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Amelia Leng

TE 406-006

Project 3

April 27th, 2017

Part II Write-Up

1. Description of my High-Level Task: The lesson I am going to be teaching is how to make a bar graph.

The bar graphs in the book that are used for the lesson instruction are vertical bar graphs, so that is the format I

followed when creating my own high level math task. My task’s instructions state, “Think of a 3 foods that you

like and put a #1 by your favorite one. Fill them in on the bar graph below. Then, ask 10 classmates which food

is their favorite. Fill in the bar graph with their answers.” Then I drew the template of the graph so they just had

to fill in the food choices and the responses. After collecting the data from ten classmates, there are two

analytical questions that follow. One says, “How many students like your favorite food? (The one they had

indicated)” and the second one says, “Which food was the most popular? By how many?” This is considered a

high level task, because there will be a large variety of responses with food choices and numbers. The students

are able to personalize the problem, and it is likely that every student will ask a different combination of 10

classmates for their responses. This also allows the students to find out what they have in common with their

classmates. The topic and lesson number is 10.4 Make Bar Graphs from the book Go Math! Volume 2 for first

grade. On page 597 in the textbook there were similar tasks to the one I created, but they were not high-level.

Here, the students are asking a variety of their own classmates to collect data, not just graphing data already

given to them.

2. Essential Understandings: What my students will learn is how to first look at data that is given to them

and graph it on a vertical bar graph. As the lesson progresses, the higher level math tasks will allow them to

learn how to first collect their own data, graph it, and then analyze the results. The questions are asking for both
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addition and subtraction. Addition is to add up the data to see how much of something there is on the bar graph,

and the subtraction is to see how many more of something there is than another thing. These ideas are important

because they teach the student how to collect, organize, and analyze data, and important skill moving forward in

schooling.

3. Lesson Objectives: Represent and interpret data. CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.1.MD.C.4 Organize,

represent, and interpret data with up to three categories; ask and answer questions about the total

number of data points, how many in each category, and how many more or less are in one category than

in another.

-Students will be able to represent data in the form of a bar graph

-Students will be able to collect, display, and interpret their own data

4. Anticipated Student Solutions and Planned Questions: Please see the two PDF documents of my

high-level math task to see examples of two correct solutions and one incorrect solution. The incorrect example

shows that even thought a student can create a bar graph, they have still have a difficult time interpreting it.

Seeing the difference between the two bars is the most difficult concept, and instead of the student knowing that

only 1 more person liked cookies over ice cream, their answer was 6 because 6 people picked cookies. This

student also marked the boxes with an X instead of shading them in, creating an actual bar out of the data

points. This could lead to confusion.

General Questions to Probe Thinking:

a. What is it that you are collecting?

b. How can you tell which one has the most?

c. How can you tell how many more it has than the others?

d. What did you learn about your classmates?

Specific Questions to Probe Thinking (2 per question):

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a. How did you count the number of students that liked pizza?

b. How many students did not feel the same way you did?

c. Would a graph always look like this, from least to greatest?

d. How many students did not like your favorite food?

e. Did you count the boxes that you X-ed out, or did you count the blank ones?

f. How did you decide that there were 6 more people who liked cookies than ice cream and soda?

Specific Questions to Extend/Advance Student Thinking (2 per question):

a. How many students did not like your favorite food?

b. How did you know it was 2 more? Can you show me how you did that?

c. If I switched around the order of your food choices, would the results change?

d. What was the least favorite food? How many less than was it from the favorite?

e. Do you think if you shaded in the whole box it would look clearer?

f. How did you come up with 6 more cookies than ice cream? Let’s count with our finger and see.

Anticipated Mistakes:

a. Students will not be able to see how to count the difference, or by how many.

b. Students will not make the connection that the numbers on the bottom show them how many without

counting.

Connecting Across Solutions:

a. Would the results for this always be the same? (No, everyone’s opinion is different.)

b. What connections did you find between yourself and your classmates? Would this tell you what food to bring

to class if you had the chance? (What is the most popular, regardless of student’s favorite.)
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Making Bar Graphs Lesson Plan

Your Name: Amelia Leng

Date you will teach: April 11th, 2017 Total Lesson Duration: 45 min-1 hour

Topic: Making Bar Graphs Grade: 1st Grade

Big Ideas
 Bar graphs can used to show data (information) points.
 Bar graphs can be used to understand (interpret) data, and show how many more or less there
are in one category than another.

Lesson Objectives/Standards

Objectives:
1. Students will be able to organize data they collect into a bar graph. (1.MD.C.4)
2. Students will be able to interpret their bar graph data and recognize which had the most/least.
(1.MD.C.4)
3. Students will be able to complete a high-level math task on making bar graphs. (1.MD.C.4)

Common Core State Standard(s):

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.1.MD.C.4
Organize, represent, and interpret data with up to three categories; ask and answer questions about
the total number of data points, how many in each category, and how many more or less are in one
category than in another.

Materials & Resources Needed

Teacher Materials/Resources:
 Teacher-copy of the Go Math! first grade textbook.
 Online “Math On the Spot” video tutorial (Needs to be reviewed/prepared ahead of time)
 SmartBoard
 Monitoring chart

Student Materials/Resources:
 Clipboard
 Pencil
 Photocopies of high-level math task and work pages from the Go Math! textbook. (Needs to be
prepared ahead of time)
 Cubes for the first problem during the launch portion, allow students who are physical
learners to use these if they wish for the remainder of the example problems.
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Knowing Your Students & Their Learning Environment

(a) Who are my students?
o The students in my classroom are split almost evenly between boys and girls. There are
26 students total. There is not a dramatic range between social classes; some students
are a bit better well off than others I can tell, but no drastic differences in this area
(Mason). This Mason elementary school is closer to the downtown as opposed to the
other two schools, which are more in the farmland. There are only two non-white
students in the class, both who are African-American, one girl and one boy. The African-
American girl is one of the top performing students. There is a group of students who
leave the classroom for extra math, and most of these students are girls. There are two
students in the class with an IEP, both for speech therapy. One of the students in my
class is the lowest performing student in the first grade (excluding special education).
She will require extra attention. There are two students who my mentor teacher allows
to stay in the back of the room/at their desk while the rest of the class is on the carpet.
One girl is painfully shy, and she is not a student I would put on the spot. A lot of
students are physical learners, as most first graders are, and I think the cube
component of the launch will be good for those students.

(b) Academic, Social and Linguistic Support

Academic:
o I will keep an eye on the specific students who struggle the most in the class. Two of the
students in the class are two of the lowest students in the first grade academically, and
watching for their understanding and confusion. It is important to make sure they are
sitting by higher-level students during carpet times for things such as pair-share
activities. Johannah Murdock will be in the classroom while I am teaching and I might
ask her to keep an eye on the two lowest students since it is hard to tend to 26 students
at once.

Social:
o Make sure that students who like to talk a lot don’t sit next to each other on the carpet.
It is important to include students who are more reserved, but not put them on the
spot. There are two students who don’t sit on the carpet and they are allowed to stay in
the back of the classroom or at their desk while the rest of the class is on the carpet.
That is a social accommodation for these students and a norm to the rest of the class.

Linguistic:
o The two students who have IEPs have speech problems. Paying attention to what they
are saying or only calling on them when it’s a shorter answer that I know they will be
able to articulate. I will make sure to ask that students understand what I am saying. I
tried to make my high-level math task have 1st grade appropriate language, but it’s
important that they linguistically understand before getting started. I will go over the
directions with the class before dismissing them to their desks.

LAUNCH (10 minutes)

o Essential Question: How does a bar graph help you compare information?
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o
o Students have learned in the previous lesson 10.3 how to read a bar graph, so ask them this
question to see where their thinking is at moving forward on to 10.4.

o “Now that we have learned how to read a bar graph, we are going to look at information and
make our own bar graphs.”

o Play YouTube video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oy_rJ4FjOt4) reading of The Great

Graph Contest by Loreen Leedy. Read-alouds are excellent ways for first grade students to gain
a better introduction to a topic, and integrates literature with mathematics.

o Students will be following along with the teacher on the SmartBoard where the lesson starters
are projected. Write in answers with the SmartBoard pens for students to see examples.

o Read the description of the first problem: “Dan keeps track of the food he sells at the soccer
game. He sells all of the food on the table. Make a bar graph to show the food Dan sells.”

o For background knowledge and engagement, ask students if they have ever been to a
concession stand at a sporting event. The food items in the problem are pizza, hot dogs, and
tacos. Those are written on a pre-made bar graph below. For each food item, have a student
come up and count how many of that certain food there are, filling in the boxes on the bar
graph with the SmartBoard pen. It might be smart to use different colored SmartBoard pens so
that the students can differentiate more clearly. Students can use the cubes to create a physical
model of the data on the bar graph.

o Some answers I expect from students during this initial essential question are, “Where do we
mark our answers? How do I keep track of how many I counted? How do I know which one has
the most? The least” I expect a lot of questions of this manner especially because first graders
tend to blurt things out and say what’s on their mind without raising their hand.

o Complete the following two problems in the launch portion of the lesson on the SmartBoard
(page 594 in the Go Math! textbook). Where it says “On Your Own” at the top of page 595, stop.
This is work students will complete at their desk after they complete the high-level math task.
See the end of this document for images of the 3 problems that will be used in the launch
portion and for images of the Own Your Own portion of the lesson. #1 one the Own Your Own
practice will be crossed out and high-level math task will be put in place of it. The problems
are similar, but mine is more advanced and high-level.

o Dismiss students back to their desks based on whose sitting quietly with their voices on zero.
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EXPLORE (30 minutes)

 High-Level Task
o Students will be working on
the following high-level
task on creating a bar graph
(pictured). The final
worksheet I created is at
the bottom of this
document.
o High-level math task will be
passed out to students who
are sitting on the carpet
quietly and then they will
be dismissed to their desk.
o I will explain the problem
before they are passed out
to students. An example will
be filled out on the
overhead so they can see
what I’m doing. Students
will fill in 3 of their favorite
foods in the boxes,
indicating their favorite one
with a star. Students will
then look on the back of the
sheet where I will have
lines with numbers 1-10.
This is where students will
write their answers from 10
classmates, the lines will
also help them keep track of how many classmates they have asked and prevent them
from asking too many or not enough. To know they all understand, I will say, “Thumbs
up if you know what to do” and look for their reactions.
o Some anticipated errors they might make would be not being able to see the difference
between two different bars of the bar graph, and understand that they are using
subtraction to see the difference between different bars of the bar graph.
 Monitoring Chart
o I am monitoring…
o Collaboration
o Engagement
o Checking for Understanding
o Misconceptions/Misunderstandings

o Specific questions I will be asking myself are, “What does this look like? Are they
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working together or are they only interacting when they collect data? Do students seem
interested and on-task? From looking at their responses so far, does it seem like
students understand what to do or do they need further directions?
o I will be writing down my observations at any moment students are directly asking me
for help during the explore portion of the lesson.
 Engagement
o “What is your favorite food? What’s your favorite desert? What is a food you think a lot
of your friends like to eat?” Asking these questions will probe a student’s thinking if
they get stuck.
o Remind them to make tally marks or have a way to keep track of the ten students they
ask for which food they like the best.
o What assistance will you give/questions will you ask a student (or group) that becomes
quickly frustrated?
o If a student finishes early, they can start the homework portion of the assignment from
the Go Math! book. In our classroom, it is being encouraged now to finish their math
homework at school anyways so there is less work/stress at home.
o If a student focuses on non-mathematical aspects of the activity, I will tell them, “Okay,
so you have your foods I see. Now let’s look around the room, who are you going to ask
first?” Once they tell you a name, walk them over to that student and help them get
started by asking them what their favorite food is of the 3 they chose. This will model
the behavior for the student and give them a push in the direction of the mathematical
concepts.

DISCUSS (5-10 minutes)

o Have students come to the carpet with their high-level math task. Students will share their
high-level math task answers first with a partner on the front carpet (pair-share), and then
volunteers will share their findings using the overhead projector. As they are doing there
partner share, I will be listening and circulating to see what the students did.

Selecting and Sequencing for the sharing

o After circulating the room and filing out my monitoring chart I will be looking at the ways
students are completing the high-level math task. I will be looking for students who
approached the problem in a few different ways and write down those names as possible
examples to share in front of the class.

Discussion
o I will be sitting in the teacher chair on the carpet while students are sitting on the carpet
quietly.
o Ask students how they knew which food was the students’ they asked favorite.
o Ask how they would know which was the least favorite?
o Explaining a partner’s work is a good way to show what a student learned from their partner
or another classmate they talked to.
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Formative Assessment plan to support your post-teaching reflection

o After students complete the high-level math I designed, they will be completing an in-class
worksheet, which has to be checked by me before they can put it in their mailbox to complete
the homework portion at home. This way I can assess students in class and make sure I get to
see each student’s work individually. I will be collecting the high-level math task and this will
also allow me to assess students’ understanding of making bar graphs and interpreting data.

o The pair-share that I will be listening in on during the discussion portion of the lesson on the
carpet will allow me to listen in on students’ rationale and explanations for their data and their
interpretations.

o The monitoring chart will also provide me with feedback on how the explore portion of the
lesson looked/went.
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Project 3 Analysis

Overall, I think my lesson was successful in teaching my first graders how to make their own bar graphs

and practice collecting/interpreting their own data. It was difficult to plan out exactly what lesson they would be

on when I was going to teach, and on the Tuesday that I taught my mentor had anticipated we would be on my

lesson, 10.4. They ended up being a little behind and she had only done 10.1 the day before my lesson was

taught, which was picture graphs. She told me she thought they could handle the jump and to go ahead and

teach mine as planned. Something that did not go as I had expected was that my mentor teacher had to be at a

training session for first grade teachers, so there was actually a substitute while I taught my lesson. He was a

substitute they had never had before, and it was his first time subbing; he was only 22 and not an education

major. It was more difficult than usual to get my students to cooperate due to this circumstance, and the

classroom management was a bit hectic throughout the day. I think it was good that we did our math lesson

right after lunch because they were much more focused than they were towards the end of the day. While I was

teaching, I had a lot of students tell me, “That’s not how we do it” or “Mrs. McElmurry does it this way”.

Because their math lessons are all structured the same way and my mentor wasn’t there, they seemed overly

concerned that I wasn’t doing the lesson right even though my mentor teacher told me everything I was doing

would be great.

It started off with the video tutorial about bar graphs that comes from their math book, and there’s an

animated bird that leads the discussion in the video. Every time I was trying to further explain something, the

bird would just keep talking and it was a little chaotic. I should have played around with the technology a bit

more before teaching. I finally figured out how to pause the talking bird, so that I could ask the students my

probing questions. I asked them questions before the video, such as “Has anyone heard of a bar graph before?

Does anyone know what a bar graph tells us?” and “How can we tell which one had the most?” I had to add in

some other probing questions that I had not planned because I thought they would have more of a background
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of bar graphs going into this. I think my solution-specific questions went well, because I only had to explain

concepts once or twice to the whole class. I asked them questions such as, “How did you count the number of

students who liked _____?” A lot of the students at first were using their fingers to point while counting, but I

taught them that all they had to do was read the graph and then they didn’t have to count with their finger. This

was highly successful, and I noticed students using this method during the task. What I would do differently in

terms of the questions, is that I would have structured the probing questions in the beginning a bit differently. I

didn’t know until the night before that this would be the first time they had seen bar graphs, and my questions

were not prepared for that.

I think my students learned a lot during this lesson, because they not only learned how to make a bar

graph, but they also learned how to collect and interpret their own data. The high-level task I created went great,

and students really enjoyed thinking of their three favorite foods to fill in the graph and then going around the

room with their clipboards and asking classmates which food they liked the best out of the three choices. I was

so pleased with the results from the high-level math task, because a large majority of the class did the graph

correctly. Almost every student got the first two questions at the end right, but about half the class struggled

with the third question at the end. It was a bit challenging for their age, and I think I should have explained what

the question was asking more thoroughly out loud first.

I think that math had always been something I am really good at, so I’m in my comfort zone while

teaching it. One thing I did well during this lesson was that I really tried to walk around and monitor students to

make sure they weren’t doing things incorrectly. With math especially, some students may think they’re doing it

right but they actually aren’t. Monitoring the classroom and students’ work can prevent this from happening,

and I think I did a good job of doing that. Next time I teach a math lesson, I would like to think of a better way

for students to show their work, especially when working with a unique and personalized high-level task like

this one. At the end, I only let a few students show theirs over the projector due to time constraints, and I think
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some more pair-share work would have allowed for all students to share their findings and data. Please see

below for an example of a perfectly completed high-level math task, and one that had the third questions

misunderstood.