LEAD Proposal for DeWitt Clinton High School

Frank Savino, Christopher Giordano, Daniel Ferrara, Michael Carway

L – Look at the problem

In statistics class, students are struggling with remembering definitions of key terms and how

they relate to core concepts covered in class.

E – Examine what you know

Students can use visual representations to help them visualize the concepts graphically or use

graphic organizers to better organize the information in front of them.

From a previous education course, we incorporated a Frayer model in a mock lesson we taught

to a group of non-math education majors at Manhattan College who had minor background in the topic

we taught. The model seemed to help them absorb the information much better than previously.

A – Acquire new knowledge

Ken Robinson claims that students should be given opportunities or possibilities in the

classroom in order to succeed and learn. This will give students the opportunity to answer a poll that

rates which definitions they find they struggle the most with.He also claims that students need to be

engaged and provoked in order to learn, so this project will engage and motivate students to better

understand the vocab terms.

McLaughlin suggests using sketch and stretch strategies, mind portrait strategies, and several

graphic organizers to help students absorb the information from a different perspective through

visualization.

From the Riccomini et. al article, they describe how Marzano believes that cooperative learning

is an excellent way for students to develop vocabulary. Since students will be working in groups on this

project, cooperative learning is being used. Also from this article, it is stated that when students

participate in game like activities, they usually see better long term retention of the vocabulary, which is

why we included the game of Jeopardy at the end. This game will also help students with poor language

skills, as in the article it explains that game like activities help those types of students. This also serves as
a type of differentiation. Students may not be able to recall definitions and ideas off the top of their

head, but in the context of a game where they are given a hint (such as in Jeopardy) they may have an

easier time recalling the term.

Putting definitions in plain terms that are easy for students to understand is a great way to help

students understand the terms meaning (Siegel). Students are allowed to use their notes for the Frayer

model, and they may use the definition given to them when filling out the “Definition” section, however

when filling out the “Key Characteristics” section, they will be using their own words to explain the big

picture of each of the terms.

D – Design the project

After every unit throughout the year, the class will review vocabulary terms that they have

learned. The words will be written on the board, and in groups of 3-4 people, students will select which

term(s) they would like to make Frayer models for. In these visual representations, students will write

the term, define it, list characteristics of it, and draw examples and nonexamples of it to be as artistic as

possible. They will look through their notes during class and make a Google Slide where each group can

upload their Frayer model, so that the entire class can access the terms outside of the classroom (since

they cannot have their phones in school). Anybody can access Google Slides as long as they have a Gmail

account, so it is a very efficient and effective way to share a PowerPoint with others. In order to allow

your students to edit the Google Slides, go to the top right corner on the Google Slides page and click

the “Share” button, and type in the corresponding Gmails of those who will edit it, and click “Send.”

After a unit, and once all of the terms are uploaded, the students will engage in a game of

Jeopardy with their team, with the winning team receiving 2 extra credit points. Students will be made

aware of the game the night before, so that they can study all of the vocabulary terms, instead of only

knowing the term(s) that they uploaded to the Google Slide.

How to Play PowerPoint Jeopardy

Jeopardy is a game that involves picking a category that provides you with a question or an answer, and

the objective is to try and guess the answer to the question or the question that would lead to the

corresponding answer. It is a fun and effective way to teach students!

1. Click “Present” to start portraying your PowerPoint.

2. Go to the corresponding Jeopardy board slide.

3. Ask the students to pick a category box, and then click on the corresponding box/number to

jump to the question (answer) slide.

4. Click the circle on the question (answer) slide to see the answer (question).

5. Click the home button to go back to the Jeopardy board.

6. Repeat steps 3-5 until all the boxes have been clicked or until you run out of time.

Directions for Making a PowerPoint Jeopardy

1. Insert a table with rows and columns for the jeopardy board.

2. Add a slide for the answer and a slide for the question for each jeopardy box.
 3. Hyperlink the jeopardy boxes to the slides they correspond to.

4. For each answer slide, insert a shape onto the slide and hyperlink the corresponding question

slide to the shape.

5. Insert a “home action” hyperlink on each answer and question slide.

Frayer Model Example Google Slides Link

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/190VueL4b8DlLH1DoNo4boEhvziRJhjW9dtkVIn8z5JM/

edit#slide=id.p

Jeopardy PowerPoint Example (view only)

https://1drv.ms/p/s!Atx-7Edjt71CrlLKne_4EOhx_tg4
 References

Paul J. Riccomini, Gregory W. Smith, Elizabeth M. Hughes & Karen M. Fries (2015) The Language

of Mathematics: The Importance of Teaching and Learning Mathematical Vocabulary,

Reading & Writing Quarterly, 31:3, 235-252, DOI: 10.1080/10573569.2015.1030995

Siegel, L. (2017). The effectiveness of the mnemonic keyword strategy on math vocabulary learning for

students with learning disabilities.

https://www.stat.berkeley.edu/~stark/SticiGui/Text/gloss.htm