Professional Documents
Culture Documents
I. Instructional Context
This classroom has twenty-five students in ninth grade, ages fourteen and fifteen. The course
is Honors Geometry, and this lesson focuses on applications of the Pythagorean Theorem. I
considered several defining characteristics of this class when designing this lesson. First, the
students in this class have diverse backgrounds - ethnically, culturally, and linguistically. More
than half the students are African American; there are four Caucasian students, and five Hispanic
students, who are ELL students. When choosing problems for the students to explore, I selected
problems that focused on developing problem solving skills in a variety of contexts so that
students could easily visualize and relate to the tasks and were encouraged to engage,
collaborate, and share their knowledge through written, mathematical, verbal, and visual
methods. While this was an honors course, the student ability levels vary significantly, and
almost one third of the students are struggling to pass. Many of the students do not possess a
strong foundational knowledge and are lacking in algebra skills from their previous course.
The lesson design includes two differentiated activities, including an open-ended question to
help students explore the implications of the Pythagorean Theorem in greater depth and an
opportunity to create real world problems using the Pythagorean Theorem. These differentiated
tasks engage all the students, challenging each student according to his or her ability level. From
past observations of this class, I recognized that the class is incredibly determined, persevering
until they reach their goals, and would rise to the challenge of these application problems.
This classroom is structured to facilitate group interactions and learning. The desks are
arranged in groups so that the students work together in an informal way on a daily basis. The
students do not have access to technology except calculators. There is no access to Internet, and
although I could use the overhead project, the other technology in the room is not functional.