to complete this. These are the groups that students will be
working with for the duration of this unit and today was a good test of how well they each
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work together. 1st, 3rd, and 5th period did fine with this task, nothing really stood out. 6th period
had a difficult time with this. Martin did not attempt to do any work to figure out the problems
or contribute to his group. He just kept saying that he doesn’t know how to do it and he wasn’t
interested in trying the problems, even with my help. Andrew was also in his group and he too
did not really try to engage with the task. He would not sit down and kept trying to have off
topic conversations with Cody and Martin. Sofia attempted the work, but was pretty much
flying solo. I spent most of my time with this group, trying to keep them on task so I don’t
really know how the other groups fared. We did not get to the preassessment survey so we
will have to do that on Tuesday.
Lesson Title: Two-word poems Lesson Date: 9/7/2021


SMP3: Construct viable arguments and 1. When am I going to use my math
critique the reasoning of others knowledge?
3. Why is cultural context important?
responding to a situation or problem?)

calculators, computers, textbooks, notes, observations during partner work time;
graphic organizers, classmates, and teachers. reading student responses to name tent prompt
to others while considering their cultural Summative: Two-word poem readings
solve problems
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Learning Sequence:
2. Attendance question: Do you put the milk or the cereal in the bowl first?
3. Circle Time: What is your favorite animal?
4. Two-word poems
Journal Entry:
Today we did two-word poems. I intentionally paired students together so that they worked
with someone who was not next to them so they got to know at least one person who was not
in their group. The only request I took was from Cate (she was also the only person who
asked.) She told me that she really wanted to sit by Echo, so I did pair them together. Cate has
written that she is really nervous about math in her name tent responses so I wanted to do what
I could to alleviate some of the stress by pairing her with a friend and showing her I listened to
her. Hopefully this doesn’t backfire, and she now expects to get whatever she asks for, but at
least for today it went well. They were excited to get to work together. Students did move to
sit next to their new partners but they needed some prompting on how to get started. Most
pairs just went down the list of possible questions I had posted on the board so I am glad I had
that ready to go, but need to remember that they don’t know how to just have a conversation
with a new partner yet. I have to teach them this skill. The limitation of two words per line
made it a challenge for some students and not everyone followed directions, but all pairs did
write poems and shared them with the class. All classes that is, except 6th period. Toni, my
co-teacher, used a matching game to make student pairs. I really liked the matching activity
itself because students had to move around the room and ask questions to find their partner.
She gave each student a word on an index card and they had to find the word that paired with
theirs. One pair was sweet and sour. Rhinehart and Isaac were paired together and they did
not get along well. I heard Isaac yelling and I went over to see what was going on. Rhinehart
had written down that Isaac likes Barney because Isaac said that his favorite color was purple.
That was what put Isaac over the edge, but he also did not feel like Rhinehart was accurately
interpreting his responses for several other questions. I tried to help reach a compromise, but I
wasn’t successful. Rhinehart made the changes that Isaac requested, but Isaac was still upset
and did not want to read his poem about Rhinehart or have Rhinehart read the poem about him.
It was a huge deal to Isaac. He told me he hated these activities and wanted to know when we
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were going to actually do math. I decided that it wasn’t worth it to fight him, so I just
collected the poems from the whole class and no one read them out loud, which was
disappointing. I am getting to know my students and Isaac is one who seems very ridged, not
able to adapt to new situations. Rhinehart is also a student who wants to joke around and
seeing as these two students do not know each other, it was a poor combination. I will keep an
eye on these two. I was able to give the preassessment survey today so it will be interesting to
look at those results.
Lesson Title: Good group work Lesson Date: 9/8/2021



K3 – Effective communication and problem- Formative: Listening to student responses to
solving skills include listening and responding attendance and circle time questions; student
to others while considering their cultural responses during data talk; teacher
context and knowledge base. observations during partner work time;
reading student responses to name tent prompt
K4 – Data occurs in a context and must be
interpreted in terms of that context.
K6 – Asking questions is an important Summative: Good group work norms and
component of analyzing or improving expectations posters
arguments and communicating effectively
with others to understand different
viewpoints.
S2 – I can monitor my progress toward
meeting goals, analyze the effectiveness of
my actions, evaluate the results, and make
changes as needed.
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Learning Sequence:
2. Attendance question: Which is better, summer or winter?
3. Circle Time: If you could have one superpower, what would it be and why?
4. Data talk
• Handwashing visual
5. WIM good group work activity
Journal Entry:
First data talk today. I am going to do these every Wednesday so I needed to establish the
routine. I explained the purpose and expectations for data talks before showing the visual
representation. I used a data talk from youcubed about handwashing. It showed a hand that
was colored according to how often that area was missed when washing. Students asked great
questions. I heard wonderings about if the data was from pre or post COVID. I heard noticing
that the fingertips were most often missed. I heard questions about different parts of the hands
are missed more than others. And there was demonstrations of the correct way to wash your
hands. I was pleased with the engagement. I gave students one minute to look at the data
silently, then one minute to share their thinking with a neighbor, and then time to share their
thoughts and noticing with the whole class. The good group work task that followed the data
talk went okay. Not great, but passing. 3rd period did the best of all of the classes. I asked for
a volunteer to write down the ideas each group shared and Olivia did this. She asked clarifying
questions to know what to write down, which I do when I write, but this forced me to let the
groups answer the questions, instead of interpreting their responses myself. I only had a
student writer for 3rd period. I did this mostly because the arrangement of the room made it so
the poster is a corner that is difficult to get to and I wanted to still be able to move around if
needed. The general consensus in each class was that they expect their peers to do their part to
complete group work. I will do everything I can to support this expectation, but I have not
been successful at creating an atmosphere where all students are help accountable for group
work yet. Perhaps this will be the year. 3rd period added a dimension that they wanted
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everyone to add their opinions and share their voice, meaning that students need to speak up. I
kept the posters for each class up in the room.
Lesson Title: 100# task Lesson Date: 9/9/2021


SMP4: Model with mathematics
repeated reasoning

K3 – Effective communication and problem- Formative: Listening to student responses to
solving skills include listening and responding attendance and circle time questions; teacher
to others while considering their cultural observations during group work time; reading
context and knowledge base. student responses to name tent prompt
S1 – I can use problem solving strategies to Summative: Whole discussion about what
solve problems. strategies helped each group be successful in
completing the task.
changes as needed.
Learning Sequence:
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2. Attendance question: What is the right way to pronounce GIF?
3. Circle Time: What job are you going to pursue after you graduate?
4. Review group work expectations
5. 100# group task
• Discussion
Journal Entry:
Today was fun We did the 100# task and it was great. 1st period was very competitive.
Carter, Asher, Julie, and Lukas worked really well together. They made a plan on how to
attack the problem and communicated with each other. They are also perhaps the four most
natural leaders in the class so they were into the challenge. I should have done this activity as
the first group task, before the 12 envelopes, because it was so easy for groups to get into and
there was a competitive aspect to it. I think my reasoning was to wait until after we talked
about good group work before doing this task, but I would definitely do it first. Perhaps I
could use it as a lead into what good group work looks like (as the activity recommended…). I
was able to have conversation with each class about the importance of communication and the
value in looking for patterns to better understand an assignment. I was just pleased to see
students working together on a semi math related task and asking to keep doing it. I have
decided to make a change in how we approach 6th period after the struggles Toni and I have
had with managing student behavior. It seems backwards considering the whole point of this
unit is to teach social and emotional skills while preparing students to work through
challenging math problems, but we don’t see it as feasible to continue with the same activities,
therefore, we are diverting to starting content next week. We did a different youcubed task
today, Seeing Numbers Visually, that students worked on with their partners in the new seating
chart. Isaac is at the edge of the room, away from Rhinehart and Cooper who seem to be the
most talkative, jokesters in the class. Our hope is that giving Isaac a seat with less distractions
will prevent future meltdowns. We partnered him with Dontae, who is very literal thinking
that these two would work well together. They did okay, but I don’t think either of them have
a lot of experience collaborating with others so they mostly just sat next to each other and did
the work separately. Acasia and Charlie were a good pair. Charlie is confident in his math
skills, but is a quiet kid. Acasia is not confident in her math skills, but is not afraid to ask for
help, so she kept asking Charlie questions to get it figured out. She forced him to talk to her,
which I think Charlie needed.
Lesson Title: Introduction to service learning Lesson Date: 9/10/2021

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task Lesson Length: 55 minutes

SMP5: Use appropriate tools strategically 3. What do I need to consider before

calculators, computers, textbooks, notes, observations during group work time; reading
graphic organizers, classmates, and teachers. student responses to name tent prompt
to others while considering their cultural
Summative: Service learning presentations
K5 – Mathematical results must be considered
in terms of the context and reasonableness of
the answer.
solve problems.
changes as needed.
S3 – I can justify my conclusions,
communicate them to others, and respond to
the arguments of others.
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Learning Sequence:
2. Attendance question: Syrup belongs in the fridge. Agree or disagree?
3. Circle Time:
4. Who is it? Cards
5. Review group work norms and expectations
6. Introduce service learning task
Journal Entry:
We did the Who am I? cards for the first time today. I don’t know if it was because students
wanted to avoid doing work or because they actually liked them, but they did ask to do more
after I said last one. Of course I caved and did one more. Then we moved on to starting the
service learning task. I reviewed the group norms and expectations and then gave groups time
to start brainstorming ideas for how to improve the school. Even after just one day, when I
teach this again, I will use a totally different format for the question packet. Students were
caught up in filling in each empty spot rather than generating good ideas that they actually
cared about. Another thing I had meant to do but have just run out of time on is putting
students in groups with students who have similar ideas. I had planned to do that, but for us to
get this project done, we needed to get started and each group is just going to have to agree on
one idea to work on. I tried not to limit any ideas so there were some ideas such as having a
train run through the school to give students rides to classes or installing escalators so students
didn’t have to walk up the stairs. Some of the most common concerns were the crowded
hallways and lunch. We started with one lunch, but switched to two lunches after 3 days
because of overcrowding. Many students want to return to one lunch so they can sit with their
friends. Jack, Muler, Jacob, and Elsie’s group struggled to get anything accomplished. They
are far from reaching an agreement on what they could work on. Jack is suggesting school
uniforms, which no one agrees with, but he is also the only one who is offering ideas. The
topics that groups landed on are: food vending machines, longer passing periods, reopen
campus, better stair system, one lunch, consideration for others, mental health awareness,
tutoring, mini-hoops, and ice-machines. 6th period did a continuation of the number visual task
from yesterday involving pennies. Each pair was given 100 pennies to divide into the different
shapes. I was honestly nervous about giving this class any manipulatives for fear they would
start throwing them, but there were no penny fights. Martin wasn’t in class today, so that
could be part of the reason that things went fairly smoothly.
Lesson Title: Redefining fair Lesson Date: 9/13/2021

21

2. Why is cultural context important?
SMP3: Construct viable arguments and 3. What do I need to consider before
critique the reasoning of others. responding to a situation or problem?

calculators, computers, textbooks, notes, observations during group work time
graphic organizers, classmates, and teachers.
solving skills include listening and responding Summative: Refining fair debrief and class
to others while considering their cultural discussion
solve problems.
Learning Sequence:
2. Attendance question: Are hotdogs sandwiches?
3. Circle Time: What is your biggest pet peeve?
• Student led
4. Redefining fair
5. Introduce …and I’m a Mathematician poster
22
Journal Entry:
I asked one of my favorite attendance questions today, “Are hotdogs sandwiches?” Students
were looking up the definition of sandwich and arguing about how if a hotdog is a sandwich,
then a taco is a sandwich, and then I blew their minds by showing them the cube rule website.
It was a positive way to start the week. This was the first Circle Time that was student led.
Friday I had asked for volunteers to lead on Monday, telling them that they needed to bring a
quote for today. I forgot to ask 1st period so I appreciated that Carter stepped up to lead
without any notice. My leaders in 1st and 3rd didn’t really do much except read their quote and
answer the question first. In 5th period, a few students had suggested that Circle Time needed
to be modified a bit to make it more inclusive so that students weren’t just calling on their
friends as the next person, so we agreed to use the wheel of names to determine who is up
next. This meant that Autumn had to be at the front of the room to use my computer to display
the next name. She was more of a leader simply by being at the front. For all classes, I sat in a
student seat during Circle Time and did my best not to intervene unless absolutely necessary.
After Circle Time, we did the redefining fair. I tried to get a tall and a short volunteer but
everyone is the same height, which made putting the snack at the right height difficult for me.
I did cheat a bit in 3rd period because both students were able to reach it which was not the
intent. Therefore, the point of the exercise did not really hit home. They just told me I was
cheating. If I were to do this activity again I might do it later during the first unit so I could
pick the two volunteers I wanted after knowing the kids a bit better. Another thing that I
would add is creating a visual to sum up what the class discussed and agreed upon for what
fairness means. I wrote down their initial ideas and their reactions on the whiteboard, but not
on anything permanent, so the evidence from each class was erased immediately afterwards. A
poster would let me keep it on the wall as a reminder for students that they each have different
needs and will be treated according to their needs. I had planned to give students time to work
on the …and I’m a Mathematician poster, but we ran out of time so I assigned it as homework.
Lesson Title: Leo the Rabbit Lesson Date: 9/14/2021


23

repeated reasoning

problems include paper and pencil, attendance question; teacher observations
calculators, computers, textbooks, notes, during group work time; Leo the Rabbit task
solving skills include listening and responding Summative: Portfolio task #5
the answer.
K6 – Asking questions is an important
component of analyzing or improving
viewpoints.
solve problems.
Learning Sequence:
2. Attendance question: How do you draw an x?
3. Watch strategies for learning mathematics video
• Debrief with students what they heard and how that applies to the Leo the Rabbit
task
24
4. Leo the Rabbit task

• Give individual work time first, then have students work with their group.
Journal Entry:
Today was our first rich math task. We started with a short video about strategies for learning
and doing math and a quick class discussion about how to applies those ideas to our current
setting. I then reviewed the group work norms and expectations we created last week before
explaining the purpose and expectations for Leo the Rabbit. Students started by working on
the problem on their own for 5 minutes. I put a timer on the board so students knew how much
time they had left. I directed students to try to write down ideas for the entire 5 minutes. Most
students started by drawing a staircase and a rabbit. Even if that was all the farther they got, I
was pleased to see all students get started on the problem. At least I know that they read the
problem. After the individual work time ended, I told students to put turn to their groups and
work together. I had the prompt on the board along with the expectation that the groups would
be presenting their strategies and process to the class. I didn’t know the answer to the task so
each time a group asked a question, I explained my thinking out loud as I considered what to
do and wrote down anything I could to explain my idea. We didn’t finish, so at the end of each
period, I asked all groups to share their ideas and the strategies they used to work together
and/or make sense of the problem. Everyone group had something to share. We will finish
this task tomorrow.
Lesson Title: Leo the Rabbit part 2 Lesson Date: 9/15/2021


repeated reasoning
25

problems include paper and pencil, attendance question; student responses during
calculators, computers, textbooks, notes, data talk; teacher observations during group
graphic organizers, classmates, and teachers. work time; Leo the Rabbit task
to others while considering their cultural Summative: Portfolio task #5
the answer.
viewpoints.
solve problems.
Learning Sequence:
2. Attendance question: Marvel or DC?
3. Data Talk
• Explain the purpose and expectations
• Growth mindset visual
• 1 minute to notice and wonder; 1 minute to share with partner; share with whole
class
4. Finish Leo the Rabbit task
Journal Entry:
26
The data talk today was about growth mindset. I asked students if they had heard of growth
mindset before, which considering we have talked about it in this class, students said that they
had. The conversations about the implications of the data itself were interesting, but the
conversations about the data visual were not as nuanced as the handwashing visual. Most
noticings were that one graph used colors and another did not. Students in each class did point
out that one graph had a title and the other graph did not which points to students
understanding the value in a title to tell them what the data is about. Groups finished the Leo
the Rabbit task today and then I put reflection questions on the board for them to answer
individually. I am getting a sense of which students feel confident in math class and which
students do not. Some students had already expressed nervousness and/or dislike of and/or a
lack of self-confidence in math through the name tent prompts from last week but it came out
clearly during the work time. There were students who had lots of ideas on their paper,
drawings, numbers, and words and other who didn’t feel like they could write down anything.
I think of Zoe, who answers all of the community building questions and works well with
Brynnan, but she had virtually no work, beyond the picture of the stairs, on her paper. It is
hard to tell if she was trying, but struggling to write, or if she just checked out while her group
was working. It is frustrating for me to see students leave questions blank. I have to
encourage students to just write, write, write, and take risks so that they can learn. This unit is
supposed to teach them how to do that so I will look at these behaviors again later this year to
see if they have improved.
Lesson Title: Pattern menu task Lesson Date: 9/16/2021


repeated reasoning
27

problems include paper and pencil, attendance question; teacher observations
calculators, computers, textbooks, notes, during group work time; pattern menu task
solving skills include listening and responding Summative: Portfolio task #5
viewpoints.
solve problems.
Learning Sequence:
2. Attendance question: Which is better, cake or ice cream?
3. WIM pattern menu task
• Let students choose which task they want to work on
• Give 5 minutes for individual work time; then have students work with a partner
who chose the same task
Journal Entry:
I gave students some choice in what they worked on today. There were three tasks to choose
from, all working on finding and analyzing visual patterns. I printed each task on a different
colored paper so I could quickly see which students were working on each task. I showed the
whole class each task and then individually asked students which one they wanted to work on.
Like Leo the Rabbit, I gave students time to work individually before collaborating. I set the
timer on the board and walked around the room to check on student progress. After the timer
28
went off I told students to find a partner who worked on the same task as they did. This was
another opportunity for student choice, however limited the partner options may have been
depending on how many students choose each task option. Maxx and Savion were great
partners. They worked on the floor, which I didn’t really understand why, but they were
talking with each other and both were writing down ideas, so I didn’t ask. I got more out of
the beginning of this task than Leo the Rabbit. This could be because students have practice
working on a complex problem or because they were given a choice in which task to tackle, or
because they had a visual pattern in front of them, but for whatever reason, the start to this task
was an improvement on the last one. However, it did not continue this way for all partners.
There were some pairs that described the pattern but then did nothing to analyze it. I am
thinking of Cate and Echo. They stopped when it got hard. I know that math makes Cate
nervous, but I need to push her to show her what she can do. I spent most of my time working
with pairs who were asking in depth questions which made my day pretty fun. I also did not
know the answers to these problems, so I was discovering and learning with the students. This
is the second time that Sebastian has come up to me to tell me that he has figured out the
pattern and wanted to tell me about it. The impression he gives off is that he doesn’t care and
isn’t invested, but my new theory is that he is either just not interested or doesn’t know what to
do so he gives up. If I can keep him working and being a part of the group, this could be a
breakthrough year.
Lesson Title: Service learning task work time Lesson Date: 9/17/2021


problems include paper and pencil, attendance question teacher observations
calculators, computers, textbooks, notes, during group work time
29

context and knowledge base. Summative: Service learning presentations

the answer.
solve problems.
changes as needed.
Learning Sequence:
2. Attendance question: Playing video games is bad for your health. Agree or disagree?
3. Mood meter
• Explain the purpose and routine for the mood meter.
• Have students write down their word on a piece of paper and place it on the poster
in the corresponding quadrant.
• Invite students to share why they chose a specific word. Look for any patterns or
generalizations in the mood of the class.
4. Who am I? cards
• Do a handful in each class
5. Service learning task work time
Journal Entry:
30
I introduced the Mood Meter today. I made a butcher poster paper of it last night so that
students could post their mood in the correct color space and see the class mood represented
visually. As I was making it, my coworker suggested that I just use the SmartBoard to
accomplish the same goal. I used the poster for 1st and 5th and the SmartBoard for 3rd and she
was right, the SmartBoard is the way to go. I wanted students to write the specific word they
were feeling on a sticky note and then put it on the butcher paper poster in the corresponding
quadrant. That part worked out okay, but when I went to read the words students choose, there
were a few unrelated words so either that student did not pay attention to the direction or they
didn’t try. The SmartBoard version forces students to choose one of the words and put an icon
indicating their choice. I am going to use this for all of my classes from now on. It gives me
an indicator on the general class feeling. Today 3rd period was feeling mostly low energy and
was evenly split between pleasant and unpleasant. I also think this method is a good choice
because I know students like to use the SmartBoard and this is a way for them to get to do that.
Groups worked on their service learning task today. I already mentioned some of the changes
I would make for teaching this task in the future and I know one definite change is to simplify
the packet/questions. I put too much stuff for students to consider so they are not able to focus
their time on what I actually want them to do, which is figure out a plan to solve their problem.
I tried to scaffold it too much so they are getting hung up on tiny steps that are really
unnecessary. My favorite group team name is of course, Ed Sheeran .
Lesson Title: Taxicab Geometry Lesson Date: 9/20/2021


repeated reasoning
31

K1 – Available resources for solving Formative: Teacher observations during
problems include paper and pencil, student work time; listening to conversations
calculators, computers, textbooks, notes,
K6 – Asking questions is an important Summative: Students summing up/explaining
component of analyzing or improving their thinking and problem-solving strategies
arguments and communicating effectively during reflection as well as reviewing student
with others to understand different work
viewpoints.
solve problems.
changes as needed.
Learning Sequence:
2. Attendance question: Would you rather travel 100 years forward or 100 years backward
in time?
3. Circle Time: Student led
• Remind students of the expectations of listening to and engaging in this routine
with classmates and the importance of saying names so that everyone feels
welcome and included.
• Question: What is your favorite animal?
4. Daily reflection
32
Journal Entry:
Today we did the Geometry Taxicab task as the final practice using problem solving skills on a
rich math task. I saw many students use the individual work time and begin drawing their
ideas and then when asked to share, some new students shared ideas. The shared ideas are
beyond surface level too! I tried random groupings today for collaborative time and it was
NOT good. Thinking about it now, it makes sense that it didn’t work out well because
students did not get a choice and they did not have practice working with this group of peers.
They were not comfortable. I will need to remember this when we change seats and groups at
the conclusion of this unit. First period did not even try to move desks to make it possible to
collaborate with their partners. One group huddled around a single desk, another kept three
desks in a line and the fourth was sort of in front, turned to the side. Third period I set the
expectation that students physically move desks and it was better. I did notice that students
who were not participating well in normal groups also did not participate well in random
groups, so these students still need more support to learn how to work well with others, share
ideas, and listen to classmates, taking ideas and running with them. Usually, these students do
the bare minimum and/or shoot down all ideas offered by the group (Ben and Andrew). I am
trying hard to step back from leading Circle Time, but my leaders in 1st and 3rd period did not
take charge. While I did sit down, Dorretta and Addison needed lots of prompting from me.
Lilie did a great job which is possibly because 5th period has elected to use the Wheel of
Names, requiring the leader to be at the front of the room to choose who’s next. We will need
to wrap up the Taxicab Geometry prompt tomorrow. I had to look up the pattern because I
couldn’t figure it out. I had not tried to learn the pattern until after students tried the task
(similar to Leo the Rabbit and the pattern menu) so that I wouldn’t be leading students towards
one way of thinking and looking at the problem. However, after seeing that it is Pascal’s
Triangle, I probably would have been more helpful had I known that in advance. Tomorrow, I
will have students work with those around them, not assigned groups or random chosen
partners, and give them some direction on where to go, laying out the pattern (without telling
them what it is) and seeing if they can figure it out.
Lesson Title: Taxicab Geometry part 2 Lesson Date: 9/21/2021


knowledge?
33
in solving them 2. How do I solve problems?

repeated reasoning

K1 – Available resources for solving Formative: Teacher observations during
problems include paper and pencil, student work time; listening to conversations
K6 – Asking questions is an important Summative: Students summing up/explaining
component of analyzing or improving their thinking and problem-solving strategies
arguments and communicating effectively during reflection as well as reviewing student
with others to understand different work
viewpoints.
solve problems.
changes as needed.
Learning Sequence:
34

2. Attendance question: Coke or Pepsi?
3. Taxicab Geometry work time
• Help students find a pattern by showing them a smaller case.
• Discuss strategies for working on these types of problems at the end.
4. Reflection exit ticket
Journal Entry:
Today we were supposed to have time for students to work on the service learning project, but
we ended up talking about the Taxicab Geometry problem for most of the period. I asked the
whole class about the 2 by 2 square and agreed on 6 routes to get there and then we went back
and looked at the 5 by 7 rectangle. I put the numbers that we could agree to at the
intersections, all of the ones, and then the next row, plus the 6 and then I asked students to find
the pattern for figure out how to fill in the rest. First period, I heard so many gasps and oh I
get it and then they all went to work. I think everyone was into it. 1st period did find the
pattern fairly quickly. 3rd period took the longest time to find it. I am trying to remember who
found it first, but I think I had to fill in a few more boxes before anyone was moving in the
right direction. Armando was one of the first to get it AND he shared answers with the whole
class! Phung told me after class that she had thought it was the pattern and then second
guessed herself. I have got to work on her feeling confident in her ideas and/or being willing
to run with them and test them out to see if they work. 5th period, Zoe got it right away, but
most of the rest of the class struggled to find it. I had to fill in several numbers before they got
it. I can see a growth in how students approach problems involving patterns, from Leo, to the
pattern menu, to Taxicab, I just might have convinced students to look for patterns to make
sense of problems. The intention is that they take this mindset into Algebra as we look at the
structure of functions, equations, and graphs. They have to see the patterns and sort them and
make connections for it to stick.
Lesson Title: Service learning work time Lesson Date: 9/22/2021


35
SMP5: Use appropriate tools strategically responding to a situation or problem?

K1 – Available resources for solving
problems include paper and pencil,
calculators, computers, textbooks, notes, Formative: Listening to student responses to
graphic organizers, classmates, and teachers. attendance question; teacher observations
during group work time; student responses to
K4 – Data occurs in a context and must be data talk
context and knowledge base. Summative: Service learning presentations

the answer.
solve problems.
changes as needed.
Learning Sequence:
36
2. Attendance question: What is the most boring sport in the world?

3. Data talk
• Basketball shot chart
Journal Entry:
The coolest thing that happened today was watching Wyatt help Henrickson and Drew help
Allison get up to speed on their presentations. Allison started three weeks late and is just
getting plugged into her group. I have been encouraging her to get involved and be a part of
the decision making. She is hesitant. I don’t think she has been successful in school
previously. Anyway, Elden asked if she could do something and explained her job and Drew
helped her find the PowerPoint and make sure she could access and edit it. Wyatt helped
Henrickson open the Powerpoint on Teams. Those things happened without me asking or
directing students to do them. The groups are starting to gel a little bit. I am planning on
switching up the groups at the end of the unit and I am hopeful that the students will be able to
work well with their new groups too. In third period, I worked with Bynnan, Zoe, Ben, and
Kyler because they have been struggling getting any ideas off the ground. They made
connections between their kindness initiative and what they remembered from Sac. The
conversations were productive and they have a plan moving forward, which I know alleviates
some of Brynnan’s fears and frustrations. 5th period was also revealing because the Orange
team wanted to change their idea because their idea of putting in escalators no longer seemed
relevant. What is exciting about that is that they really thought about ideas that were important
to them, instead of just making it about completing an assignment. They are going to propose
class trips. This project is about learning how give back and be a part of something bigger and
I am seeing most of the groups jump on board and see the value in the task. I invited the
administration team to view the presentations on Wednesday and Ivan has responded that he
will be there 1st period . I put in a lot of work designing this unit, and while it hasn’t been
perfect and I have had to make some adjustments, I am starting to see the payoff. I should do
an observational count of student buy in to see if my feelings match what is really happening.
Lesson Title: Data Dive portfolio task Lesson Date: 9/23/2021


37
SMP2: Reason abstractly and quantitatively 3. What do I need to consider before
SMP6: Attend to precision

K1 – Available resources for solving Formative: Previous data talks
problems include paper and pencil,
Summative: Data dive portfolio task
the answer.
solve problems.
Learning Sequence:
2. Attendance question: “Smart phones” make us stupid. Agree or disagree?
3. Data dive portfolio task
• Explain the directions to students
• On Teams
Journal Entry:
Today students worked on the Portfolio Task #4, Data Dive. I haven’t looked at the responses
yet, but I heard no complaints from students, and no one seemed nervous. I know a few
students did not complete it based on number returned and students in the class, but I don’t
know everyone yet. I briefly glanced at a few representation submissions and those students
did not seem to understand the question as they submitted pictures of fires or their desk. I
honestly don’t know how I am going to score these. I have a rubric scale, 1-4, but I don’t
38
know how to differentiate scores assuming the student followed the directions. I will be
interested to read what level of exploration and observations students put into this assignment.
I wonder if it will be a similar experience for the Portfolio Task #5, problem solving task, on
Monday.
Lesson Title: Final service learning task work Lesson Date: 9/24/2021
day


problems include paper and pencil, attendance question teacher observations
calculators, computers, textbooks, notes, during group work time
Summative: Service learning presentations
the answer.
solve problems.
changes as needed.
39

Learning Sequence:
2. Attendance question: Which is the best toast?
3. Mood meter
• Use the SmartBoard template
4. Who am I? cards
Journal Entry:
Today was the last day for students to work on their service learning project to prepare for
their presentations on Wednesday. I still had to give some groups focus to finish up and
solidify what they had talked about and help them share a Powerpoint so everyone could edit
it. I was very direct with Ruby’s group because they have expressed their frustration that they
are the only one talking and that without them the group just stares at each other. It was
interesting for me to watch that dynamic today because everyone else clearly saw Ruby as a
leader. I asked Scotty where they were at and what their plan was and he immediately looked
at Ruby and asked them the same questions. What I was surprised about though was that when
I asked him what he would make a slide about he said how to access one on one help and he
had done the research (or so he told me) to know how to access the one on one help. Phung
acknowledged that the group had struggled communicating and thought perhaps the pandemic
played a part in teenagers not being able to speak to each other. I encouraged her to make a
slide about what communication was like for her group and what they did to overcome it. She
decided to ask the rest of the students in the class about communication during the pandemic.
Addison created the Powerpoint to share with everyone. Armando did get him computer, but I
left before he had a specific task so I don’t know if he was given a responsibility. In 5th period,
Team Bookshelf has had a difficult time committing to anything and spent most of today
drawing and e-cigarette as part of their anti-vaping campaign. However, Sarah asked Muler
what he was going to share and Muler read an entire paragraph that he had been working on
about his experience with vaping in bathrooms. That was the first tangible item I have seen
40
out of this group. Cate had shocked me with her willingness to email Phil with her lunch
questions and she came up to me and said that he was planning to meet with her and her group
members Monday afternoon. She just needed to give him the names of the other students in
her group. I gave her their full names and it sounds like they will get pulled out of class to talk
to Phil. This is so cool because they are doing actual research and connecting with an
administrator. I am very interested to see what they do with the information they learn and
how Phil responds. Something that was made obvious today though was that students still
don’t know their classmates names, some don’t even know the people in their groups. I will
need to do more get to know you activities when we change seats at the end of this unit.
On another topic, I had planned to use the trestle problem as the final problem solving
assessment task, but I was thinking about how much I emphasized looking for patterns in our
practice tasks and didn’t feel it was fair to throw a different style problem at them so I have
changed to another youcubed task, Squares to Stairs. I worked on in for a few minutes today
and there is definitely a pattern. I just haven’t figured out how to generalized the pattern or
write a formula for any case, but I know that it exists. Plus, the growth pattern is one of the
diagonals from Pascal’s triangle, which students may recognize since we saw that with
Taxicab Geometry. I made the rubric very simple, just I can use problem solving strategies to
solve problems. I made the reflection a separate assignment, but will count it in the assessment
score.
Just another cool thing about today. I asked each class who wanted to be the Circle Time
leader on Monday and I got a volunteer in each class, without needed to ask a second time! It
seems like students are feeling ready to step into a leader role…
Lesson Title: Squares to Stairs Lesson Date: 9/27/2021


41
repeated reasoning

K1 – Available resources for solving Formative: teacher observations during group
problems include paper and pencil, work time; listening for math conversations
calculators, computers, textbooks, notes, and collaboration within groups; looking at
graphic organizers, classmates, and teachers. student progress
the answer. Summative: completion of the Squares to
Stairs problem solving task; student reflection
K6 – Asking questions is an important on their work
viewpoints.
solve problems.
changes as needed.
Learning Sequence:
2. Attendance question: Would you rather be the hero or the sidekick?
3. Circle Time question: How do you like to spend cold days?
• Student led
4. Problem solving portfolio task
• Remind students of the problem-solving strategies they have learned about,
practiced, discussed, and used in previous problems.
• Hand out the Squares to Stairs task and give students 10-15 minutes to work on the
42
task independently. Prompt students to write down any and all of their thinking,
looking for any patterns they can find.
• Give students time to collaborate with their groups and share ideas about their
problem.
• Listen for questions and points of confusion, directing students to use a problem
solving strategy, such as drawing it out, if they get stuck.
5. Students complete the daily reflection assignment on Teams.
Journal Entry:
(from journal entry dated 9/24) On another topic, I had planned to use the trestle problem as
the final problem solving assessment task, but I was thinking about how much I emphasized
looking for patterns in our practice tasks and didn’t feel it was fair to throw a different style
problem at them so I have changed to another youcubed task, Squares to Stairs. I worked on in
for a few minutes today and there is definitely a pattern. I just haven’t figured out how to
generalized the pattern or write a formula for any case, but I know that it exists. Plus, the
growth pattern is one of the diagonals from Pascal’s triangle, which students may recognize
since we saw that with Taxicab Geometry. I made the rubric very simple, just I can use
problem solving strategies to solve problems. I made the reflection a separate assignment, but
will count it in the assessment score.
Journal Entry 9/27/2021 (3 hours teaching, 1 hour observing)
Today I observed David’s AP Statistics class during my prep period. He was starting a unit on
extrapolation (I think) and students were collecting data about how far Barbie bungees with 7
rubber bands. Students will explore way to represent, describe, and make predictions with the
data, with the end goal of determining how many rubber bands it will take for Barbie to bungee
jump from the top of the learning stairs. What I noticed was that he didn’t give them tons of
directions, beyond what they needed to accomplish, he just gave students the tools and let them
go. They worked in groups of 3 or 4 and when they needed to use a computer to represent
their data, one student typed it up to show the group. The whole day was collaborative. At the
end of the class, David helped them sum up what they noticed and pulled out the important
information that they needed to take away from the lesson. It was a lighthearted lesson and
every student was engaged. They were able to transition from listening to small group
investigating, to working together, to lecture quickly.
In Algebra, students worked on the squares to stairs problem solving task. I gave them 15
minutes to work on their own and then the rest of the time (15-20 minutes) to work with their
group. The last 5 minutes was for completing the daily reflection. I heard students talking to
each other about what they noticed! I heard students talking about MATH! I estimate that over
half of the groups are effective collaborators. I didn’t do much prompting or questioning to
help students see patterns. I heard the correct answer a few times and I am anxious to see how
43
students got it. I heard and saw tons of good work. I didn’t hear any complaining, which was
great. The only downer was from Jack. He said he didn’t know what to do and didn’t have
any work on his paper. I think he is going to be more challenging to get on board. He will
follow directions and won’t be a behavior difficulty, but getting him to investigate and explore
is going to take more time. Oh, and for Circle Time, my student leaders did okay, they all had
quotes. However, none of them really took charge of the class. They didn’t move the
conversations forward. I really do think I need 1st and 3rd period leaders to be at the front of
the room. We will finish the task tomorrow.
Lesson Title: Final work day Lesson Date: 9/28/2021



K6 – Asking questions is an important Formative: teacher observations during work
component of analyzing or improving time; listening for math conversations and
arguments and communicating effectively collaboration within groups; looking at
with others to understand different student progress
viewpoints.
solve problems. Summative: presentations on service learning
project given during the next lesson
changes as needed.
44

Learning Sequence:
2. Attendance question: Clowns are scary. Agree or disagree?
3. Group collaborative work time
• Remind students of the expectations for the presentations.
• Check in with groups and assist as needed.
• Students should finalize their presentations for tomorrow.
4. Students complete the daily reflection assignment on Teams.
Journal Entry:
Today was the last work day before presentations. I didn’t do a whole lot of work actually. I
explained what students needed to do, reminded them of expectations for tomorrow, and
checked in with them regarding progress. I don’t know that many students or groups used
their time today effectively. No group actually collaborated to finish the stairs to squares task,
though some had finished it yesterday. The interaction that stood out to me today was between
Savion and Christian. I checked in with Savion and Christian about their progress and Savion
had his part done, but Christian did not. Savion helped Christian get the shared PowerPoint
and then Christian asked what he was supposed to do and Savion explained his part. I did
nothing really to prompt this interaction, beyond asking if their group was finished with their
presentation yet.
I have noticed during the reflections that students are either very lazy or don’t actually know
how to connect their actions to outcomes. Some students can recognize this, but many don’t
take it seriously and just write I used a calculator or I talked to my groupmates. They are not
reflecting on their thinking or taking ownership. And of the few who I think do reflect, many
are harsh critics of themselves, especially Allison. She gave herself a 2 and said she was just
being honest. She is a tough one for me. She has no idea how to ask for help, talk to other
people, or persevere at all. She just stares blankly. I don’t know if she is trying and really
doesn’t know or if she doesn’t care or if she is just actually thinking.
On a side note, I have built a relationship with Isaac. This is the second time he has made a
comment to me after class. The first was last week when the question was about the most
boring sport in the world. He told me that he said it was basketball and Acasia looked back at
him with murder in her eyes. He thought that was funny. Today, after we had talked about not
normal turtle graphs, he decided to correct me and note that they can exist, just call them
quantum turtles. I am so excited about this. He is the student who had legitimate meltdowns
45
at the beginning of the year and is now actually totally fine to have in class. Also, he struggled
sorting the graphs during the open sort. I helped him get started, and then when he explained
his grouping choices, he also noted that he had alphabetized each group and then alphabetized
between the groups as well.
Lesson Title: Presentations Lesson Date: 9/29/2021



K1 – Available resources for solving Formative: Teacher observation during
problems include paper and pencil, presentations; asking questions to ensure
calculators, computers, textbooks, notes, groups discuss all required pieces of the
graphic organizers, classmates, and teachers. project
arguments and communicating effectively Summative: Presentations and visual aids
viewpoints.
solve problems.
changes as needed.
46

Learning Sequence:
2. Attendance question: Have you read and/or seen Harry Potter?
3. Portfolio Task #1 Service-Learning presentations
• Give groups a few minutes to review their presentations.
• Remind students the are completing a feedback form for each presentation.
• All group members must participate in the presentation.
4. Students complete reflection of their own presentations.
Journal Entry:
Today was presentation day and it went better than expected, but also I realized how terrible
the students are at actually presenting. Ivan came for part of 1st period, Theresa and Steve
came for 3rd, and Theresa returned for 5th. I thought that was really cool that they came. I was
surprised at how well the Red team (Jorgia, Olivia, Olivia, and Ben) did. Their presentation
included statistics and graphs and they traded off speaking roles. The Sparkly Butterflies
(Jasmine, Lily, Delaney, Gabby, and Titus) did not do well. Jasmine submitted her portion of
the slides and she struggles with writing so it mostly didn’t make sense. Jasmine also wasn’t
there for the presentation and her group members had no idea what to do without her. I had
thought that Lily was the leader of that group, but it seems that it was Jasmine. I am
disappointed this didn’t turn out better because they had such great conversations and were
thinking about things such as staff-student relationships that I thought would have resulted in a
more interested and thorough presentation. 5th period was an interesting class because they
asked each other really challenging questions after each presentation. I didn’t ask any follow
up questions in 1st period. In 3rd period I asked each group a question and then a few other
students asked questions as well. In 5th period however, I asked the first group a questions and
then all hell broke loose. Lots of kids raised their hands and had thoughts about potential
solutions or questions. Some of the questions were on point, but some, such as Autumn’s
question about how to prevent kidnapping if we allow off campus lunch, were out of left field.
Also, Team Bookshelf didn’t have a cohesive presentation and then they got peppered with all
sorts of questions about how to pay for the alarms they proposed to prevent vaping. If I do a
project like this again I would scale back the questions I ask students and put some more
structure to it so that they stay on task. Another thing I said I was going to do and then didn’t
was to group students by interest. That would have allowed students to all work towards
something they could agree on rather than having to compromise on what they were interested
in improving. Another thing I learned was that starting this project as early in the year as I did
47
meant that students didn’t know what they didn’t know. Like, the Orange Team (Eva,
Sebastian, Lilie, and Justice) at first wanted to put in escalators because they were tired going
up and down the stairs. Then when it came time to actually putting something on paper, they
realized that was kind of ridiculous and changed to looking at a senior trip. That senior trip
ideas was cool, but it took them a heck of a long time to get there. The Reeces Puffs (Julie,
Carter, Asher, Lukas) did their presentation on increasing the passing periods because the halls
were crowded, but realized that after the first few days of school, the hallways weren’t as
crowded and it wasn’t necessary to have longer passing periods for that reason. This type of
project might be better as a longer term, weekly thing that starts perhaps in week 3 of the year,
after things have settled into a rhythm and students can actually identify issues that need to be
addressed. That would also create a long term group that is different than the problem solving
groups so students aren’t necessarily working with the same group of students all of the time
on different projects.
Lesson Title: Postassessment and catch up Lesson Date: 9/30/2021



K1 – Available resources for solving Formative: Interactions and conversations
problems include paper and pencil, with students about their progress
K3 – Effective communication and problem- Summative: Post assessment survey
solve problems.
48

changes as needed.
Learning Sequence:
2. Attendance question: Are morning people more productive than night people?
3. Unit 0 Postassessment survey
4. Catch up time
• Students should complete any missing work
• Update scores in the gradebook and talk with students who have missing
assignments
Journal Entry:
Today was a wrap up day. Students took the Unit 0 Postassessment survey and had an
opportunity to talk about and make up any missing work. I also gave students a questionnaire
about their seating preferences for next week. I let students tell me people they wanted to sit
by and people they didn’t want to sit by and where they wanted to sit in the room. Almost
everyone wants to sit in the back. There were only a few requests to not sit by particular
students. I could have predicted who most of those were. I did appreciate that some students
said they didn’t have anyone they were opposed to sitting by. I then gave students the number
grid game to think about while I checked in with a few students. This worked out really well
in 1st period. Several students were trying it on their own papers and then they would put their
idea on the board. Their classmates would then point out the flaw in the arrangement and it
was back to the drawing board. They did get it figured out thought. It worked okay in 3rd
period, but it got solved so quickly that not many people had a chance to try out their thoughts.
We didn’t get to Petals Around the Rose in 5th period yesterday because the presentations
lasted so long, so we did that today, which was a mistake because it required me to run it, not
49
allowing me to check in with students, and it distracted students who needed to finish other
work. Basically 5th period today was a bust, but not out of control. I briefly read the
reflections from presentations and this was the best reflection so far for many of the students.
They gave themselves a score for the presentation and could articulate why. I mean it was still
a short sentence for most, but it was better than, “we did good.” Today students also
completed the postassessment survey.
Lesson Title: Cup stacking Lesson Date: 10/1/2021


SMP1: Make sense of problems and persevere 1. How do I solve problems?
in solving them

K3 – Effective communication and problem- Formative: Teacher observations of group
solving skills include listening and responding dynamics during cup stacking activity
S2 – I can monitor my progress toward Summative: n/a
changes as needed.
50
Learning Sequence:
2. Attendance question: Is cereal a type of soup?
3. Cup Stacking
Journal Entry:
Today was the last day in Unit 0. And I am ready to move on for sure. We did an attendance
question, the last Who is it? cards, and a final reflection on the unit. Then we had fun and did
the cup stacking activity. I choose to do the cup stacking activity with students in random
groups because they would be working with new people next unit any way and some of the old
groups were definitely tired of each other. The activity overall went really well. Christian was
a bummer and didn’t participate well and Sebastian and Jacob S. were in a group with Autumn
that didn’t do very well, but other than that it was a fun time and everyone was on board. I
heard students getting really into it and there wasn’t even a prize that I offered which was
good. They didn’t ask what they get if they win. I told students that the purpose of the cup
stacking activity was to work with new people but mostly to celebrate finishing our first unit,
completing a month of school, and enjoy each other. I deem it a success. Now I must read the
reflections to see what students thought.
51
Final Reflection
Degree to which students demonstrated learning as a result of instruction

The averages by question on the post assessment survey for each class are below. As in the
preassessment, all classes scored high on question 7 and scored low on question 8. Post
assessment survey results are included even though this class stopped participation in most of the
unit lessons after day 6.

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7 Q8 Q9 Q10
Period 1
3.333 3.476 3.095 3.429 3.333 3.429 4.048 2.571 4.095 3.571
Period 3
3.4 3.6 3.25 3.55 3.75 4.15 4.15 2.15 4.15 3.65
Period 5
3.227 3.318 2.955 3.318 3.682 3.818 4.409 2.364 4.045 4.182
Period 6
3.167 3.333 3.083 3.25 3.5 3.583 4.167 2.333 3.667 3.583
All
Students 3.293 3.44 3.093 3.4 3.57 3.76 4.2 2.36 4.027 3.773
To what degree did instruction have a positive impact on student learning? How do you
know?
According to the survey results on the post assessment, the unit of instruction did not
significantly impact student learning, either positively or negatively.
Broken down by class, the change from pre to post assessment are below. There was not
a consistent area across classes that showed growth and in some instances, there was a decline in
scores from the pre to post assessments. The change from pre and postassessment are similar to
the results in periods 1, 3, and 5 despite stopping unit lessons after day 6. This is another
indication that the unit instruction did not impact student learning.
52
Period 1
4.5
3.5
2.5
1.5
0.5
0
Question Quesiton Question Question Question Question Question Question Question Question
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Preassessment Post assessment
Period 3
5
4.5
3.5
2.5
1.5
0.5
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

53
Period 5
5
4.5
3.5
2.5
1.5
0.5
0
Question 1Quesiton 2Question 3Question 4Question 5Question 6Question 7Question 8Question 9 Question
10
Period 6
4.5
3.5
2.5
1.5
0.5
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

54
All students
4.5
3.5
2.5
1.5
0.5
0
Question 1 Quesiton 2 Question 3 Question 4 Question 5 Question 6 Question 7 Question 8 Question 9 Question
10
What worked? What didn’t? Why? Describe ways in which you adjusted your instruction
based on formative assessments from students.
Name tents and Circle Time were successful in helping me build positive relationships
with my students and getting to know them quickly. They also contributed to a positive learning
community by emphasizing the importance of learning the names of everyone in the class. I
know that all of my students know their classmates’ names which is different from my previous
experience teaching similar students.
The service learning task did not result in student involvement in the school or create a
positive, memorable experience for students. This task did not work because it was too rushed
and I started it too close to the beginning of the school year. Students not yet acclimated with the
school and don’t see needs beyond crowded hallways and food options. They have not built solid
relationships with their classmates to be invested in creating a product together. Based on my
observations during day one, I changed the focus from completing the packet with the service
55
learning task to just finding a need, coming up with solutions, and creating a presentation. I also
gave students a few more days to work on it than was originally planned so that groups were able
to put together presentations.
The data talks worked to get students talking about math concepts with their classmates
and analyzing data. I extended all of the problem solving lessons, Leo the Rabbit, Pattern menu,
and taxicab geometry because students needed more time to see the patterns and work on the
solutions. I saw that students were struggling and brought the whole class back together for them
to share ideas and to point out possible strategies that students could try.
Description of the overall strengths of the learning activities designed

The learning activities were all low floor, high ceiling tasks so all students could enter the
problem and begin making sense of the problem while also challenging students to see patterns
and make connections and inferences. Each of the problem solving tasks encouraged student
collaboration and showcased how much support most students need in working collaboratively
with their peers. The learning activities in the unit that were not explicitly math related gave
students with low self-confidence in their math skills that chance to fully participate in the
learning activities and feel safe taking risks in trying the problem solving tasks. Overall, the
strength of the learning activities were in the safe and positive community they created and
promoted. I see students talking with each other and attending class, indicating they want to be
there.
What did you learn from your action research plan?

I learned that it is better to be focused on a few goals rather than multiple goals during a
unit. The unit plan I designed had a variety of learning goals which made it difficult to give each
goal sufficient in class instructional time and focus. It was challenging to communicate the
56
various learning goals because they did not clearly connect with each other. Each activity I
included could address several of the unit learning targets and because there were so many
learning targets for each activity, it muddied the intention of the lesson. Were students working
on collaboration or were they working on problem solving? Are the two mutually exclusive? Did
the formative and summative assessments clearly measure student progress on each learning
target?
When writing the unit and lesson plans, the number of learning goals seemed like an
appropriate amount, but that quickly changed as I began implementing the lessons. I immediately
altered the unit plan and removed several portfolio tasks, including the journal reflections
because it felt overwhelming to me. I turned the reflections into a daily online response form
through TEAMS. While student could still access their previous responses, it was not a
chronological account of their journey throughout the unit. I think this limited the effectiveness
of the reflections. I also did not start the reflections until two weeks into the unit, further limiting
the opportunities for students to learn and grow in their self-reflections. I read the reflections and
it was clear that there were some students who understood how their behaviors and attitudes
connected to academic and collaborative outcomes and some students who had no concept of the
relationship between their own actions and consequences. The format of the reflections did not
provide students the venue to track their own progress toward mastering the learning goals.
What would you do differently if you were to do it again?

If I were to teach this unit again I would reduce the number of learning goals and divide
the unit to focus on one or two learning goals each week. The first week would focus on
community building, the second week would focus on collaboration skills and group work
expectations, and the third week would focus on problem solving. The service learning task
57
would start during week 4. Starting the service learning task later would let students settle into
the school year and be able to identify issues of importance as well as know their classmates.
This would also let me get to know my students better and provide appropriate scaffolding so
they can decide on a meaningful way to impact the school. Another benefit of giving the service
learning task a full week to focus on is that groups could make continuous progress and have a
better understanding of the goals and work they need to complete to implement their ideas. The
service learning presentations as the final summative assessment of the unit was a great way to to
end the unit, but it limited the effectiveness of the task itself. Students only had time to come up
with an idea and put together the presentation. They were not able to put the plan into action and
see the results. I would continue the service learning task after the end of the designed unit on a
weekly basis so that students have enough time and knowledge to make an impact on the school
and/or community.
Another change I would make is to remove the data portfolio task. It did not fit with the
rest of the activities and took time away from developing the other targets. Data talks would
continue throughout the unit, as they develop problem solving, analyzing, and collaborative
skills through class discussion. Students share and defend their ideas and work together the
answer classmates’ questions.
I found this unit a valuable way to start the school year and I have seen a positive
difference in the way my students interact with each other and with me. I contribute this change
to the work we did as a class during this unit. Even with all of the changes I would make I
consider this unit a success.

58
References
Common Core State Standards Initiative. (2021). Standards for mathematical practice.
http://www.corestandards.org/Math/Practice/
Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. (n.d.). Social emotional learning
standards, benchmarks, and indicators. Appendix D.
https://www.k12.wa.us/sites/default/files/public/studentsupport/sel/pubdocs/Standards%2
C%20Benchmarks%20Indicators%20-%20creative%20commons.pdf
59
Appendix
Activity Descriptions
Each activity and accompanying resources are described below. The activities are categorized by
their intended purpose.
Community and Relationship Building
Community and relationship building activities are designed to cultivate positive relationships
between teachers and students and between students. They include getting to know you, name
practice, and sharing opportunities.
Attendance Questions
Attendance questions are easy, entry questions to begin the class period. They should be posted
on the SmartBoard, whiteboard, and/or on TEAMS before the class starts so that students can think
about them as they walk in. Students can share their answers by a show of hands, around the room
individual share, partner sharing, or responding on the TEAMS thread. They will typically be
short, one or two word, responses from students and may result in class discussions about student
opinions.
• Possible attendance questions to choose from.

1. Which are better, cats or dogs?
2. Pineapple belongs on pizza. Agree or disagree?
3. Do you put the milk or the cereal in the bowl first?
4. Which is better, summer or winter?
5. What’s the right way to pronounce GIF?
6. Syrup belongs in the fridge. Agree or disagree?
7. Are hotdogs sandwiches?
8. How do you draw an x?
9. Marvel or DC?
10. Which is better, cake or ice cream?
11. Playing video games is bad for health. Agree or disagree?
12. Would you rather travel 100 years forward or back in time?
13. Coke or Pepsi?
14. What is the most boring sport in the world?
15. “Smart phones” make us stupid. Agree or disagree?
16. How toasted is the best toast?
17. Would you rather be the hero or the sidekick?
18. Clowns are scary. Agree or disagree?
19. Have you read and/or seen Harry Potter?
20. Are morning people more productive than night people?
21. Is cereal a type of soup?
22. What famous movie have you never seen that almost everyone else in the world has?
60
23. Would you rather live in a hot, sandy desert, or the North Pole?
24. Would you give up three fingers in exchange for $1 million?
25. Which superhero is the most likely to be real?
26. Butter belongs in the fridge. Agree or disagree?
27. Which is better, the movie version or the book version?
28. Star Wars or Star Trek?
Name Tents
Students will create name tents on the first day of the year to be used to help everyone learn leans.
These should be made from blank computer paper, folded into thirds, with the student’s preferred
name written in large lettering so it can be read across the room. Students are responsible for
bringing and displaying these every day until they are no longer needed. Teachers can provide a
space for students to leave them in the classroom if needed. Students can personalize their name
tent by drawing on or coloring it, just make sure that the name can still easily be read.
Students surprisingly struggle getting the paper folded correctly, so the teacher should model how
to fold the paper into thirds and look for any students who need help.
Circle Time (adapted from O’Neil, personal communication, 2020)
Circle Time is a space for students and teachers to learn about each other, practice speaking out
loud, promote belonging, and establish a positive classroom community. Students practice using
classmate names, speaking, actively listening, and responding to each other. To establish the
routine, Circle Time should be done every day during the first week of the school year and then
can be done once a week after that. Everyone must be able to share, so only do it if there is time
for everyone to participate.
Begin Circle Time by sharing a quote. For the first week, the teacher can choose and read the
quote, but after the routine has been established, one student each week is responsible for finding
and sharing a quote. The quote should be meaningful to that student. One recommendation is to
have students find a few quotes as an assignment at the beginning of the year and keep these, so
the quotes are ready when it is the student’s turn. Let students know who is up next, but always
have a back up incase a student is absent.
• Example quote:
“In the Circle we are all equal.
No one is in front. No one is behind.
No one is above. No one is below.
We are all related – the circle creates unity.”
- Dave Chief, Oglala Lakota

61
After reading the quote, explain the purpose of Circle Time is to build trust, learn about each other,
and practice sharing and listening. Each person in the classroom will answer the Circle Time
question, which start out surface level and progress to more personal questions as the year goes
on. After answering the question, the student calls on the next person to share by name, until
everyone has responded. When called on, students should thank the person who called on them
and summarize what they shared about or ask a follow up question before responding to the
question themselves. The teacher should respond to the question first but can give the quote reader
the choice to go first if they want.
For example, the question is, if you could, what 3 seconds of your life would you relieve? (You
only get three seconds) and Karisa responded that she would relive the first time she met Britney
Spears because it was a spontaneous meeting, and she loves her so much. Karisa calls on Justin,
by name, to go next. Justin thanks Karisa, using her name, for sharing about meeting Britney
Spears or asks how did this meeting take place, and then answers the prompt himself.
The first time students practice Circle Time, the teacher should model what listening and
responding looks and sounds like, reminding students that they should be paying attention to their
classmates. This will set them up for success in future Circle Times.
During Circle Time, it is important that students are listening to their classmates. It is an
intentional time of sharing and community building. The teacher must remind students as needed
about the expectations during Circle Time.
After everyone has responded to the prompt (double check that no one was left out), thank all
students for participating and then move on to the next activity.
One suggestion is for teachers to record student responses, especially at the beginning of the year
so they have a list of student interests/likes and can use these to group students or create
assignments in the future.
• Variations:
- Share the Circle Time prompt ahead of time, such as the Friday before and/or post on
the Teams page, so students can think about their responses in advance of the class.
- Give students a choice of which question to answer and have the class vote.
- Have students write the Circle Time prompt.
• Possible question prompts:
1. What was something fun you did over summer break?
2. What is your favorite candy?
3. What is your favorite animal?
4. If you could have one superpower, what would it be and why?
5. What job are you going to pursue after you graduate?
6. What is your biggest pet peeve?
7. What is your favorite sound?
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8. How do you like to spend cold days?

9. Were would you most like to go? Why?
10. If you had a giraffe that you needed to hide, where would you hide it?
11. What food is delicious but a pain to eat?
12. What did you think was super cool when you were young, but isn’t anymore?
13. What is something you are scared of?
14. What makes you proud?
15. What is your most prized possession? Why?
16. What is the hardest part of being a teenager?
17. What is one thing you are thankful for?
18. What is one negative effect technology has on society?
19. What is the best give you have received?
20. What is something you have learned this year?
21. What is your New Year’s Resolution?
22. What is the hardest job in the world? Why?
23. How would you change high school for the better?
24. What is one of the most important life lessons you have learned?
25. If you could instill one piece of life advice into a baby’s mind, what advice would
you give?
26. What always makes you smile?
27. If you could, what 3 seconds of your life would you relive? (You only get 3
seconds.)
28. If you could switch lives for a day with one person, who would you choose and why?
Who is it? (adapted from Doubet & Hockett, 2015)
This is an activity to help students learn about one another and find things they have in common
as well as things that are unique to individual students. To explain the activity, the teacher will
have everyone stand up, then the teacher will read a set of four facts about herself. After each fact,
if it is not true about you, that person should sit down and remain seated. At the end, there should
be just one person (the teacher) standing.
• Teacher example:
o I was born in Spokane, Washington.
o I cheer for the Gonzaga basketball teams.
o I play golf.
o I have visited Australia.
Give each student an index card to write down four facts about themselves that they are
comfortable sharing with the class. They should number them 1-4. The first fact should be
something that is probably shared with most of the people in the room. The second fact should be
something that is probably shared with some people in the room. The third fact should be
something that is probably shared with a few people in the room and the fourth fact should be
something that is probably unique to the individual.
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Collect the student index cards, mix them up, and then do a few rounds using the student facts.
Allow the class the opportunity to ask questions of whoever remains standing and for that person
to explain the items on their card.
Do not go through every student card in one class period. Do a few rounds at a time. Be sure to
collect an index card from each student and any new student who enters the class during the first
few weeks of school.
Two-word Poems (adapted from Hébert, 2011)
The purpose of this activity is to help students get to know each other and provide students a chance
to talk about non-school related topics.
Explain that each student will be writing a short poem about one of their classmates. The poem
will be 7-10 lines, with exactly two word per line. Share teacher example.
• Example poem
Katrina Bech
Math teacher
Frisbee player
Best auntie
WSU Cougar
Golf coach
Masters degree
Loud talker
Pair students together and give them time to talk in quiet conversation for about 10 minutes. It
might be helpful to provide a list of questions for them to ask each other to move the conversation
along. After 10 minutes, prompt students to begin writing their poems about their partner. Be sure
to leave enough time at the end of the activity for each student to share their poem with the class.
• Conversation questions
o What do you do for fun?
o Do you have any siblings?
o What is the best place you have every visited?
o What sports do you play or enjoy watching?
o What activities are you planning on joining at LC?
o What has COVID been like for you?
o Do you have any hobbies?
o What books/movies do you like?
o Do you have any cool tricks or abilities?
o What’s your favorite color?
o What do you want to be when you grow up?
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o Who is your superhero?

o What places do you like to hang out in Spokane?
o What music do you listen to?
• Extensions
o Post these poems on the classroom wall or on the class Teams page.
o Allow students to edit/add to these poems throughout the year.
▪ Add artwork or personal photos to the poems
Redefining Fair (adapted from Doubet & Hockett, 2015)
• This activity helps students understand what fairness looks like in a classroom. It is
important for students to recognize that everyone needs different things to be successful
and that they will see that in the classroom throughout the school year. Students should
not compare the supports they need or don’t need to a classmate. Everyone is working
towards the same high standards, just taking different routes to get there.
• Ask students to define fair using synonyms. Most likely students will respond with same
and equal. Write these responses on the board to reference during the activity.
• Call up two volunteers, one who is shorter and one who is taller, but don’t tell them why
they were selected.
• Stand on a chair and hold out a small prize, such as a candy bar or dollar bill so just the
taller person is able to reach it. You could also have it hanging from the ceiling or board
to achieve the same effect. Explain that you will keep all things equal, holding the prize
at the same height for both students and now allow any extra help. Have the shorter
student try to reach the prize first, who should not be able to grab it, and then have the
taller student take and keep the prize.
• Ask students if the exercise was fair. Discuss what about it was not fair and suggestions
for making it fair for both students to be able to reach the prize. One note, lowering the
prize is not possible because these represent the expectations students need to meet and
they will not be lowered. Write solutions on the board.
• Revise the definitions of fair students stated at the beginning of the activity and allow the
shorter student to use one of the proposed solutions to reach the prize.
• Mindset Video – explain this in the lesson plan
…and I’m a mathematician (from youcubed, 2019)
The purpose of this assignment is for students to view themselves as mathematicians, in addition
to all of the other groups they belong to and identities they have. Students should begin by thinking
of things they enjoy, people they love, groups they belong to and identify with, and how they could
represent these interests on a poster. They will be collecting pictures, images, and drawings that
represent who they are. The pictures they choose can be personal photos, artwork they have done,
or they can be images from magazines or on the internet. Once students have gathered the images,
they will put them together poster. Students MUST include the phrase …and I’m a Mathematician
clearly on the poster in addition to the other items they find. The posters can be completed digitally
or glued on paper.
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• Extensions
o Collect all of the posters and display them as a collage in the classroom or on the
class Teams page.
o Have students share and explain their posters with the class.
o Highlight one student per day by sharing their poster on the board or on the class
Teams page.
The teacher should create and share her example with students so they have an idea of what they
are doing and so they can learn about their teacher.
Here is one student and one teacher example.

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…and I’m a Mathematician

You have broad identities and ties to many different communities. One aspect of your identity is
that you are a mathematician. Share the various ways you identify with communities you are a
part of, things you enjoy, and ways you describe yourself.
Make a visual representation that highlights and showcases communities to which you belong.
✓ Option 1: Make a poster. Use cutouts from magazines, newspapers, personal drawings,
or persona photos. Put these together on poster paper.
✓ Option 2: Make a PowerPoint slide, Publisher page, or other electronic visual format.
Use pictures from the internet or your own personal photos.
To help you get started, think about the different ways you would fill in this statement:
I am…
For example – I am a Lewis and Clark Tiger. I am a football player. I am a dog lover.
Include pictures to represent these I am statements.
Include the phrase “…and I’m a Mathematician”

clearly on your visual.
See my example below.
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Emotional Regulation and Reflection
Emotional regulation and reflection tasks help students identify their emotions and reflect on how
their actions and emotions impact each other and the decisions they make.
Journal Reflection – Portfolio Task #6
This is the first task students will work on for their unit portfolio. Students will journal every day
to record their progress and reflect on their learning. After the expectations for the journal entries
have been established and students have recurring prompts to answer, this activity should be quick
for students to complete.
Because it is important for student to reflect on their learning, be sure that there is enough time
each class period to record their journal entry.
To prevent students from losing their journal entries, one suggestion is to give students a place to
keep their notebooks in the classroom. Another suggestion is to have students complete journal
entries as a running Word or Google doc.
Mood Meter (adapted from Brackett, 2018; graphic from Prospect Elementary, 2021)
The Mood Meter is a graphic organizer of emotional vocabulary. Emotions are arranged on a
coordinate plane with the x-axis representing pleasantness, from unpleasant to pleasant, and the y-
axis representing energy level, from low to high. Each quadrant is color coded, pleasant-low
energy is green, pleasant-high energy is yellow, unpleasant-low energy is blue, and unpleasant-
high energy is red. The colors are strongest at the edges and fade towards the center of the plane.
The purpose of the Mood Meter is the help students identify their feelings and develop nuanced
vocabulary for describing their emotions. Students can chart their feelings on the emotional space
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and connect their experiences to their feelings as they describe why they choose a specific word
to describe their emotion.
• There are many ways teachers can use the Mood Meter. Some possibilities are listed
below.
o Option 1: Display the Mood Meter and use a routine similar to Circle Time. Each
student and teacher shares which word best describes their emotion at that
moment and why they are feeling that way and then calls on a classmate to share
next.
o Option 2: Display the Mood Meter as a poster on the classroom wall or digitally
on the class Team. At the beginning of the class period, have students and
teachers put a marker with their name on it over the word that describes their
emotion. Together with the students, look for any patterns or observations about
the ways students are feeling and common reasons for students feeling the way
they do.
o Option 3: Have students keep a daily record of how they feel each day to help
them track their emotions over time. Students can reflect on what caused them to
feel that way, actions they took that changed their emotions, or strategies they
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used to cope with difficult emotions. These reflections can optionally be shared
with the class.
o Option 4: Display the Mood Meter and then describe a situation. Have students
identify which emotion they would experience in that situation. There will likely
be a range of emotions resulting from the same experience. Discuss with the class
why students may experience the same situation with different emotions and why
it is important to be aware of that and respond accordingly.
Preparation for Group Work
Preparation for Group work activities give students opportunities to practice working together on
tasks that all students can enter and reflect on behaviors and attitudes that impact the success of
their work.
WIM Group work task (from youcubed, 2019)
The purpose of this task is to establish group work behavior norms and expectations.
Give students 5 minutes to write their thoughts on what they like and don’t people to do when
working in a group. Students should be writing specific things that they like or don’t like people
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to do or say. These things should be observable if possible. Ask students what it would look like
when groups are working well together and what it would sound like when groups are working
well together. Then have student share their ideas with their small group. Assign one person in
each group to be the facilitator, the person whose birthday is the soonest. The facilitator is in
charge of making sure every person shares their ideas with the group and leads the group in
deciding how they will share their thoughts with the whole class. After small groups have finished
discussion, each group will share their ideas with the whole class. The teachers should record the
responses on two columns of a piece of poster paper; one column titled, what we don’t like and
one titled what we do like. All comments should be respectful and not label or call out individual
students. Rephrase as needed.
After the class has agreed upon the behaviors and items listed on the charts, these become the class
norms and expectations for working in groups. Refer to these frequently at the beginning of the
school year and then as needed throughout the rest of the year.
100# group task (adapted from Van Der Werf, 2020)
The purpose of this task is to give student practice noticing patterns, working in a group, using the
norms previously established, and communicating their thinking.
Students should be in groups of 4, with desks cleared. Each group member needs a different
colored highlighter.
Explain that students will be highlighting as many of the the numbers 1-100 in order as they can
in a certain amount of time. Group members will take turns, meaning that student one, highlights
1, student two highlights 2, student three highlights 3, student four highlights 4, and back to student
one who highlights number 5, etc. Students can and should help each other, but each student must
highlight their own number in turn.
Hand out one copy of the 100# worksheet to each group upside down. Put a 3 minute timer on the
board and start the activity. After the time is up ask groups how many numbers they found and
talk with their group about a strategy to get more numbers in the next round. Encourage them to
look and talk about any patterns they see. Have a few groups share what went well in round one
and what patterns they noticed.
Repeat the process for round two. Most groups should have improved the number of numbers
they found. Discuss what strategies helped the groups improve and record what groups say. Add
these observations to the group work norms and expectations chart.
• Extension
o While students are working on the activity, take pictures of the groups to show
students what it looks like while groups are actively engaged and participating.
Show these to the students and add to the group work norms and expectation
charts.
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Problem Solving Practice
Problem solving practice activities are rich mathematics tasks with low floors and high ceilings
that encourage students to explore patterns and use a variety of problem solving strategies to make
sense of and solve problems.
Data Talks (from youcubed, 2020)
Data talks are intended to get students thinking about data and what it represents. They are low
stakes environments and provide students the chance to explore a data representation that is
relevant to them, ask questions about what is happening, and make predictions about what
happened before or after the data.
Show a data representation that is not straight forward. It should make students think and wonder.
Pose the following questions with the graphic: What do you notice? What do you wonder? What
is going on in this data visualization?
First, give students time to think individually about what they see. Encourage them to write down
any thoughts or questions they have. Then, ask students to share their responses to each question.
Record their response on the board. Allow the class to discuss patterns they notice and predictions
they see. Encourage students to explore more about the data after class and share their findings
the next time you meet.
• Variations
o Give students data without any context and ask them what they think it could
represent.
o Ask students to predict what a data representation would look like for a given
situation.
• Possible Data Representations follow.
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Leo the Rabbit (from youcubed, n.d.)
The purpose of this task is for students to practice the math learning and problem solving strategies
they just discussed and apply them in solving this problem.
Students should start thinking about this task individually before working with a group so that all
students are able make sense of the problem first. Put a timer on the board to indicate when
students should begin working with others. Assign a facilitator for each group to ensure that
everyone is able to contribute and to keep the group on task. Each student should keep a record
of their work as evidence of their thinking.
• Extension
o After all groups have finished or time is up, have groups share their strategies for
making sense of and solving the problem. This could be a formal presentation
with visuals and evidence or it can be informal with just a brief share from each
group. To encourage participation, one strategy is to randomly assign who will be
speaking for each group. Give groups time to talk about what they will share and
then announce that the ________________________ (youngest person, person
with the most/least siblings, person wearing the most red, etc.) in each group will
be the speaker.
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WIM Pattern Menu (from youcubed, 2018)
The purpose of this activity is for students to think about how a patten is changing and use problem
solving strategies to find different ways to represent the solutions.
Students will have a choice of three patterns to explore, Squares & More Squares, Swirls, and
Serious Squares. Give each students a copy of each pattern and time to decide which pattern they
want to investigate. Once students have chosen their pattern, they should find a partner to work
with who chose the same pattern. Encourage students to use all of the problem solving strategies
they have learned about, including drawing pictures, to make sense of the pattern and answer the
questions. When time is up, have all students who investigated the same pattern gather to discuss
what they saw and the strategies they used to figure out the solutions.
During work time, the teacher should listen to student conversations and push students to keep
working even when they get confused.
• Extensions:
- Have students investigate a second or third pattern.
- Have each pattern group share their observations and strategies with the whole class.
- Have each pair create a stand alone visual to explain the pattern and the strategies
they used to explore it and describe the growth.
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Taxicab Geometry (from Wayne, 2020)
The purpose of this task is for students to examine patterns and communicate their reasoning.
Students should begin thinking about this task individually before working with their small group.
After thinking about the problem individually, ask students to share with the class what strategies
they might try to investigate the problem. This task helps students break down a problem into
smaller cases and provides scaffolding with the prepared grids, to help students visualize the
problem.
• Extension
o When small groups have completed the activity or when time is up, have groups
share their strategies and solutions with the whole class. Identify patterns and
similarities between groups’ thinking as well as the different approaches students
took to investigate, solve the problem, and show their thinking.
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Squares to Stairs
1. How do you see the pattern growing?
2. How many squares will be in figure 10? Explain how you know.
3. How many squares are in figure 55? Explain how you know.
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4. Can you use 190 squares to make a stair-like structure? Mathematically justify your
answer.
5. How can you figure out how many total squares are in any figure?
6. If you have 1,478 squares, can you make a stair-like structure using all of the
squares? Mathematically justify your answer.
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Portfolio Activities
Portfolio activities are portfolio tasks that will be completed during class time and involve a group
work and collaboration component.
Task #1 and Portfolio Introduction
This task is an introduction into service learning, where students identify an issue and look for
solutions they can be a part of implementing. This is not a complete service-learning project but
gives students a taste of the impact they can have and the process for identifying and solving
problems. The directions for the task are spelled out in the portfolio task directions.
Group students using any method you choose. One recommendation is to make these groups based
on interests so that students will all be working on a project that is relevant and interesting to them.
Groups should be made up of no more than four students to ensure that everyone can participate.
Introduce the task as an opportunity for students to make an impact at Lewis and Clark. The
solution can impact a large or small number of students/teachers/staff.
Brainstorming ideas and deciding on final issues is an essential part of this project. Students will
first brainstorm ideas on their own, then share these ideas with their small groups and then with
the whole class. It is important that students record all of the thinking and ideas during this process
as it will be turned in as evidence with the final portfolio. After brainstorming and sharing, each
group needs to pick a single issue that they will focus on for this task. Each group should have a
unique, defined focus, so the teacher will need to approve each topic.
• Possible ideas
o Improving the lunch experience
o Connecting students who need homework help with students who are able to help
o Kindness campaign
o Starting a new club to improve school spirit
o Advisory panel to school administration regarding student needs
o Recommendations to reduce stress
o Increasing participation in sports/clubs/activities/music
o Increasing class options
Once groups have their defined issue, they work together to research and develop a solution or
improvement. For this task, they are not required to implement the solution, but will be encouraged
to do so. During in class work time, the teacher can help students acquire necessary materials,
navigate the problem solving process, locate resources, and talk through ideas, making sure at each
step that students are leading the way.
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To conclude the task, each group will be presenting their issue, process, and solution to the class
along with considerations for inclusiveness and reflection on any changes they made along the
way. This will be done at the end of the unit.
Portfolio Task #4 – Data Dive
This is an individual task. Each student is responsible for completing their own work and
explaining their thinking, but students may discuss their findings and ideas with their small group.
The directions are explained in the portfolio task. The data students will be responding to are
below.
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Water Usage by State
Source:
https://www.usgs.gov/special-topic/water-science-school/science/total-water-use-united-states?qt-
science_center_objects=0#qt-science_center_objects
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Trestle Problem (Portfolio Task #5) (adapted from RAMP-A, 2021)
The purpose of this task is to assess students’ problem solving and collaboration skills. Students
will be working together to solve the trestle prompt and then analyzing and reflecting on the
process individually.
Hand out the Portfolio Task #5 directions first and give students time to read through the
expectations and understand what they need to do in addition to solving the accompanying prompt.
Emphasize that while they are working on the problem as a group, they are completing the
reflection individually. Allow students to ask any clarifying questions before giving them the
trestle prompt.
Give each student a copy of the prompt and let the groups begin working.
Trestle
A man is crossing a train trestle on foot. When he is 4/7 of the way across he sees
a train coming toward him head-on. He realizes he has just enough time either to
run toward the train and get off the trestle or run away from the train and get off
the trestle. If the man can run 20 kilometers per hour, how fast is the train going?
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Except where otherwise noted, RAMP-A materials, by Eastern Washington
University are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

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Integrating Social Emotional Learning and the Standards for Mathematical Practice

Field Study Action Plan

EDG 581: Field Study and Action Research

Dr. Rebecca O’Brien

December 17, 2021

Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................ ii

Description of the classroom and the students taught

and three students who are black.

who are black and one student who is Asian.

building students’ collaboration and problem solving skills.

(When am I going to use my math knowledge?)

evaluating progress, adjusting course as needed, interpreting solutions, and effectively

communicating the results. (How do I solve problems?)

3. Understanding the cultural context of a situation is necessary for interpreting stated

assumptions, effectively communicating progress and ideas, and reaching productive

solutions. (Why is cultural context important?)

must be considered when deciding how to respond to a situation or problem. (What do I

need to consider before responding to a situation or problem?)

computers, textbooks, notes, graphic organizers, classmates, and teachers.

a. Communication strategies can be verbal, such as discussions and presentations, or

non-verbal, such as posters and including explanations with your work.

b. Writing an equation, drawing a picture, making a graph, or trying special cases

are strategies for making sense of a problem.

3. Effective communication and problem-solving skills include listening and responding to

others while considering their cultural context and knowledge base.

4. Data occurs in a context and must be interpreted in terms of that context.

5. Mathematical results must be considered in terms of the context and reasonableness of

6. Asking questions is an important component of analyzing or improving arguments and

communicating effectively with others to understand different viewpoints.

a. Identify, analyze, and understand the problem

b. Identify quantities and their relationships

c. Use appropriate tools and resources

d. Look for patterns and similar problems

e. Reflect on potential consequences and challenges

g. Evaluate and revise plan as needed

h. Analyze and consider different approaches

i. Step back and shift perspective

j. Interpret solution in terms of the context

k. Explain and justify process and results

evaluate the results, and make changes as needed.

5. I can work cooperatively with others, including using conflict-resolution skills,

acknowledging opinions, compromising, contributing, encouraging, and listening to move

group efforts forward.

Common Core State Standards

• SMP2: Reason abstractly and quantitatively

• SMP3: Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others

• SMP4: Model with mathematics.

• SMP5: Use appropriate tools strategically

• SMP6: Attend to precision

• SMP7: Look for and make use of structure

• SMP8: Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning

Washington State SEL Standards and Benchmarks

• Standard 2 – SELF-MANAGEMENT – Individual has the ability to regulate emotions,

thoughts, and behaviors.

o BENCHMARK 2B – Demonstrates responsible decision-making and problem-

• Standard 3 – SELF-EFFICACY – Individual has the ability to motivate themselves,

persevere, and see themselves as capable.

and empathize with others from diverse backgrounds and cultures.

constructive choices about personal behavior and social interactions.

a desire to contribute to the well-being of school and community.

o BENCHMARK 6C – Demonstrates the ability to work with others to set, monitor,

adapt, achieve, and evaluate goals.

Pre and Post Assessment