Alisha Tricarico First Lesson Plan: Tuesday March 6, 2012 Introduction: I am placed in a Multiple Disabilities class at the Capello

School. The teacher definitely pushes this class to do their best and it shows through their academic skills. There are ten people in this class; each student has a learning disability along with either a behavioral or physical disability as well. Four of the ten students are staying at the Capello School this upcoming fall while six are going to the Elementary School at the Mercer County Special Services. This is a high functioning classroom because although they are at the pre-school, they are academically at the kindergarten and first grade level; however, they still need to be instructed when expected to complete tasks. The class is broken up into two groups. One group is at the kindergarten level and the other group is at the mid-first grade level. New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards: 3.1.1 Follow oral directions that involve several actions 4.1.2 A Number Sense: 1. Use real life-experiences, physical materials, and technology to construct meanings for numbers 4.1.3 B. Numerical Operations 1. Develop the meanings of the four basic arithmetic operations by modeling and discussing a large variety of problems. Addition and subtraction: joining, separating, comparing 4.5 B Communication 1. Use communication to organize and clarify their mathematical thinking. 2.Communicate their mathematical thinking coherently and clearly to peers, teachers, and others, both orally and in writing

Materials: A variety of different colored Power Ranger badges Worksheet Markers Objectives: Students will show their understanding of addition and subtraction by participating ingroup discussions and answering questions appropriately. Students will demonstrate their ability to recognize colors by pairing themselves with students who have the same colored badge as them and repeating which color badge they have and by completing the worksheet

Students will display appropriate social skills when trying to match themselves with fellow students with the same colored badge

Activity/Procedure: I will first lay out each badge facing down on the floor in front of the students One by one each student will pick up a badge and sit back down Once everyone has a badge I will instruct the class to try to find other students with the same colored badge as them and sit with that group. I will inform them that some people may not have anyone with the same colored badge as them and that is okay. (5 minutes will be given for them to complete this task) This will promote color recognition and social interactions Once everyone is sitting in their groups I will ask each student to repeat to me their color How many people are in the green group How many people are in the blue group If the blue power rangers unite with the red power rangers how many power rangers are there? If one of the red power rangers gets sick, how many red power rangers are left Once they orally answer each question I provide they will go back to their seats and complete a worksheet

Assessment: I will assess the students ability to recognize color by seeing how long and how many tries it takes for students to group themselves with the appropriate peers I will assess the students ability to add and subtract by seeing how many tries it takes for each student to answer a question appropriately. Outcome: The students seemed to be engaged in the lesson because their focus was on the lesson for almost 100 percent of the time. When they received their Power Ranger Badge they all were smiling and shared with each other their color. When they were asked to group together with students who have the same badge as them, they did a great job. It took less than three minutes for them to find their group and sit on the floor. When I asked the students to stand up and sit down to show the visual affects of adding and subtraction, it got a little disorganized. The higherlevel students had no issue while the lower-level students were very confused. When I asked questions about addition and subtraction, they all knew the answers right away. They were able to count the students standing in order to come up with an answer. When they sat down to complete their worksheet they were able to circle the color power ranger they were with no problem. They also had no problem coloring in the power ranger the correct color. The only issue that I came across was the math problem at the bottom, which was the most important question. I used letter numbers like three instead of writing 3. This confused them a lot and there was no picture to help guide them to the correct answer. I was able to assist and guide them in the right direction by using the number line on their desk.

Reflection: I became more aware of the obstacles that could occur during a lesson. This class is very diverse when it comes to their academic levels. I got a first hand feel of how important it is to challenge the lower level students while still keeping the attention of the higher level students. It also showed me that there is a lot going on during a lesson. Not everyone will be paying attention and it is a struggle to keep everyone on task. When I was trying to do the floor exercise where I asked the students to stand up and sit down to show a visual affect of adding and subtracting, it got very disorganized. I also feel that I need to slow down when I am speaking to the class and to keep my focus more on the academics rather than the entertainment. The two most important aspects of a lesson is student understanding and student engagement. I feel as though I had a lot of student engagement but not a lot of student understanding. This is because my lesson was not diverse enough for the whole class. The higher-level students went through this activity very quickly, while the lower-level students needed my assistance more. For my next lesson I know now that I need to be more diverse, more organized, and speak at a slower level. I also know that I want to do an activity where they will be sitting down during the whole lesson.