Lesson Planning
Inquiry-Based Learning
2nd grade Math: Representing numbers using numerals, words, and expanded form
The three-act task provides multiple opportunities for students of all levels to engage in the inquiry-based learning process.
Instructional Routines provide students with a routine structure that supports critical thinking through inquiry-based learning enabling all students to engage more fully in learning opportunities.
This lesson was inspired by Paul Lockheart's article, A Mathematician’s Lament.
"If teaching is reduced to mere data transmission, if there is no sharing or excitement and wonder, if teachers themselves are passive recipients of information and not creators of new ideas, what hope is there for their students?" (Lockheart, 2002)
Culturally Responsive Pedagogy:
4th-grade Literacy Unit: Realistic Narrative Fiction focusing on topics of real-world Bias, Prejudice, and Racism.
The video below is a read-aloud for a mentor text. Students explore characters’ feelings and traits by noticing repeated patterns, drawing inferences from words, actions, and thoughts, and justifying those feelings with evidence from the text. They also explore how immigrants experience racism.
This Unit is influenced by the following:
Historically Relevant Literacy - Ghouldy Muhammed
"Historically, literary society members always connected their learning to conditions of humanity and never sacrificed this form of intellect for just the learning of skills." (Muhammed, 2020, pp. 111).
Culturally Relevant Pedagogy - Gloria Ladson Billing
"Culturally Responsive pedagogy is teaching in a manner that recognizes the importance of including students' cultural backgrounds in all aspects of learning" (Ladson-Billings, 1994).
Understanding by Design (UbD) - Grant Wiggins
UbD with an added lens on language - Amy Heineke and Jay McTighe
Interdisciplinary Learning:
4th grade Math and Art Tessellation
Research-based benefit:
Improved Critical Thinking — Students improve their analysis abilities by using approaches from different disciplines.
This lesson is inspired by “The Misunderstood Role of the Art in Human Development” by Elliot W. Eisner.
Art education celebrates “imagination, multiple perspectives, and the importance of personal interpretation“ to support a core contribution of the arts' potential role to further the aims of education.