When planning for my unit, I really needed to consider how to cater the unit for a class

that performs very low in math. Additionally, because my unit was fractions, I knew that the

concepts and ideas that were going to need to be taught were going to be challenging for them to

understand. The resources that are available in my classroom really helped me to successfully

educate my students. My classroom is equipped with a SMARTBoard, shelves of math

manipulatives and books, and there are also many resources that are in conjunction with the

Everyday Math series.

The typical plan for Everyday Math is a lesson a day followed by math games and

activities. However, with the range of student abilities in my placement, we cannot exactly do a

lesson a day. I knew that I would need to think of really creative ways that would be both visual

and effective when introducing and teaching fraction concepts. I have been teaching math in my

placement almost since the very beginning of the semester, so I knew that sometimes the

students can be unexpectedly confused or misunderstand. Therefore, I had to anticipate needing

to possibly re-teach certain concepts or create a resource or lesson that could further the lesson.

The work sample I provided shows a student in my class who receives math RTI

interventions. He often gets frustrated when doing math work, and also tends to move through

math homework and activities quickly because of confusion. The work sample set was an

assessment tool used toward the beginning of the unit to gauge what students already understood

about fractions and then at the very end of the unit to see what students have learned. The before

work sample shows that the student did not really understand different fraction concepts, which

is to be expected prior to learning them in a form setting. The pre work sample was given after

the first fraction lesson, therefore students had a very basic understanding of fractions. This was

not a recorded grade, however the intent was to use it as evidence for learning as well as a tool to
see what concepts really needed to be worked on. The student whose work sample I am using

demonstrated what is to be expected, his understanding of fractions was very minimal. Following

the first assessment, I proceeded to teach my unit which involves 8 lessons dealing with different

components of fractions. The post work sample shows his developed understanding, which

resulted in a 100% on the final unit assessment. The students were never given the original

assessment to correct or take home and the final assessment was given almost 4 weeks after the

fact, so the questions were virtually new to them.

I think that examining the sample allows me to real see the successes involved in

teaching. Being able to have evidence of student learning and understanding is very gratifying as

an educator. Everyday I question whether my students are truly internalizing the information that

they are learning in school with my support. Some days it can be extremely discouraging when a

topic or concept is taught and the next day very few students seem to remember what they

learned. However, with my unit, it was very eye-opening. The students in my placement really

struggle with math, and being able to see them get excited about fractions was very rewarding. I

thought the student work sample I selected was a very good demonstration of the way into which

my teaching contributed to their understanding.

This unit has shown me how important resourcefulness and assessment is. There needs to

be opportunities for students to be challenged and supported, and I think that through completing

this unit I was able to really see the value in truly differentiating instruction and creating

assessments and activities that really address the objectives and goals of a unit. Planning for this

unit gave me experience in looking at long-term goals and thinking about teaching as a process.