Eryn Yeske

February 16, 2018

Lesson Plan

The lesson plan I have created for my Counting Methods unit in Foundations of

Mathematics 30 covers the outcome FM30.6: Demonstrate understanding of combinatorics

including: the fundamental counting principle, permutations (excluding circular permutations),

and combinations. This is an introductory lesson plan to the unit which begins with a video to

demonstrate some real-life situations that students can use counting methods for and a class

discussion of where they use codes in their lives. These two tools are used as a motivational set

and promotes student involvement and engagement in the classroom. This lesson is composed

of multiple tasks involving both individual and group work to solve problems based on using the

fundamental counting principle, permutations and combinations to “crack the code” in each task.

The definitions of permutation and combination will not be provided until later lessons as this

lesson is meant to help the students explore the subject of mathematics and are encouraged to

work towards the definition rather than have it given to them. However, it will be clear what is

expected of the students and what they should learn throughout the unit. To wrap up the lesson,

I chose to have a class discussion that I will guide and have the students determine what they

believe are the key take away points of the lesson. This will allow for student involvement and

students taking ownership in their learning.

As the unit progresses, lessons will continue to involve student collaboration and will push

for students to make discoveries about mathematics which helps them in taking ownership of

their learning. In reference to literacy strategies, this lesson mainly focuses on Brainstorming and

Discussion, Manipulatives, Problem-Based Learning, and Visuals, but there will be many different
strategies used throughout the development of the unit plan to incorporate all students learning

needs.

This lesson can be used for both ‘as’ and ‘for’ learning assessment. The discussion at the

beginning of the lesson can be used for students to self-assess their previous knowledge about

counting methods and whether or not they have encountered them before. Also, the discussion

held at the end of the lesson will allow students to self-assess the learning that occurred

throughout the lesson by providing the key points they learned during the activity. This lesson

can be used as a base assessment to see which students have considered counting methods

before and which students may need more help as the unit progresses. As the students are

working through each task, I will listen in to the conversations and thought processes that are

happening between the students to gain an understanding of who is quickly grasping the

concepts and who is not which will be used as a form of formative assessment. As this lesson is

an introduction to the rest of the unit, this formative assessment will help me to determine which

areas of the unit will need to be the main focus.

This Code-Breaker lesson plan can be used to support different student needs and can

easily be adapted to accommodate these students. It first of all supports students with different

learning styles through discussion and hands-on activities. This allows students to be engaged in

their learning and work together with their peers to solve the problems. For students who do not

like to participate in class discussion, they will be provided with the opportunity to write a journal

to answer the questions that we are discussing to encourage them to participate in other ways.

If there is a student with a physical impairment, this activity can easily be adapted to a digital

version that will still help them to visualize the permutations and combinations they are
exploring, or they can still participate in a group if they choose to. Depending on the student’s

needs in the class, I will adapt the lesson to ensure they are able to accomplish the outcomes

that it is aiming for.

When looking at my Professional Learning and Growth, I used Assignment 1 to make

improvements to this lesson plan. On the first assignment I did not focus on differentiation and

adaptation which I ensured this lesson plan would be able to easily be adapted to the diversity

of students in my classroom. As I move forward planning other lessons and the unit as a whole,

I am aiming to incorporate many different methods of teaching to address the learning needs of

the whole class. There will be different activities that promotes students taking ownership of

their learning and encouraging them to work with their peers throughout the unit. As well, the

problems presented throughout the unit will be relevant to situations relating to student’s lives

or such that they will encounter at some point. It is important to make the unit relevant and

engaging to the students to keep their focus during their learning.

For this lesson, as it contains a lot of group work, my goal is to ensure I have control of

the class throughout the lesson. Working collaboratively is very effective for students but it is

important to make sure that they remain on task throughout the entire class. To complete this

goal, I will make sure the students keep their noise level down and circulate throughout the room

to make sure every group is on task. By the end of class, students should be able to have

completed the entire handout and will still be discussing what they have learned during the

lesson rather than other types of conversations. These indicators will help to determine if I have

completed my goal.