UMF Unit-Wide Lesson

Plan Template

Name: Program: Course:

Heidi Chutter SMED Math EDU 361
Lesson Topic / Title:
Probability of Yahtzee
Lesson Date: Lesson Length: Grade/Age:
11/15/2018 55 minutes 7th and 8th grade
Learning Objectives & Content Standard Alignment - Selects, creates, and sequences learning
experiences and performance tasks that support learners in reaching rigorous curriculum goals
based on content standards.
Learning Objective(s) Instructional Decisions / Reasoning
Students will be able to find the probability of rolling  Requires very basic
certain numbers given the number of dice available and understanding of
number of sides on each die. combinatorics
 Can be adjusted easily with
different dice, so they really
understand the math, not just
how to roll six sided dice
 It is a good goal for students
who are advanced, but haven’t
done a whole lot with
probability

Content Standard(s) Instructional Decisions / Reasoning

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.7.SP.C.6  They fit well with the activity I
Approximate the probability of a chance event by wanted to do
collecting data on the chance process that produces it and
observing its long-run relative frequency, and predict the
approximate relative frequency given the probability. For
example, when rolling a number cube 600 times, predict
that a 3 or 6 would be rolled roughly 200 times, but
probably not exactly 200 times.

Assessment - Uses assessment flexibly to expand and deepen understanding of learner performance
and determines best supports for continued learner growth.
Assessment Instructional Decisions / Reasoning
I casually checked in with students as they did the activity  This formative assessment was
as a type of formative assessment in order to guide them used so I could correct
in the right direction if they weren’t quite doing the math mistakes and
correctly. misunderstandings as early as
possible. It also allowed me to
know when to give students
who understood the material a
more advanced task.

Revised 07/19/2018
The exit card at the end of the lesson allows me to see both  Since I this was the only time I
what they understood from the lesson in an expanded taught this group of students,
form since the questions on the exit card didn’t have the and most of the work was done
same parameters as the six sided dice we used for in groups, the exit card
Yahtzee, as well as what was new for them, since I hadn’t allowed me to see the students
worked with these students it was important for me to individual work and assess
know what they learned from this lesson and what they whether my lesson was
already knew. effective. I also used it to see if
the students could make
bigger connections, or if they
only understood the material
with the parameters we used
in the activity

Instructional Materials and Resources - Stays current in content knowledge and expands expertise in
reviewing instructional materials from the perspectives of both the discipline and individual learner
needs.
Materials, Resources, and / or Technology Instructional Decisions / Reasoning
Dice, whiteboard, markers, writing utensils, worksheets,  The worksheets help structure
exit cards the lesson
 The exit cards helped me
assess my teaching
 The dice were a required tool
for the activity

Instructional Methods: Selects, creates, and sequences learning experiences and performance tasks
by using a variety of instructional approaches, strategies, and technologies that make learning
accessible to all learners and support learners in reaching rigorous curriculum goals.
Teaching and Learning Sequence Instructional Decisions / Reasoning
Gauge their understanding (2 min) Since I never taught this group of
Ask the students questions such as if they had ever seen students before, I had no idea what
combinations or factorials before the lesson to help they may have already known. By
understand what parts of the lesson they may already asking what they already
know know/remember, I can adjust my
lesson to skip something they already
have a good understanding of.
They need the math concepts and rules
Demonstrate probability (13 min) of the game to do the activity. I chose
Give basic instruction of how to find and reduce a factorial those categories on the score sheet
and give several examples like the ones that will be used because they weren’t as hard and
for the activity. Explain the rules of the activity. didn’t’ include as many steps as some
Students will role five six sided dice , then choose a of the other options.
category on the score sheet (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, sm. Straight, lg.
Straight, Yahtzee). After choosing a category, students will
find the probability of getting the thing they chose (for the
top part, their goal is four of a number), and then roll the
dice. They will then record what they got, and whether
they got their goal.

Revised 07/19/2018
 Yahtzee Game (35 min)
Students are split up into two groups by the table they
were sitting at and had the option of breaking up the
groups even more into pairs or groups of three within the
table group. While students are getting prepared, the
teacher passes out the materials.
Once the students are in groups, they start playing the
game of Yahtzee as the teacher described. The teacher and
assistant take turns at the two different tables to keep
students on track and answer any questions about the
material or the rules of the game. As the students get more
comfortable with the topic, the teacher gives students the
choice between using more six sided dice or using dice
with more than six sides.
Exit Card (5 min)
Students will get the exit card in the last five minutes of
class. They will work on their own to answer the three
questions, and the teacher will use it to assess the lesson.
This is that part of the lesson where
they could practice as they go, and the
teacher can check to see their
progression and answer questions.
This also allows the teacher to see
where each group is at and give them
the opportunity to try either more dice
or different dice.
The exit card allows the teacher to have
an understanding of what the students
really learned without help from the
teachers.

Meeting students’ needs (differentiation, extensions, Instructional Decisions / Reasoning

modifications, accommodations)  Since all the students were
All the students in the class were gifted students. This gifted, but at different grade
means that the teacher should make the lesson at an levels, the lesson had to be
appropriate level. This lesson allowed students where challenging, but have room to
were doing well to progress to a more difficult but related get more difficult for the
topic. advanced students.

Field Courses Only – Post lesson

Reflection
The lesson started out ok, but the students weren’t very responsive. It was very
difficult for me to gauge what they understood, so it was hard for me to know if they
understood enough to go on with the activity.
During the activity it took a little bit for everyone, including me, to know what was
going on. After a little bit, the students seemed to be doing well, with occasional
assistance, so I gave them the other dice. Those were really fun for them and they
were having a fun time trying to find the really tiny fractions. They seemed to have a
pretty good understanding of the material, and they seemed confident, but their exit
tickets showed otherwise.

Revised 07/19/2018
 They did a great job understanding factorials, and how you needed to use them to
find the probability related to the dice, but most of them weren’t even close to
finding the right probabilities using a question with more than five dice. When it
came to the second question, which had eight-sided dice, most of them didn’t even
attempt to try it, even though there was time to at least start. This makes me think
that the lesson could be over more than one day, although I understand it is kind of
a lot to learn in 55 minutes, and they did a great job learning the first part. I think
the two biggest difficulties in this lesson were teaching students that I had never
taught before, especially since they were at different grade levels, and trying to
teach so much information in so little time.
If I were to do this again, I would spend more time on the board going over the
information first. I know it’s boring, but we spent more time on the factorials on the
board, which they had a better understanding of, so hopefully it would work that
way if we spent more time on the board with the rest of it.
Almost none of these students fully met the learning objectives, so they wouldn’t
have met the standards. Most of them did, however, do the factorial part correctly,
so most of them might have a partially met.

Teaching Standards and Rationale

8 (e) Provides multiple models and representations of concepts and skills with
opportunities for learners to demonstrate their knowledge through a variety of products
and performances
This means that the material is taught and assessed in multiple ways. I taught on
the board and with the activity, and I assessed while they were working on the
activity to know when they were ready to go on, and we had a exit card for
assessment.

Revised 07/19/2018