ARTIFACT #4: 3-day Instructional Sequence

Artifact 4 is a record of instructional sessions conducted using Artifact 2

(Instructional Plan for Word Problems). It documents a variety of strategies that were
used to develop the students ability to discern between vocabulary that indicates
perimeter, area, and volume---these are demarked with highlight/comment.

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Three Lesson Sequence

I. Goals and assessment
A. Literacy goal, desired outcome:
Martin will read passages, answer think-along style questions, and apply/solve
math story problem to do with perimeter, area, and/or volume.
precursor skill:
Given individual vocabulary of concrete/real life examples of objects/locations
that are commonly used in story problems to do with perimeter, area, and/or volume,
Martin will independently read the words and sort the words into the appropriate
category (perimeter, area or volume).

related to CCSS language arts, 5th grade:

5.RI.1 Reading Informational: Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the
text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
5.RI.4 Reading Informational: Determine the meaning of general academic and
domain-specific words and phrases in a text relevant to grade 5 topic or subject area.
5.W.7 Writing: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis,
reflection, and research.

B. Assessment
The Woodcock Reading Mastery Test (WMRT-III) Martins results demonstrated a
relative weakness in the low-average range for Passage Comprehension. Per Martins
teacher he continues to have (in the 4th quarter) persistent issues with interpreting math
story problems to do with perimeter, area, and volume. Martins calculation ability is
NOT an issue, as he is able to consistently write equations and calculate answers
accurately. The concern is that he continues to misinterpret the situation and hence
mixes up perimeter, area, and volume. It was thought that comprehension of
academic language was the issue, so a focus on language needed for understanding
math story problems was selected as a focus for literacy intervention. It was thought Comment [Office1]: TEXT COMPREHENSION: identify
academic language that could be a source of
that addressing such an issue would be practical within the time frame granted to this miscomprehension.

project.
Martin was also assessed with the Analytical Reading Inventory 8th edition. He
placed at the 3rd-grade level for independent reading.

II. Instruction

General outline:

Intervention sessions scheduled twice weekly:

Tuesday and/or Thursday 11:15 -11:45

Whenever possible, will work with Martin on both days. However due to rotating IRA-days (the grade-
level attends classes on music, PE, Hawaiian studies, library, & guidance rather than regular
curriculum) we may miss a day. Also, there are also grade-level field trips, illness, intercession and
other factors that may cause a missed session.

Prior to beginning with passages/story problems:

For each topic (perimeter, area, volume):
do a word sort to connect concrete examples commonly used in math
story problems to the vocabulary word (perimeter, area, volume)
complete Frayer diagram
Tuesday: Thursday:
read passage & fill-in drawings start by reviewing word sorts
work on comprehension questions work on story problems

Actual 1st-lesson:

1) Begin with the topics of perimeter and area: Word sort of the following real

life examples of perimeter and area:

fence, yard, picture, frame, door, door frame, garden, border, pizza, crust,

window, window frame, door, door frame, carpet, roof, walls, pool, tiles, sidewalk.

Results:

Martin was able to decode all words fluently. However he was unable to sort

them into categories of perimeter and area. He needed to be talked through

comparing terms, even when related terms were paired up for him (e.g., pizza and

crust, picture and frame). With repetition of drawing out the items and explicitly
Comment [Office2]: TEXT COMPREHENSION,
VOCABULARY: isolating key words that indicate
perimeter / area / volume.

pointing out (or asking him) which of the paired terms had to do with just the

edges and which had to do with all of a flat surface, Martin began to catch onto

the differences. He had to talk through it. This exercise took the whole
Comment [Office3]: Use of multimodal methods
(drawing/sketching, and verbal discussion) to increase
ability to differentiate between key terms.

30minutes of the intervention session.

Actual 2nd lesson:

1) Repeat word sort of the real life examples of perimeter and area.
2) Introduce the adapted Frayer organizer for defining perimeter. These
Comment [Office4]: Use of organizer to study
vocabulary. The organizer includes a formal definition
that the student re-words his own way.

include a printed formal definition. Student is to come up with a definition in his

own words and log these onto the organizer.

Results:

Martin needed an initial review of clear/explicit explanations for how to

differentiate between terms that referred to perimeter and area. He was able to
Comment [Office5]: REPETITION of procedures to help
student to work as independently as possible for
uninterrupted thought as he tries to recall what he has
previously learned/demonstrated.
come up a way to describe perimeter in his own words. He was able to draw an

example. He was not able to complete the diagram in one session, but will need to

continue on another day.

I was surprised that he was not catching onto the individual vocabulary words

faster, as his reading scores appear to indicate he would be able to do so. The

pace of Martins progress indicates he will need more time than anticipated to

complete stages of these lessons. He appears to need more repetition, and

practice with seeing what perimeter vs. area is. Though this intervention project
Comment [Office6]: FORMATIVE assessments to check
on student progress and adjust lesson plans accordingly.

is only slated for 3 lessons, I will be seeing Martin more often than that. I do not

think 3 lessons are going to make a significant change.

A few simple, isolated story problems were attempted. These were very typical

math story problems--- i.e., the word problems were NOT embedded within a long
passage (the desired outcome of these interventions). Martin initially mixed

area/perimeter up, just as described by gened teacher. Once he got the situation

resolved, he was able to rewrite the equations appropriately, and solved very

fluently. Repeating the rationale used during word sorting activity helps to cue

him to select the correct actions (e.g. is that the edge or the inside?).
Comment [Office7]: VARIETY OF TEXT (single word
sorts, stand alone math problems, math situation
embedded into a longer narrative).

Actual lesson, April 6:

1) Present the long passage. It is an adapted scene from Diary of a Wimpy

Kid, and contains some specific information that would be needed for word

problems that will be posed.

2) Complete think along style questions.

Read and resolve the story problems following the think-aloud. Do only the

perimeter and area problems---hold off on volume as we have not presented the

word sorts for volume yet.

Results:

Martin was able to read through the passage fairly fluently. He recognized the

format and character names as being from the Wimpy Kid series, which he enjoys

reading. He was very happy to draw in his own cartoons between passages in the
manner as seen in the series. As he was doing this, it was observed that he noted
and drew in detail dimensions of a jar that was mentioned in the passage. He was
Comment [Office8]: MOTIVATION and ENGAGEMENT: a
favorite story was adapted to present the word problem.
This provided a engaging venue in which the student
could apply himself yet again to the comprehension task
he was struggling with.

able to refer back to his sketch to help him start to set up the story problem that

followed.

Actual lesson April 20:

1) Add in words for volume in addition to the words for perimeter and area.

Sort these.
Comment [Office9]: GRADUALLY EXPANDING THE
RIGOR: Adding a third vocabulary category (volume).
REPETITION: using the same routines the student is
already familiar with for sorting.
2) Introduction of concept of volume, using 3D cut out shapes.

Results:

(4 consecutive intervention sessions of the week prior had been missed due to

Martin having a field trip, teacher having to assist with another student during the

lunch period, and then Martin being out sick.) Prior, attention had been given to

solving story problems, so it has been awhile since Martin has done a word sort.

He needed about 15 minutes, and a repeat of initial supports for reasoning out

which terms went with perimeter and area. On his own, he was unable to sort the

cards without many errors. After an initial try, both Martin and another student
who joins him during these intervention sessions teamed up to work on one set of

cards. They did better when they had each other to talk things out with.
Comment [Office10]: SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT: peer
interaction helps to generate and sustain the active
dialogue that appears to be helping the student make
sense of the vocabulary. The interaction also makes the
routine more interesting. Also, it must be a source of
both comfort and mild (healthy) competition to work
with another peer who has the same problem.

Both Martin and his partner needed a little bit of assistance with figuring out the

surface area and volume of their 3D shapes. Once he had folded his shape up
Comment [Office11]: KINESTHETIC mode to help make
clearer distinctions between vocabulary categories.
Building of 3D models for volume provides both physical
and visual stimulation.
into rectangular prisms, Martin was better able to differentiate between

vocabulary terms that had to do with volume (e.g., cup, jar, box, container, filling,

etc).

The segment with the 3D shapes and with the word sort were recorded.

LINK TO THE VIDEO: https://edpuzzle.com/media/58fe6d17e67b283e38eab66e

LINK TO THE GOOGLE SLIDES: https://goo.gl/EhciLN

III. Overall Reflection

(Individual reflections on 4 lessons are provided in the results part of each lesson.)

Challenges:
Timeframe: I thought it would be sufficient to schedule in 2 sessions per
week, 30minutes each during my lunch break---but even so, it was a good
thing I started early on the interventions! We actually began with word
sorting the week of March 6th. Our school has a rotating IRA-day (kids go
 to music, PE, library, guidance, and Hawaiian studies) we already knew
there would be few sessions missed for that. However, what also
happened was a few days I missed due to having to tend to students in
my own classroom during the lunch hour and missing the session. Also,
along the way 1st-grade had a whole week of workshop to attend, and
Martin missed one whole week due to illness (too many mosquito bites
from camping!)---Martin also had a field trip, a day to be lunch room
monitor, and once I completely forgot because I was so happy I had
brought popcorn for lunch that day (which is ridiculous but really caused
me to forget to go tutor Martin!). So, I guess the lesson here is plan in lots
of time!
Martins pace of picking up the info was slower than I anticipated. I really
didnt think hed need so many practices with the vocabulary terms. He
really fools me because he reads grade level text absolutely fluently!
However, even at the video taped word sort, he needed a lot of explicit
explanation before he could start reasoning on his own. Drawing helped,
working with the cut-out 3D shape helped. In retrospect, I recall during his
interview that he said I cant remember.
It was a challenge to provide a rationale for providing intervention for
Martin because his scores were all average. However, I really cant say
hes moved much since Ive been working with him---at least, from a
cold start its tough to say hed be able to solve story problems. He
appears to need a warm-up with the word sort.

Strong points:
The word sorts helped to create cues for Martin. I could hear him
reasoning through its a side, and his hands/fingers would be drawing
out borders/edges as he thought about perimeter. For area, his palm
would be laying flat down on the table, and hed be saying its the
inside.
The cut out 3D shape helped him to visually see the concept of volume.
 Presenting the three concepts in contrast to each other helped Martin to
reason through differences between them, and decide what operation
was needed.
Martins engagement really perked up when he recognized the passage
reading as being in the style of Diary of a Wimply Kid. Incorporating a
novel series that is his favorite really helps ease the pain!

Reviewing the video:

Reviewing the video made me wonder if I am not providing sufficient wait
time. While I was speaking, I really felt I did, but when I watch the
playback I realize I am jumping in with assistance barely a second or two.
after asking the questions!