EQUITY LESSON PLAN
DATE(S): October 30-31, 2006
TOPIC:
“The Chain Game”
STUDENT TEACHERS: Jeremy Debicki, Kimberly Liang,
Laura Mostmand, Kathryn Whalley
GRADE LEVEL:
8
CLASSROOM TEACHER: Mark Janes
SCHOOL NAME:
John McCrae PS Sr
TIME(S):
8:50 – 9:40 am
9:42 – 10:32 am
10:34 – 11:24 am
1:22 – 2:12 pm
2:14 – 3:04 pm
CURRICULUM EXPECTATIONS:
Mathematical processes integrated into student learning:
problem solving, reasoning, reflecting, connecting, communicating
Mathematics: Number Sense and Numeration
- Represent, compare and order equivalent representation of numbers
- Solve problems involving whole numbers
Mathematics: Data Management
- Collect and organize primary and secondary data and display data using charts and graphs
- Apply data management tools to make convincing arguments about data
Geography: Economic Systems
- Compare economies of different communities, regions, or countries, including the influence of factors
such as industries, access to resources and access to markets
The Arts: Visual Art
- Organize artwork to create a specific effect, using at least two of the principles of design
- Explain how the effective use of the elements of design contributes to an artwork’s ability to
communicate feelings, convey ideas and enrich people’s lives
ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES: (See Appendix A for examples)
Formative
Observation: In advance, select three students from each class to assess formally: one who excels at math, one
who struggles with the material at times but who is generally cooperative, and one for whom modifications are
always required. Ensure that the selected students are participating in three different group types (e.g., one group
that has sufficient supplies, one that has limited supplies, and one that has very few supplies). Focus observations
on these three students, make notes on participation, understanding of activities, challenges, behavior issues and
cooperation with group members. In addition note any observations from other students specific to the same.
Discussion: Teacher will lead Day One debrief discussion. Note which students are participating, and check for
understanding of economics and the chart tally process.
Summative
Observation: During Day Two, observe the three specific students chosen for formal assessment.
Discussion: Using follow-up questions, assess students’ understanding of lesson and what their key take-aways
were. Assess students’ comprehension of and use of statistics and percentages.
Rubric: Assess completed art projects on creativity, relevance to topics discussed in class and videos shown.
J. Debicki, K. Liang, L. Mostmand & K. Whalley
“The Chain Game,” page 1
ACCOMMODATIONS AND MODIFICATIONS:
ESL Students:
One-on-one instruction will be provided to ESL student. Written translation will be provided to Tamil-speaking
newcomer for heavily-subtitled “Miniature Earth” video.
HSP Students:
Students will be fully included in the two day lesson. Teacher assessing will monitor closely.
Autistic Student:
Seating of student and placing in group will be guided. Teacher to attempt to ensure noise level is not negatively
affecting her participation and performance.
IEP Students:
Modifications will not formally be made. All students will participate fully. Teacher to monitor closely in
attempts to encourage engagement.
RESOURCES &
MATERIALS:
OUTLINE
J. Debicki, K. Liang, L. Mostmand & K. Whalley
“The Chain Game,” page 2
Seating arranged to
accommodate
groups of 4-5
2 complete sets of
materials for 5
groups (see
Appendix B)
DAY ONE
Teachers’ Roles: Leader, Banker, Observer/Assessor (opt additional 2nd teacher)
Introduction:
3 min
Students enter. Teacher to take attendance.
5 min
Tally chart
(Appendix C) on
chart paper
Introduction
- In observance of Halloween, groups of tables are named Ghoulton,
Spook City, Pumpkinville, Spider Valley and Ghost Town.
- Students select their own seats/groups and are asked to clear their
desks of books and other belongings.
Copy of
instructions for
each group
(Appendix D)
Instructions, distribution of materials. Leader announces that:
- Each group represents a different country
- Students must make a product to be sold on world market
Chains are worth 5 units currency per 3-link chain, sold to banker
- Description of chain, sample chain shown
- Comment on quality control. Poorly constructed chains not accepted.
- Tally chart to be kept on chart paper taped on blackboard
Sample “chain”
Bell
Watch/Timer
Large garbage bags
or bin
Middle:
10 min
Markers
Masking tape
Students begin chain-making. Observer encourages and facilitates
interaction and takes notes on student participation and cooperation.
Questions/comments from students addressed.
Ring bell at Minute 9: announce price drop to 3 units of currency.
5 min
Students continue chain-making. Ring bell at Minute 4:
- Announce price drop to 1 unit of currency
- Introduce demand for colour paper chains at 5 units of currency.
5 min
Students continue chain-making. Ring bell at Minute 4:
- Sell staplers as “new technology” for 35 units of currency.
- Announce that stapled chains will receive current market price, plus
an extra 15 units of currency. (16/news, 20/colour paper)
5 min
Conclude chain-making. Teacher to give 2- and 1-minute warnings.
- Ring bell to signal end of game
- Students may sell any last-minute chains to banker.
Conclusion:
10 min
Discussion. (Also, if time permits, allow groups to calculate their own
tallies.) Teacher to keep track of students’ answers:
1. Which group earned the most money? Which group earned the least?
2. What sorts of trades were negotiated? (Exchanges for raw materials,
technology, labour)
3. What sorts of interdependencies, or divisions of labour, were worked
out within groups?
4. Were any cooperative arrangements made between groups?
5. What was the effect on wealthier groups on falling world market price
for chains? For poorer groups?
6. Which groups were able to purchase new technology?
7. WhyK.did
the development
ofK.
new
technology allow
wealthy
groups page
to 3
J. Debicki,
Liang,
L. Mostmand &
Whalley
“The
Chain Game,”
get wealthier, while poorer groups got poorer?
J. Debicki, K. Liang, L. Mostmand & K. Whalley
“The Chain Game,” page 4
EQUITY LESSON REFLECTION
Three things we did well:
1. Well-planned lesson gave clear directions
We were lucky that we were able to find detailed instructions from our TES math class and from
Education for Development: A Teacher's Resource for Global Learning, by Susan Fountain (UNICEF,
1995). Although it was suggested in our resource document that little instruction should be given, we
tried to be specific about certain things and printed instructions on how to make paper chains for each
group.
2. Encouraged engagement from students, making the lesson enjoyable
During both Day One and Day Two, we circulated throughout the classroom, speaking with students
individually or in groups to address concerns and to help inspire them to be creative during the game and
in the art event. We asked thought-provoking questions to help students come to their own conclusions
and design truly wonderful artwork.
3. Refocused students to ensure they remained “on task”
A few issues arose with personality clashes or misunderstandings of the details of their assignment, but
we were able to re-direct students in a productive manner. In most classes, the washroom pass was rarely
used, which was a true anomaly!
Three things the students did well:
1. They were engaged in all activities
2. Participated in their teams well and in debrief and discussions – very few behavioural issues
A few students we had originally pegged as “problem” kids turned out to be superstars during the
activities.
3. Took pride in their artwork, which was creative in presentation while being thoughtful and reflective
Throughout the art event, students asked where their collective artwork would be displayed. After they
had completed their own projects, they walked around to other stations to view their fellow students’
creations and offered support and helpful critiques.
If we taught this lesson again, we would change:





Dedicate more time to the math debriefing by asking that students create graphs of their team’s results, as
well as that of the other teams,’ investigate averages, largest producers, smallest producers etc.
Explore additional cross curricular lessons that could follow ours, and involve more teachers in the
planning.
Triple-check that all equipment worked equally well.
Spend more time on Day Two on the art project – in some periods, it seemed very rushed.
Take into consideration a planned seating arrangement for some students.
J. Debicki, K. Liang, L. Mostmand & K. Whalley
“The Chain Game,” page 5
Summative Feedback From Associate Teacher, Mark Janes
Teacher Candidates:
Date:
Lesson:
Jeremy Debicki, Kimberly Liang, Laura Mostmand, Kathryn Whalley
Monday October 30th
The Chain Game – Day One
Strengths







Things to consider
Great fun activity
Clear directions
Students engaged, trying hard
Encouraging students
Almost all students working
Refocused silly foolish behaviour make on
tasked
Stopped activity when out of control
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






Teacher Candidates:
Date:
Lesson:
Jeremy Debicki, Kimberly Liang, Laura Mostmand, Kathryn Whalley
Tuesday October 31st
The Chain Game – Day Two
Strengths






One class, ten minutes went by before
started the lesson
Needed to let students know you were
filming
Some were not sure of directions
In one class stealing issues created some
dangerous situations – bullying behaviours,
students pushing, shoving
Students need something to do while
tallying – have them clean up
Needed to always introduce teachers
Allowing open seating caused some
classroom management issues in one class
Some not paying attention at all during
instructions
Things to consider
Excellent videos
Class focused and paying attention
Excellent discussions
Some well thought out activities
Fewer behaviour issues and almost all
excellently handled the ones that were not
needed to be referred to the office and not
a negative
Many students engaged and enjoying the
lesson



Could explain expectations for marking art
activity
Could explain how you are verbally
assessing comprehension of videos
Still need to consider impact of open
seating
J. Debicki, K. Liang, L. Mostmand & K. Whalley
“The Chain Game,” page 6
APPENDIX A
Student Assessment
Class: 8E
Aaron – Average at math, sometime bevahiour issues – Had supplies
 Fully participated
 Took leadership role – telling other group members to “ shape up”
 Took to colouring in paper in attempts to increase chain value.
 Became discouraged at realization that Aaron had destroyed their supplies
 Fully participated in debrief on Day One
 Did not participate in discussions on Day Two
 Art work effectively completed
Robert – Modifications required for all lessons – Had supplies
 Didn’t participate with the game sat for 5 minutes doing nothing
 Not into the game at all
 Cut up paper for the whole game
 Repeated attempts to refocus on task not successful
 Shredded his teams coloured paper
 Not in class for Day Two
Rupert – Very good student, academically and cooperatively – No supplies
 Fully participated
 Started trading right away
 Very respectful and openly cooperative with his group and other groups
 Fully participated in debrief on Day One.
 Did not participate in discussion on Day Two
 Very creative art work reflecting good understanding of the lesson
Other Observations
 Rennie : took a leadership role, very excited competitive and yet cooperative
 Marge : Very engaged
Class 8D
Mary – Autistic – Had limited supplies
 Apprehensive at the beginning
 Noise didn’t seem to be bothering her
 “Check-ins” with Mary required but no issues developed
 Group divided up responsibilities, Mary glued
 Smiling and diligently gluing
 Did the tally for her group
 Didn’t participate in either debrief nor Day Two discussions
 Extremely well done piece for the weave very reflective
Oscar – Struggling student – Had all supplies
 Quietly worked away at the task
 Taking instruction from other team members, following their lead
 No involvement in the either the debrief nor Day Two discussions
 Art work not completed though he certainly tried
J. Debicki, K. Liang, L. Mostmand & K. Whalley
“The Chain Game,” page 7
Student Assessment, continued
Aranki - ESL
 Paired with student who speaks Tamil
 Working a little on task
 Lots of smiles not a lot of productive effort
 No involvement in discussions (speaks no English)
 Did the art work showed a little understanding of the point of the lesson in general
Triumpe – Group that had no supplies
 Really came alive
 Very much into the game
 Engaged
 Took a leadership role
 Began trading
 Didn’t become discouraged, actively sought out ways to bargain for supplies
 Fully engaged in the Tally of results, the day one debrief and Day Two discussions
Other Observations
 Kerry: until first bell totally unengaged reading a book then engaged
 Kurt: Initiated trading
 Joey: Not successful in attempts to trade, very discouraged
 Ola : Amazing, divided her groups work up each had their own jobs like a production line
 When coloured paper introduced stealing broke out every where.
 Trading became ferocious, arguing lots of noise.
 All trading stopped when staplers were introduced.
Class 8B
Ginny – Average academically, very cooperative student – Limited supplies
 Took charge
 Only one in her team participating tried to get others involved
 Team supplies didn’t work and so other than Ginny the team gave up
 Told her team not to worry stop getting depressed “its only a game”
 The only one to do her teams tally
 Involved in Day one debrief
 Absent for Day two
Margaret – Unengaged student – Had supplies
 Talking to others but not participating until after the third bell
 Started to participate only after her best friend started yelling at her then she began cutting
paper randomly
 No involvement in debrief no involvement in discussion and no art project produced
Cooper – Academically advanced behaviour issues at times – No supplies
 Became very aggressive
 “May as well just go to sleep” “We’re so poor we suck”
 When team managed to either barter or steal supplies – generally steal they were all engaged
trying to catch up
 When had coloured paper and stolen supplies went back to all other groups who didn’t have
coloured paper to gloat
 Very involved in debrief, aggressive during the Tally of results
 Day Two involved in discussion and prepared creative and thoughtful weave in
J. Debicki, K. Liang, L. Mostmand & K. Whalley
“The Chain Game,” page 8
Student Assessment, continued
General observations:
1. For all periods almost no one had to go to the washroom during class. This is an anomaly and signified
the students’ level of engagement with the lesson.
2. Cheating the bank occurred in all periods
3. Stealing from other groups and stealing from the bank occurred in all periods
4. Quality control of the chains fell dramatically after the first chain in a rush to get quantity
5. Students became visibly stressed in each of the periods as the game progressed evidenced by their running
to the bank, bodies crushing into one another and yelling at the bank
6. When tallying results teams were recalculating other teams results to prove them wrong – there was
cheating in the tallying of results
7. In two of the classes “enterprising students” formed black market for supplies, stealing from one group
and selling to others for units of currency.
J. Debicki, K. Liang, L. Mostmand & K. Whalley
“The Chain Game,” page 9
APPENDIX B
Materials needed, per session:
For students:
5 large envelopes
36 sheets newspapers
10 sheets coloured paper
10 scissors
10 glue sticks
9 pencils
8 rulers (metric)
For teacher-facilitators:
5 staplers
extra staples
chart paper
markers
large bags/bins
tape
bell
clipboards
list of talking points / questions
calculator (just in case!)
wristwatch/stopwatch
Materials to be included in packets, listed by group:
Group A “Ghoulton”
- one sheet of newspaper
- one sheet of colored paper
- five pairs of scissors
- five glue sticks
- five pencils
- five rulers
Group B “Spook City”
- four sheets of newspaper
- one sheet of colored paper
- three pairs of scissors
- three glue sticks
- three pencils
Group C “Pumpkinville”
- six sheets of newspaper
- two pairs of scissors
- two glue sticks
- two rulers
Group D “Spider Valley”
- ten sheets of newspaper
- one ruler
- one pencil
Group E “Ghost Town”
- fifteen sheets of newspaper
- eight sheets of colored paper
J. Debicki, K. Liang, L. Mostmand & K. Whalley
“The Chain Game,” page 10
APPENDIX C
What the Tally Chart should look like:
Team
A
B
C
D
E
$5 news
||||
|||
|
|
||
$3 news
||||
|||
$1 news
||||
$5 colour
Stapled
$16 news
J. Debicki, K. Liang, L. Mostmand & K. Whalley
Stapled
$20 colour
$35 stapler
expense
-35
-35
“The Chain Game,” page 11
APPENDIX D
∞∞∞∞∞∞
The∞Chain∞Game∞∞∞∞∞∞
Rules:
Sell your paper chains to the World Bank:
- Three-link chains → 5 units of currency
- Each link must be made from a strip of newspaper exactly 20 cm long and 3 cm
wide
20 cm
3 cm
- Chains that do not meet the standard will not be accepted
J. Debicki, K. Liang, L. Mostmand & K. Whalley
“The Chain Game,” page 12