This lesson plan is co-taught in the media center with a classroom teacher who has assigned a research paper. The students should have an approved topic but have not started their research. They will learn how to evaluate sources they can use in their research paper. Once they have at least one source chosen, the students will create and share a short screen recording showing the different elements of the source that make it a good choice for their research paper. Citations:Per A.J. Andersson, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia CommonsCRAAP https://libguides.cmich.edu/web_research/craap#:~:text=CRAAP%20stands%20for%20Currency%2C%20Relevance,one%20method%20for%20evaluating%20content.

Exploring Antarctica: Standard 7.NS.2 Apply and extend previous understandings of multiplication and division and of fractions to multiply and divide rational numbers.
This formative assessment exemplar was created by a team of Utah educators to be used as a resource in the classroom. It was reviewed for appropriateness by a Bias and Sensitivity/Special Education team and by state mathematics leaders. While no assessment is perfect, it is intended to be used as a formative tool that enables teachers to obtain evidence of student learning, identify assets and gaps in that learning, and adjust instruction for the two dimensions that are important for mathematical learning experiences (i.e., Standards for Mathematical Practice, Major Work of the Grade).

This lesson plan guides educators through a filmmaking project that integrates scientific concepts. Students will work in groups to create documentaries that explain the scientific phenomena they have learned in the classroom. The lesson focuses on developing students' understanding of matter, properties of substances, changes in matter, and the conservation of mass. Students will conduct scientific experiments, collect data, research, write scripts, create storyboards, film experiments, and use multimedia tools to edit and enhance their documentaries. The lesson encourages student agency, provides customized support, and offers opportunities for reading, writing, speaking, and listening. By the end of the lesson, students will have produced their own educational films to showcase their understanding of scientific concepts.

Students explore the sound, evolution, performance techniques, and culture of guitar-like instruments from around the world.

Students explore the sound, evolution, performance techniques, and culture of guitar-like instruments from around the world.

In the essay "Mother Tongue," Amy Tan explains that she "began to write stories using all the Englishes I grew up with." How these "different Englishes" or even a language other than English contribute to identity is a crucial issue for adolescents.

In this lesson, students explore this issue by brainstorming the different languages they use in speaking and writing, and when and where these languages are appropriate. They write in their journals about a time when someone made an assumption about them based on their use of language, and share their writing with the class. Students then read and discuss Amy Tan's essay "Mother Tongue." Finally, they write a literacy narrative describing two different languages they use and when and where they use these languages.

Students create movements to represent long and short rhythmic patterns and compose patterns using non-traditional notation.

Students create movements to represent long and short rhythmic patterns and compose patterns using non-traditional notation.

This lesson is intended as an introduction to Newton's Laws of Motion for middle school students.  Students will explore the laws of motion with hands-on activities at 8 stations with a group of peers.  Then, once they are familiar with the laws of motion, they will make claims as to which law of motion each station best demonstrated.  As an assessment of their knowledge, students will create a short Google Slides presentation with GIFs they made to represent and explain each law of motion in a way that is unique to them.Image attribution: "Newton's Apple" by Alexander Borek is licensed under CC-BY-SA-4.0.

Fairly Solvable: Standard 8.EE.7 Solve linear equations and inequalities in one variable. Give examples of linear equations in one variable with one solution,infinitely many solutions,or no solutions. Show which of these possibilities is the case by successively transforming the given equation into simpler forms, until an equivalent equation of the form x=a, a=a, or a=b results(where a and b are different numbers). Solve single-variable linear equations and inequalities with rational number coefficients, including equations and inequalities whose solutions require expanding expressions using the distributive property and collecting like terms. Solve single-variable absolute value equations.
This formative assessment exemplar was created by a team of Utah educators to be used as a resource in the classroom. It was reviewed for appropriateness by a Bias and Sensitivity/Special Education team and by state mathematics leaders. While no assessment is perfect, it is intended to be used as a formative tool that enables teachers to obtain evidence of student learning, identify assets and gaps in that learning, and adjust instruction for the two dimensions that are important for mathematical learning experiences (i.e., Standards for Mathematical Practice, Major Work of the Grade).