Submitted by: Courtney Ellis and Joel Wyatt
School: Byrd Middle School
Summary
In this real-world based lesson students are challenged with working with their classmates to go on a shopping spree of a lifetime. In an effort to review tax, tip, and discount the lesson challenges students with going on a shopping spree with friends while staying under a specific budget. Students had to work together to figure how to divide and spend their money while considering things like tax, tip, and discount.
TIPC Ratings
This lesson is in the developing category for research and information fluency. Although this lesson didn’t focus on research there were some components of research as students found items for their shopping sprees. The teacher reviewed search techniques with students and students responded to class assignments that prompted the analysis of information as they considered the tax, tip, and discount of the items they found online.
This lesson is in the developing category for communication and collaboration. The teacher directly instructed students on the use of a Google spreadsheet to help define how students would communicate within the classroom. Students used the internet, Google Spreadsheet, and other self-selected tools to complete the class assignment.
This lesson is in the approaching category. The teacher designed instruction that provided students with an opportunity to solve the authentic task of staying within a specified budget as a team. Students generated their own questions that helped guide their shopping sprees and had to justify their decision-making process to and with their peers to come to an ultimate consensus on what they spent and how their group stayed on budget given the reality of including tax, tip, and discount in their trips.
This lesson is developing. The teacher directly instructed on tax, tip, and discount and also made connections between subject matter and the contemporary issue of how to stay within a defined budget while also considering how tax, tip, and discount impact one’s budget.
