Stephanie Huffman EdTPA Lesson Commentary Dr. Bellon December 6 !

"#$ The students %ill recei&e their o%n %hiteboards and mar'ers. ( %ill introduce the lesson and start by as'in) them to start out by dra%in) a ri)ht trian)le on their board. ( %ill chec' each board to see if they all ha&e a basic understandin) of %hat a ri)ht trian)le is. As ( mo&e for%ard ( %ill dra% pictures *ri)ht trian)les hypotenuse le)s etc.+ on the board and as' them to label their picture alon) %ith mine. After ( chec' and see that e&eryone is follo%in) alon) %e %ill then )o and apply the ne% &ocabulary,symbols that they learned into practice problems. ( %ill )i&e them t%o problems and see if they are able to %or' them themsel&es. ( %ill help those %ith -uestions learn to )rasp it and once e&eryone is finished ( %ill mo&e on to another problem usin) real %orld applications *Bas'etball )oal to the free.thro% line e/ample+. Also after they finish ( %ill as' them as a class to help me %or' throu)h the problems on the board so that e&eryone )ets a chance to see ho% to do it correctly. (f the problem is %or'ed incorrectly ( %ill )i&e them a chance to fi/ it and )o o&er %hy it needed to be fi/ed. After they are finished %ith the problems ( %ill then &erbally -ui0 them on the &ocabulary %e learned. ( %ill dra% a lar)e ri)ht trian)le on the board and as' them as a class %hat each component is that ( point to. After that they %ill be post.assessed %ith a %or'sheet that ( created. This lesson %ill be tau)ht in an 1th )rade 2ath class. This information needs to be tau)ht because it is 'no%led)e that %ill be built upon in hi)h school %hich %ill help them succeed in &arious standardi0ed tests they %ill need to ta'e *ACT SAT etc.+ (t may also help them in their future career. The standard ( used for this lesson %as 2CC1.3.4 Apply the Pytha)orean Theorem to determine un'no%n side len)ths in ri)ht trian)les in real.%orld and mathematical problems in t%o and three dimensions. This lesson connects to real %orld problems and e/amples as %ell as rele&ant topics they find interestin) such as sports and architecture. (t connects to 2ath directly because it is helpin) the students learn %ords that apply to an important 2ath theorem and formula that they %ill use and hear a lot in future classrooms. Also it )i&es them a basis of information tyin) in the &ocabulary to the actual formula and usin) it to sol&e problems. The Pytha)orean Theorem and its &ocabulary are hard to tie in to other contents. Ho%e&er it is &ery useful in e&eryday life. 5no%in) the Pytha)orean Theorem is not only useful for math ma6ors but en)ineers and other math based 6obs. (t is important to 'no% the conte/t of the &ocabulary that pertains to the Pytha)orean Theorem. 7or e/ample one of the %ords %e learned %as 8le)s9 %hich refer to the sides of the ri)ht trian)le. Ho%e&er in another conte/t 8le)s9 pertain to %hat %e use to %al' and run. This lesson helps connect real %orld problems %ith math. :ne of my e/amples referred to a bas'etball court and its dimensions. Problems such as those help relate these %ords to the real %orld. Accordin) to ;acarian *!"#$+ learnin) must be connected to personal issues in order for the content to chan)e from impersonal to personal. This is %hat ( tried to do by as'in) the class ho% many played bas'etball and related the e/ample to those students. Also ( used a student<s name in the e/ample ma'in) it personal for those students %ho did not relate to bas'etball instead they related to the problem because it %as about a classmate.

This class is an accelerated class and scored abo&e a&era)e on their C=CT<s in 2ath. Ho%e&er not e&eryone pic's up the information at an accelerated pace. There are more than a fe% students %ho need e/tra time or e/tra e/planations on thin)s. ( chose to do so indi&idually rather than as a class because ( did not %ant them to feel behind. (f the student %as stru))lin) or needed help ( %ould %al' around and help them at their des' before approachin) the board to )o o&er the information. >sually %as the same couple of students %ho needed help but it %as better to help them as %e %ent alon) rather than 'eep )oin) and lose their participation completely. This class is also a &ery lar)e class. (t is the lar)est class that my correspondin) teacher has. They are &ery social and it is hard for them to sit and do %or' -uietly at their des' %ithout see'in) help from their peers. This factor )uided my lesson in my decision to ma'e it interacti&e as %ell as in&ol&in) the entire class %or'in) to)ether. This coincides %ith ;acarian<s *!"#$+ &ie% of learnin) as an interacti&e social process. The students had ne&er learned the Pytha)orean Theorem before. This %as their first time e&er seein) it. 2y pre.assessment sho%ed me that most of them %ith the e/ception of a fe% %ere not fluent in the %ords and formulas,symbols that are associated %ith the Pytha)orean Theorem. Therefore ( used this 'no%led)e to determine %hich %ords,symbols they needed to 'no% in order to be successful later on %hen usin) the Pytha)orean Theorem. Also it )a&e me an idea of ho% slo% ( needed to ta'e the lesson. Since they %ere seein) this information for the first time ( focused on ma'in) my lesson &ery basic and interacti&e so they could see hear and %rite the information all at once utili0in) se&eral different brain path%ays. Also ( did this because ( %anted to use se&eral learnin) styles in one lesson based on multiple intelli)ences *Ho%ard 3ardner?s 2ultiple (ntelli)ences Theory nd.+. (n my lesson ( tau)ht the students the %ord hypotenuse. To learn this %ord ( had to dra% an e/ample on the board and as'ed them to dra% the same thin) on their o%n %hiteboards. ( )a&e them the definition and then usin) their o%n %hiteboards ( as'ed them to dra% a ri)ht trian)le a)ain only this time labelin) it usin) the definition ( 6ust )a&e them. ( did this %ith all of the related &ocabulary and had them practicin) by labelin) and dra%in) it themsel&es %hile ( %ent around the room and chec'ed them off lettin) them 'no% if it %as correct. (n math it is difficult to e/plain synta/ to them. They usually %rite usin) formulas and numbers. Ho%e&er ( did e/plain the importance of spellin). Hypotenuse is a hard %ord for them to spell. ( spelled it out on the board a couple of times and they had to copy it do%n. After loo'in) at it %ritin) it and hearin) me say the %ord they cau)ht on to ho% the %ord is to be used and spelled. ( used all three path%ays a)ain to try and connect %ith students %ho learn a different %ay based on multiple intelli)ences *Ho%ard 3ardner?s 2ultiple (ntelli)ences Theory n.d.+. After my lesson ( )a&e them my post.assessments %hich %ere %or'sheets that %ere mostly fill in the blan' %ith one e/ample problem on it. They had to use the &ocabulary %ords %e learned in order to complete the %or'sheet. The post.assessments sho%ed me that they cau)ht on to the academic lan)ua)e &ery %ell. There %ere not many %ho had problems %ith the fill in the blan' &ocabulary -uestions. Some of them stru))led %ith the spellin) of 8hypotenuse9 but the main issue %as the practice problem. They stru))led to sol&e the problem but the academic lan)ua)e portion of the post.assessment sho%ed )reat strides. This post.assessment %ill impact my future teachin) by sho%in) me %hat ( need to )o bac' and teach. (t is helpful to see %hich students ha&e )rasped the material and %hich ones ( need to help. Also it helps me reali0e that ( may need to try a different teachin) approach %ith the ones %ho stru))led. They may learn better in a different manner than they %ay ( tau)ht it.

=eferences Ho%ard 3ardner?s 2ultiple (ntelli)ences Theory . *n.d.+. PBS. =etrie&ed December @ !"#$ from httpA,,%%%.pbs.or),%net,)perf,education,edBmiBo&er&ie%.html ;acarian D. *!"#$+. Mastering academic language: a framework for supporting student achievement. Thousand :a's CalifA Cor%in Press.