Planning Document

Names:

Ashley Calloway

Kim Schreier

Client Information:

Monica Emery

7th Grade Math Teacher

memery@forsyth.k12.ga.us

South Forsyth Middle School

GA Certificate # 965151

Needs Assessment:

Mrs. Emery’s classes are all on-level 7th grade math classes. When standardized testing is over

in April, Mrs. Emery usually spends the remainder of the school year working on skills that are

helpful for kids to have prior to 8th grade. She usually has her classes memorize square roots to

25, and this year is also thinking of requiring them to memorize cube roots to 13. While the rote

memorization does help them in 8th grade, it does not necessarily add to their true understanding

of square roots and cube roots. She is looking to incorporate a program that will help students

grasp these concepts.

Audience:

Mrs. Emery’s classes are made up of a variety of learners. She has two inclusion classes that are

filled with special education students, as well as many students with 504 plans and students on

RTI Tier 2 and 3. However, she also has students who were previously in advanced classes but

dropped down to on-level after 6th grade. Most students are 12-13 years old, white, and from an

upper-middle class socio-economic background. Many students are very involved in clubs and

sports and lead very busy lives outside of school.

Content Area

The content area is 7th grade math, however, this unit aligns to standards and prerequisite skills

for 8th grade math.

Learning Objectives:

Students will apply their knowledge of square roots and cube roots to approximate irrational

numbers as rational numbers. (For example, if they were asked to find the square root of 17,

which is an irrational number, they might approximate it as 4.1 as it is closer to the square root of

16 (4) than the square root of 25 (5)).

Standards:

Georgia Standards of Excellence

MGSE8.NS.2 Use rational approximation of irrational numbers to compare the size of irrational

numbers, locate them approximately on a number line, and estimate the value of expressions

(e.g., estimate π2 to the nearest tenth). For example, by truncating the decimal expansion of √2
(square root of 2), show that √2 is between 1 and 2, then between 1.4 and 1.5, and explain how to

continue on to get better approximations.

Learning Activities:

Students will use technology to complete an interactive lesson on square roots and cube roots.

After completing the lesson, students will create a game, video, or other multimedia resource to

help with memorizing square roots to 25 and/or cube roots to 13.

Multimedia Resources:

The lesson will involve a variety of multimedia resources that students can access from the

classroom chrome books or their own technology. Resources will include interactive games

(some created by the students themselves), videos from sources such as Virtual Nerd and Khan

Academy, and visuals such as pictures or infographics.

Accessibility:

Mrs. Emery’s classes have many students with accommodations. The accommodations will be

followed according to students’ IEPs and 504 plans. Since the lesson will be presented using

technology, students will have access to Google Read and Write. This has features such as text

to speech, highlighting tools, online dictionary, picture dictionary, and speech to text dictation.

Students will be allowed to use this as they wish. Please note that due to the principles of

universal design for learning, our school makes Google Read and Write accessible to all

students, not just students with disabilities.

Copyright and Fair Use:

We will try to use as many public domain resources as possible. However, we will still give

credit to all resources used. Since this learning task is for non-profit educational purposes, we

feel confident that we will meet and exceed all of the expectations for copyright and fair use.

Since students will be creating their own multimedia during this lesson, we will also educate

them on what they need to know about copyright and fair use, and will make sure they are

applying it.

Assessment:

Once this task is done, students will be quizzed on square roots 1-25 and cube roots 1-13. Yes, it

is rote memorization which is very low on Bloom’s Taxonomy, however, it has been proven to

help students tremendously in 8th grade. We will also ask them to approximate some irrational

numbers using square roots to see how they are able to apply their knowledge.

Project Coordination and Communication:

We will stay in close contact with our client via e-mail and face-to-face contact. Once we get a

storyboard together, we will meet with her to get her feedback and see if there is anything she

wants removed or added. After the final product is developed, we will walk her through it prior

to her implementing it with her classes. Also, if at any time during the implementation she feels

that something needs to be adjusted, we will absolutely do that as well.