Standard+4

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The teacher understands and uses a variety of instructional strategies, including the use of technology, to encourage children's development of critical thinking, problem solving, and performance skills.
 * Standard 4: Teachers know how to teach.**


 * Evidence: [[file:LessonPlan.doc]]**


 * Rationale:** For this project students created and managed a NFL fantasy football team. I introduced this project by showing a PowerPoint of the rules, guidelines, and expectations. Using PowerPoint allowed my students to have a visual representation along with my verbal directions and expectations. Students were put into groups of three or four and we held a fantasy draft during class where each group picked their teams. Every Tuesday at the beginning of class, each group worked together to complete their total points for that week. They were given 15 minutes and were required to turn them in with all of their work. For the final project students will have to use their data to create a circle graph for a week of their choice. They will also create a line graph of the performance of three players over the ten week period. They will also be required to turn in all of their work and data for the ten week period. They will create a PowerPoint that includes their roster, graphs, total points, etc. and will present it in front of the class.

I used this lesson for the first time this year with my Advanced Algebra classes. My students really enjoyed this project and had fun competing amongst each other. Every week they looked forward to computing their points to see who did the best that week. Since they had a limited amount of time each week to do their computations they had to assign tasks amongst their group members. In the end this project went very well and it allowed students to take the math concepts they learned in class and apply them to football, an interest to many of my students. This lesson helped my development as at teacher because I learned how to become more flexible with my lessons depending on student feedback.


 * KSD:**

Cooperative learning worked very well for this project. Having the students work in groups cut down on the amount of time we devoted to this each week. By working together students accomplished more in a shorter time period. Given that we did this over a 10 week period we had to limit the amount of time spend on it each week. Students also had to learn to work and divide tasks up amongst their group so that they could accomplish the tasks they needed to each week.
 * 4.K.2 The teacher understands principles and techniques, along with advantages and limitations, associated with various instructional strategies (e.g. cooperative learning, direct instruction, discovery learning, whole group discussion, independent study, interdisciplinary instruction).**

Incorporating fantasy football into the math learning goals we had allowed students to see how the concepts we were covering could be used in real world and applied to a topic they were interested in. Students had to use some prior math knowledge and were encouraged to learn using a variety of learning styles.
 * 4.S.1 The teacher carefully evaluates how to achieve learning goals, choosing alternative teaching strategies and materials to achieve different instructional purposes and to meet student needs (e.g. developmental stages, prior knowledge, learning styles, learning differences, and interests).**

This was the first time that I did this lesson plan with my students so it was definitely a learning process for all of us that required a lot of flexibility. As we went through the lesson plan there were some things that we needed to change and the students were great at pointing errors out and coming up with ways that we could fix it to make the project better. Since this project was done over a ten week period it required flexibility on a weekly basis. Being able to find ways to fit it in each week was challenging but seeing the benefit it had on student learning it was definitely worth it.
 * 4.D.2 The teacher values flexibility and reciprocity in the teaching process as necessary for adapting instruction to student responses, ideas, and needs.**