Day 1
01 Workshop Opener 02 Recruiting Students 03 Break 04 Previously On 05 Model Lesson: U5L2 06 Lesson Exploration - U5L3 07 Lunch 08 Lesson Exploration - U5L4 09 Lesson Exploration - U5L10 10 Conclusions and Connections 11 Break 12 Unit 6 Overview 13 Wrap Up

Session 12: Unit 6 Overview

45 minutes

discussion-based

Purpose

Unit 6 can surprise teachers since it is a dramatic shift away from the prior three units. The purpose of this session is to prepare participants for the shift and help them understand the scope of the unit.

Objectives

  • Participants understand the role that status plays in the classroom.
  • Participants have tools and language that recognize student competence during the learning process in the classroom.
  • Participants will understand the overarching storyline from Unit 6.

Supplies & Prep

Room Setup:

  • None

Facilitator Supplies:

Participant Materials:

  • Computers
  • Journals

Agenda

Introduction to Unit 6 & Jigsaw Activity (28 minutes)

Share Out (15 minutes)

Wrap Up (2 minutes)

Facilitation Guide

Introduction to Unit 6 & Jigsaw Activity (28 minutes)

(2 minutes) Introduce Unit 6

💷 Unit 6

  • Unit 6 should be your first unit in the second semester.
  • It contains only five lessons and one day for assessment. There is no project for this unit.
  • This is an unplugged unit that allows students a break from programming and opportunities to use a different set of creative problem solving skills.
  • You will notice that this unit involves some mathematical reasoning. It is not important that students deeply understand the math content, but can describe how math influences algorithmic choices.

(1 minute) Introduce the Task

Remarks

Each table will be assigned one of the lessons. In your group you will first get to know the lesson and then secondly you will think about how students will engage and contribute to the lesson. To do this, we are going to time-box these tasks. This means you may not finish ironing out all of the details of the lesson, but you will have the "large brush strokes" of the lesson down by the end.

Give each table one lesson from Lessons 2-5 in the unit. You will cover Lesson 1 separately later.

(15 minutes) Lesson Review

💷 Do this:

  • Open the lesson plans and slides.
  • Read the lesson plan and match with the corresponding slides.
  • Pay special attention to the learning objectives for the lesson and where those objectives are met in the lesson.
  • With any remaining time, start to do the unplugged activity in the lesson plan.

The facilitator should let participants know when it is time to move on.

(10 minutes) Discussion

💷 Discuss with your table:

  • How much math do students need to understand to be able to meet the learning objectives in this lesson?
  • In each of these lessons, math plays a role. Students with strong math backgrounds will likely participate differently than students who do not have strong math backgrounds.
    • What are some ways students without strong math backgrounds can contribute intellectually to this lesson?

Share Out (15 minutes)

Facilitator Tip

The point here is to help non-math teachers understand the scope of the math needed. Math teachers may be tempted to complicate these lessons with additional math that is not needed to meet the objectives. Likewise, students with stronger math backgrounds may overshadow other students in the class. We want to help teachers be comfortable with the level of math involved but also recognize other intellectual skills that students can leverage in this unit.

💷 The facilitator will lead a 1 minute description of each lesson as described in the slides.

After each slide, allow each group to share out summaries of their discussion on the role of math and other skills students may use in the lesson.

Note: It is important to note that U6L1 (which participants will not do as part of their jigsaw above) does not have a large math component. This is intentional as it starts all students on a level playing field to start the Unit. Math is always used “just enough” to understand the lesson - it should not be the focus of the lesson. If teachers tend to focus on the math too much, be sure to note how much math is required to meet the objectives.

Wrap Up (2 minutes)

Remarks

💷 In many ways, Unit 6 may feel very similar to earlier units. The activities are intended to help students get hands-on practice with content that can otherwise feel abstract. Much like earlier units, it can be tempting to go deeper than necessary in this unit but the focus should be on the learning objectives. The learning objectives are aligned to the AP framework so additional depth is not necessary.

Finally, unlike earlier units, this unit may privilege students with stronger math backgrounds. For that reason, it is important to recognize the multiple intelligences in your classroom by considering ahead of time how those intelligences will manifest themselves. By publicly acknowledging the multiple ways students contribute, you can support building an inclusive classroom environment.