Domain/Standard Code: Geometry 3G1
Author Name: Jeanette Blackner/Sonja Stokes Page 1
Title of Task: ____ Find the Quadrilaterals!
Adapted from: Smith, Margaret Schwan, Victoria Bill, and Elizabeth K. Hughes. “Thinking Through a Lesson Protocol: Successfully Implementing High-Level Tasks.”
Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School 14 (October 2008): 132-138.
PART 1: SELECTING AND SETTING UP A MATHEMATICAL TASK (PREPARE)
Students will understand the attributes of quadrilaterals. The students will understand the definition of
What are your mathematical goals
a quadrilateral.
for the lesson? (i.e., what do you want
1. They all have four sides.
students to know and understand about
2. The sides aren’t all right angles.
mathematics as a result of this lesson?)
3. A quadrilateral is a polygon with four sides (or edges) and four vertices or corners.
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What are your expectations for
students as they work on and
complete this task?
What resources or tools will
students have to use in their
work that will give them
entry into, and help them
reason through, the task?
How will the students work—
independently, in small groups, or
in pairs—to explore this task?
How will students record and
report their work?
Students will need a bag of colored polygons for each partners, math journals, pencils, document
camera, smartboard, google docs.
Students will work in pairs. Table talk.
Google docs presentations.
Domain/Standard Code: Geometry 3G1
Author Name: Jeanette Blackner/Sonja Stokes Page 2
Title of Task: ____ Find the Quadrilaterals!
How will you introduce students to the LAUNCH
activity so as to provide access to all
We have a problem! The third grade classes were working with the polygons yesterday and forgot to
students while maintaining the
cognitive demands of the task?
put the lid back on and they escaped out of their containers last night and mixed themselves all up.
Now we need to find all the quadrilaterals. Because our class is so smart we are going to identify and
separate all of the quadrilaterals from the rest of the polygons. I have gathered up all the polygons and
put them into bags on your tables.
Here are the facts: Each group of two has a different bag of polygons. You will need to decide which
of the polygons are quadrilaterals.
1. How many quadrilaterals are in your bag of polygons?
2. Sort the quadrilaterals from the rest of the polygons.
3. What fraction of your baggie is a quadrilateral?
4. Record your findings in your journal.
5. Draw quadrilaterals in your journal.
Domain/Standard Code: Geometry 3G1
Author Name: Jeanette Blackner/Sonja Stokes Page 3
Title of Task: ____ Find the Quadrilaterals!
PART 2: SUPPORTING STUDENTS’ EXPLORATION OF THE TASK (EXPLORE)
1. Does it have straight sides?
As students work independently or in
2. How many sides does it have?
small groups, what questions will
3. How are they similar?
you ask to—
4. How are they different?
 help a group get started or make
5. Explain your choices.
progress on the task?
6. Explain your thinking to me.
 focus students’ thinking on the
7. How did you determine if it was a quadrilateral?
key mathematical ideas in the
task?
 assess students’ understanding of
key mathematical ideas, problemsolving strategies, or the
representations?
 advance students’ understanding
of the mathematical ideas?
How will you ensure that students
remain engaged in the task?
 What assistance will you give or
what questions will you ask a
student (or group) who becomes
quickly frustrated and requests
more direction and guidance is
solving the task?
 What will you do if a student (or
group) finishes the task almost
immediately? How will you
extend the task so as to provide
additional challenge?
Students will then draw the polygons in their journals to support their thinking. Students may need
to refer back to the teachers questions.
When they finish their task they will start working on their Google Docs presentations. In their doc
they will have the definition of a quadrilateral and pictures of real life quadrilaterals. Also as an
extension they may find pictures of different polygons and explain why they aren’t quadrilaterals.
Domain/Standard Code: Geometry 3G1
Author Name: Jeanette Blackner/Sonja Stokes Page 4
Title of Task: ____ Find the Quadrilaterals!
PART 3: SHARING AND DISCUSSING THE TASK (DISCUSS/DEBRIEF)
How will you orchestrate the class
The students show their math journals to the rest of the class on the doc cameras. They will
discussion so that you accomplish your
explain their thinking and reasoning of what they found. Students will show examples of their
mathematical goals?
pictures and explain their definitions of a quadrilateral.
 Which solution paths do you want
to have shared during the
1. Does it have four sides?
class discussion? In what order will
2. What is a quadrilateral?
the solutions be presented? Why?
3. Did you record your data?
 What specific questions will you ask
4. Were you able to see the similarities and the differences?
so that students will—
5. What did you discover about the quadrilateral?
1. make sense of the
6. Was there a question you had?
mathematical ideas that you
want them to learn?
2. expand on, debate, and question
the solutions being shared?
3. make connections among the
different strategies that are
presented?
4. look for patterns?
5. begin to form generalizations?
What will you see or hear that lets you
know that all students in the class
understand the mathematical ideas that
you intended for them to learn?
I will be looking for:
1. Students pictures showing four sided figures.
2. Looking at students definitions.
3. Viewing Google Doc Presentations.
Domain/Standard Code: Geometry 3G1
Title of Task: ____ Find the Quadrilaterals!
Author Name: Jeanette Blackner/Sonja Stokes Page 5