Template for Assignment 1: Tiered Lesson

Name & Student Number: Stephanie Adam | 2107159

Curriculum (Learning) Area of Lesson: Money and Financial Mathematics
Specific Topic of Lesson: Coins can be used to trade for everyday things.
Year Level/s: Year 1

Lesson Context
This unit has been designed to develop student understanding about Australian coins. By the end of the
unit, students will be able to recognise, describe and order the Australian coins according to their value
(ACMNA017).
This tiered lesson will be implemented in the middle of the unit. In the first two lessons of the unit,
students would have looked at the features of the Australian coins, focusing particularly on size, shape,
images and colour of each coin, in order to identify each of them and their differences. Prior to this
lesson, students would have spent a lesson learning about cents and dollar and understanding that
coins have value. In this lesson, there is a focus on value and students are able to implement their
knowledge and experience of money through role-play.
Particularly, in this lesson, students are looking into how coins are used in everyday life and what they
would use coins for. By the end of this lesson, students will have proved their knowledge of the values of
each coin (5c, 10c, 20c etc.), understand that coins can be used to pay for everyday things and will be
able to use coins to pay for everyday things. This lesson has been designed to give students the
opportunity to demonstrate the conceptual knowledge and implement it in everyday situations, and thus,
beyond the classroom.
After this lesson, students will focus on ordering coins according to their value.

Learning Objectives
Understand
Students will understand that:
Coins are useful in everyday life and can be used to trade for everyday things.

Know

Be able to (do)

Students will know:

> Students will be able to recognise and identify

the value of the Australian coins and perform a
transaction of purchasing items.

> Students will know that the Australian

coins are silver and gold
> Students will know that coins represent
value (5 cents, 10 cents, 20 cents, 50
cents, 1 dollar and 2 dollars).

> Students will be able to trade coins for everyday

items as they participate in the role-play of a
shopping experience.

Essential Questions (1-3 only; these should help students engage with the big ideas or understandings)
1. How can coins be useful in everyday life?
2. What kind of things can you pay for using coins?

Pre-assessment of Individual Student Readiness

A reflection discussion would open the lesson to assess students progress and address any terms,
vocabulary or skills needed to be re-addressed. Ask questions, such as: What do you remember about
the features of Australian coins? How do I know the value of a coin just by looking at it?
Prior to this lesson, students were given a short activity, set out on two separate pages. On the first sheet
(see Appendix 1) they were asked to circle the Australian coins among a group of foreign coins and
identify the value (some of the coins did not have the number value written on them). Once completed,
students are to trade the first sheet for the second sheet with the teacher. On the second sheet, students
were asked to combine a minimum of two coins to make a new value (see Appendix 2). Following this
activity, students were divided into tiers, known to them as colour groups, based on the following criteria:
Tier 1: Students were able to recognise and identify some of the Australian coins, but circled some foreign
coins. They were able to identify the value of 1-2 coins, but only the ones that did not have the red circle.
In the second activity, students were not able to combine any of the coins to make a new value.
Tier 2: Students were able to recognise and identify the Australian coins when only some of the features
were included in the first activity. They were able to identify the value of 4-5 coins. They were also able to
add together the coins that had the same value in the second activity.
Tier 3: Students were able to recognise and identify the Australian coins in the first activity. They were
also able to identify the value of every Australian coin. In the second activity, the students in Tier 3 were
able to complete the entire table on the second activity.

Explanatory Notes:
According to Tonya Moon, there are three phases in which assessment is essential for. These phases
include: planning instruction (the pre-assessment phase), guiding instruction (ongoing formative
assessment phase) and evaluating instruction (the summative assessment phase) (Moon, 2005).
Drawing focus on the pre-assessment stage, Moon writes that planning instruction guides teachers in
determining their students needs relative to the specific learning objectiveswhat they should know,
understand and be able to do, their interests and learning profiles (Moon, 2005). In their book,
Assessment and Student Success in a Differentiated Classroom, Carol Tomlinson and Tonya Moon
support Moons statement, writing that assessments are effective when they measure student proficiency
on clearly designed learning goals (Tomlinson & Moon, 2013, p. 131). In order to select the appropriate
pre-assessment to determine student understanding and their ability to transfer their understanding,
Tomlinson and Moon suggest performance assessments or well-designed products are suitable to do so
(Tomlinson & Moon, 2013, p. 131).

Lesson Plan
Lesson Sequence

Explanatory notes

> Bring class onto floor, asking them to sit in a circle.

Teacher to sit in the circle with them.
Tuning in:
> Pose some questions about the previous lessons
throughout the unit. Ask: What do you remember about the
features of the Australian coin? What can you tell me
about the $1 coin? How do I know the value of the coin
just by looking at it?
Can use name bin to select students.

Reflection activity.
> Arthur Costa and Bena Kallick, in their book Learning and Leading
with Habits of Mind, write that teachers who promote reflective
classrooms ensure that students are fully engaged in the process of
making meaning (Costa & Kallick, 2008, p. 222). Students are
encouraged to understand that meaning making is the key purpose
when reflection becomes the topic of discussion. During discussions
in which students are asked to share their problem solving strategies,
they learn to listen and explore other students strategies (Costa &
Kallick, 2008, p. 224).
> A name bin is a tool that allows teachers to pick out a students
name at random to answer a question or something alike. It ensures
equal participation and full concentration by students.

> Establish open discussion forum by asking students

essential questions:
How can coins be useful in everyday life?
What kind of things can we pay for using coins?

Open question/essential questions.

> Teaching for understanding demands that [teachers] methods
adopt ongoing inquiry (Wiggins $ McTighe 2011). The most
productive way to emphasise the importance of such inquiry is to
base each unit on some essential questions (Wiggins & McTighe,
2011, p. 73).
The essential questions chosen in this lesson plan have been
designed to match the criteria for essential questions as written by
Wiggins and McTighe. A question is essential if it causes genuine and
relevant inquiry into the big ideas of the core content, provokes deep
thought, lively discussion, sustained inquiry and new understanding
and stimulates vital ongoing rethinking of big ideas, assumptions and
prior lessons (Wiggins & McTighe, 2011, p. 73).
Essential questions increase the chances that the unit will be
intellectually engaging and supports meaningful differentiation
(Wiggins & McTighe, 2013).
Giving students the motivation for learning new skills and techniques
in mathematics is fundamental in order to prevent them from
perceiving the subject as loosely connected facts and formula
(Downs, 2015, p, 41). Open questions assist students in
understanding where the topic of learning fits into the larger scheme
of things (Down, 2015).

> In the classroom, there are three stations (shops).

Establish open discussion about personal experiences at
the shops.
Ask: How have you helped your parents pay for items at
the shop?
What do they use to pay for their items?

Student-centred discussions.
By asking students to share their personal experiences of shopping
and using money, the teachers intention is to create a studentcentred learning environment. Student-centred learning shifts focus of
the learning process onto students where they participate actively in
the classroom (Zain, Rasidi, Abidin, 2012). Students construct
meaning and the system meaning as they encounter knowledge, and
they do this in many ways, but especially by talking, and listening
(Zain, Rasidi, Abidin, 2012).

> Instruction:
There are 3 shops one for each colour group.
At each shop there are some items that need to be paid
for.
Yellow group and Blue group have the opportunity to
purchase goods at their shops.
Students in the green group will take it in turns to act as
cashiers for each of the three groups as well as
experience giving change and purchasing goods.
Students need to look carefully at the cost of each item
written alongside the item to know how much they need
to pay. Students are also given a set of coins (laminated
pictures).

<Colour group students were divided into colour groups according

to their readiness levels at the beginning of the unit and have moved
around since accordingly.
< Ability grouping is intended for teachers to increase the pace and
level of instruction for high achievers and provide more individual
attention, repetition and review for low achievers (Slavin, 1987).
> Pre-prepared coloured spots that will be placed at each shop
station to identify tier group. By choosing colour as means to identify
tier groups, it eliminates groups being identified as higher or lower
than others. The colour groups would have been used throughout the
unit to structure lessons.

Tiered Activities:
Use coloured spots placed at each shop setting to
help students identify which tier they will be in.
Students will have already become familiar with the
coloured groups and would have experienced
movement throughout the unit according to their
readiness levels.
Yellow will be Tier 1, Blue will be Tier 2 and Green will
be Tier 3.
Tier 1: Students at shop yellow will be provided with some
food that they need to purchase for a party.
On these goods are price tags that indicate to the student
the value of the item. The value will be the same value as
one Australian coin (for example, a box of Arnotts shapes
may cost $1.00) and therefore have to give the cashier just
one coin.
Students are encouraged to challenge themselves and
attempt to give the cashier the value with a maximum of
two coins but it is not expected.
Tier 2: Students at shop blue will be provided with some
supplies they need to purchase for a party.
On these goods are price tags that indicate to the student
the value of the item. The value for each item will require
the amount from a minimum of two Australian coins (for
example, a bag of balloons may cost $1.50) and therefore
have to give the cashier a total of two coins. In their group
of coins, Tier 2 students will be provided with coins from
other countries so that they identify the Australian coins.
Students are encouraged to challenge themselves and
give the cashier more money than necessary to help them
work out the change that they require.
Tier 3: Students at shop green are provided with some
food and supplies they need to purchase for a party.
On these goods are price tags that indicate to the student
the value of the item. The value for each item will require
the amount from a minimum of two Australian coins;
however, Tier 3 students must purchase a maximum of two
items. The students must establish, before heading to the
cashier, whether they have enough money to purchase the
goods.
Tier 3 students will play the role of cashier and make sure
the yellow and blue groups are paying correctly and with
Australian coins.

< In order to meet the learning needs of all students, teachers must
incorporate differentiated instruction into their classrooms (Adams &
Pierce, 2003). Differentiated instruction enforces students to work
with moderately challenging but developmentally appropriate tasks
(Adams & Pierce, 2003). There are different types of differentiated
instruction, including tiering, in which the content is delivered at
varying levels of complexity (Adams & Pierce, 2003).
Tiering was developed by Carol Tomlinson and is best described as
the process for designing tasks that have been differentiated
according to readiness and is based pre-assessment data (Doubet &
Hockett, 2015). Teachers should aim to create tasks that move
different groups of students towards the same learning goal (Doubet
& Hockett, 2015).
Tiering gives students the opportunity to work in their own zones of
proximal development or in a state of moderate challenge as they
work towards the units learning objectives (Sousa & Tomlinson,
2011). Tiered tasks usually have the same focus on essential
knowledge, understanding and skills and are structured to look
equally interesting and inviting to students (Sousa & Tomlinson,
2011).
Tiering has many benefits, and if it is executed in the classroom
correctly, it allows teachers to maintain fidelity to learning goals and
grant all students access to important content and ideas (Doublet &
Hockett, 2015).

Unit Closure
> Bring class onto floor, asking them to sit in a circle again.
Teacher to sit in the circle with them.
Please refer to Lesson Closure/Check for
Understanding.

< It is important for lesson closure to have a strong focus, because

weak closure poses a threat to the most important part of the lesson,
that is, when students have the opportunity to participate in
discussion and reflect on what they have learnt (Wolf & Supon, 1994).
Closure should aim to determine whether students grasped the big
ideas and other concepts emphasised in the lesson (Wolf & Supon,
1994). A students participation during closure is fundamental to their
understanding of the lesson and must be active agents in evaluating
what they have learnt (Wolf & Supon, 2012).
Using reflection strategies are fundamental to teaching and learning
and validates the knowledge gained from classroom lessons (Ballard
& Hyatt, 2012).

Lesson Closure/ Check for Understanding

To conclude the lesson, students will be brought back to the floor for a discussion. Engage a
discussion and ask the following questions:
> How did you feel having the chance to purchase items using coins?
> Were you able to afford all of the items?
> How else might you be able to pay for these items?
> What happened when you had too much money?
At a year one level, it is hard to ask them to complete written pre-assessment activities, such as
exit cards. Instead, students will have the chance to use visual aids to share how they
understand the concept of value. Using traffic lights (See Appendix 5) students will be asked to
answer the following questions.
1.
2.
3.
4.

How did you go selecting the correct coins to pay for your items?
Do you believe you know what value means?
Who believes they are able to identify all of the Australian coins just by looking at them?
Do you understand how to make different values by adding two coins together?

Students will be given instruction on how to answer these questions using their traffic lights. Red
means they would like some extra help, Yellow indicates that they are beginning to understand
but might need help sometimes and Green indicates that they are confident working alone.
This assessment strategy will be used to guide teacher planning of lessons and tiering for the
remainder of the unit and establish whether students have met the learning objectives set for the
lesson.
Aside from this exit discussion, observation of the students will be taken into consideration. The
teacher will check for their students understanding by checking off the following checklist:

Has the student contributed in the class discussions about value and using coins?
Was the student able to identify the Australian coins?
Did the student correctly pay for their items in the role-play?
Was the student able to combine at least two coins to create a new value?

 Did the student recognise that they could not afford some items?

Resources:
> Pre-assessment activity to appropriately tier students (see Appendix 1 and 2)
> Tier 1: Goods to be purchased with prices with a value equal to one Australian coin (see Appendix 3
for an example)
> Tier 2: Goods to be purchased with prices with a value equal to two Australian coins (see Appendix 3
for an example)
> Tier 3: Goods to be purchased with prices with a value equal to a minimum of three Australian coins
(see Appendix 3 for an example)
> Set of Australian coins with coins from other country included into their collection (see Appendix 4)

References
Adams, C., & Pierce, R. (2003). Teaching by tiering. Science And Children, 41(3), 30.
Costa, A., & Kallick, B. (2008). Learning and leading with habits of mind. Alexandria, Va.:
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Doubet, K., & Hockett, J. (2015). Differentiation in middle and high school: strategies to engage
all learners (pp. 173-206). Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Down, D. (2015). Using Open Questions to Engage Pupils in Mathematics. Mathematics
Teaching, 247(4), 41-42.
Mathematics Foundation to Year 10 Curriculum by rows - The Australian Curriculum v7.5.
(2016). Australian Curriculum. Retrieved 17 March 2016, from http://v75.australiancurriculum.edu.au/mathematics/curriculum/f-10?layout=1
McTighe, J., & Wiggins, G. (2013). Essential Questions: Opening Doors to Student
Understanding (p. 17). Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Moon, T. (2005). The Role of Assessment in Differentiation. Theory Into Practice, 44(3), 226233.
Sousa, D., & Tomlinson, C. (2011). Differentiation and the Brain : How Neuroscience Supports
the Learner-Friendly Classroom (pp. 102-103). Bloomington: Solution Tree Press.
Tomlinson, Carol Ann & Moon, Tonya R 2013, 'Assessment, grading and differentiation', in
Tomlinson, Carol A & Moon, Tonya R, Assessment and student success in a differentiated
classroom, ASCD, Alexandria, Va., pp. 120-140.
Wiggins, G., & McTighe, J. (2011). The understanding by design guide to creating high-quality
units. Alexandria, Va.: ASCD.

Wolf, P., & Supon, V. (1994). Winning through student participation in lesson closure. ERIC, 3-4
Zain, S., Rasidi, F., & Abidin, I. (2012). Student-Centred Learning In Mathematics
Constructivism In The Classroom. Journal Of International Education Research, 8(4), 319-320.

Checklist of assignment components:

Completed lesson context explanation
Completed clear learning objectives and essential questions for the lesson
Complete, step-by-step lesson description, with brief notes explaining how the lesson
represents an example of a tiered lesson to address readiness
Explanatory 1-2 paragraphs clearly linking your lesson planning decisions to the topic
content (and citing sources as appropriate)
Supplementary materials (e.g., copies of directions, handouts, etc. provided to students)
Copy and/or description of pre-assessment task used to assign individual students to
appropriate tiers
Evaluation/ assessment criteria (e.g., rubric or checklist used to guide evaluation of
student work)
EDUC4720/1 EDUC9406 2016. Tiering format adapted from Tomlinson (1999)

Appendix 1:
Name: ______________________________

Circle the Australian coins in the pack below and write

their value underneath:

________ ________ ________ ________ ________

________ ________ ________ ________ ________

Appendix 2:
Name: ______________________________

Add the coins in the table together and identify their

new value:
Coin

Coin

Value

____________

____________

Coin

Coin

Coin

Value

________
_

Appendix 3:
An example of an item and its prices from each Tiers shop:

Tier 1:

Chips: $2

Tier 2:

Tier 3:

Balloons: $1.50
Cake: $2.35

Appendix 4:
The set of coins given to each student during role-play:

Appendix 5: