Eryn Yeske

March 23, 2018

Classroom Plan for Culturally-Responsive Instruction

This lesson plan and unit plan cover Foundations of Mathematics 30 outcome FM30.6:

Demonstrate understanding of combinatorics including: the fundamental counting principle,

permutations (excluding circular permutations), and combinations. Incorporating culturally

responsive instruction into my planning allows me to connect with all students and help to teach

responsibility of accepting culture in the classroom. The lesson I have created is an adaptation of

a traditional Aboriginal hand and stick game. By teaching my students this game they will gain

insight into a small part of Aboriginal culture and develop skills to apply what they are learning

in class to real world games, and situations. This lesson is the final connection of all that has been

learned in the unit which helps students to apply all aspects of the unit to a new situation that

they may encounter in the future.

My unit plan has been adapted to include more culturally-responsive instruction including

the use of collaborative teaching, instructional scaffolding, problem solving and inquiry-based

learning, student centered learning, and responsive feedback. This type of instruction creates a

more welcoming environment to all students and allows students to learn from each other.

Depending on the needs of the students in my class, the types of instruction can be adjusted to

best suit the needs of all students. Incorporating different types of instruction can also be helpful

in student engagement of all students. The need to include culturally-responsive instruction

encourages students to participate in the class and allows students who usually learn in different

ways to connect to the material. In adding these types of instruction into my unit plan, it creates

a teaching goal for myself. The goal of this lesson for my own professional development is to
continually improve the atmosphere in the classroom for all students making it a place that they

all want to be and feel comfortable to learn in.

This unit plan contains various forms of formative and summative assessments. Most of

the formative assessment involves homework assignments and class discussion which allows me

to gain an understanding of the students understanding and where to go moving forward. It is

essential to gain a sense of what learning is happening long before any type of summative

assessment is given to the students and this is done through formative assessment. The major

summative assessment for this unit is the final unit exam, but the connection project discussed

in the lesson plan will also be used to assess the students. Both of these assessments will ensure

whether or not the students have gained a full understanding of the outcome. At the beginning

of each lesson, the learning objective will be posted on the board, so the students know what

they should learn by the end of the class. Creating goals for the students will help them

understand what they are expected to learn each day.

This unit contains multiple essential questions that will be covered by the lessons in the

unit. Each of these questions will provide the outline for the overall concepts that the students

need to know by the end of the unit. In my lessons, the four types of questions, lead, guide, hook,

and essential, will be covered often throughout the unit. Asking these questions to the students

will promote engagement, guide the students learning, and spark curiosity to learn more about

the topics being covered.

This plan incorporates differentiation and adaptations to meet the specific needs of the

students in the classroom. This plan however is created for a hypothetical class and will be

adjusted when I know what types of students I have in my classroom. Students will be offered
alternative modes of assignments if necessary, and discussions will be held to determine the best

learning plan for each student as they all learning differently. Each lesson can be provided in

digital forms to include students with physical impairments. For exceptional learners, there will

be more difficult questions provided that push them to explore deeper into the topic of

permutations and combinations.

Students tend to be more engaged in a class when they are able to work with others

around them rather than sitting and listen to lecture style classes. Providing the opportunity for

students to discuss with each other will improve literacy skills in the course and challenges

students to think differently about the topic. Learning from multiple perspectives will encourage

students to think deeper and solidify their existing knowledge that they have so far. Through

different types of assessment as learning, such as exit slips, students will self-assess their learning

to help them improve their literacy strategies. As well, students will take ownership of their

learning through this type of assessment and will be able to determine what they need help with

from the teacher. Allowing students the opportunity to think about what they are being taught

will help them to organize their thoughts and make connections between the lessons.

The revisions made to my unit plan created a greater sense of inclusion for all students.

Moving forward, I will continue to think about the needs of every student and how I can make

the classroom more of an appealing environment for learning. Developing relationships with the

students and finding out more about their lives will make it easier to help them make connections

to the content and will make it easier to adapt the lessons to apply to lived-experiences of the

students.