The Literacy Project- Curriculum/Activity Description

Date: 5-1-2003

Submitted by: Sharon Feeney

Subject: Reading/Math: Court Reports

Level: mixed pre-GED/GED learners

Assessment/Evaluation: teacher observation during group activity and student self-evaluation afterwards

Massachusetts ABE Curriculum Frameworks

Curriculum Framework(s): Math/LA Reading

Strands and Standards addressed:

Strand

Patterns, Functions and Algebra

Learning Standard

Collect, organize, and represent data

Strand

Language Arts Reading

Learning Standard

Refine comprehension strategies, read strategically

Duration: one hour or so

Brief Description (for website index): Court Reports; percentages

Lesson Objective(s): students will organize information from the newspaper court reports to find the most prevalent crimes in their community

Lesson Procedure:

Students agree to calculate percentages using the court reports. The whole class will predict which crimes are the most prevalent in their community. Those results are documented on the board. Copies of the past three months (weekly) newspapers are distributed throughout the class. Students document the convicted offences and the total number of times each offence occurred. As students complete their own list, they condense their list with another students list; ultimately, there will be one list on newsprint to find the most prevalent crimes. The most prevalent crimes are calculated as a percentage of the total number of crimes. Several math models are presented by more advanced students (or the teacher) and then all calculate the rest as practice. There are many possibilities for next steps based on student’s responses to the data.

Materials Needed:

Board, newsprint, newspapers, markers

Special Comments:

Much discussion ensued during this class about ways to lower the numbers of the most prevalent crimes. Also, most students decided to schedule a trip to the police department to share their data with the police and to tour the building.

Other Related Links and Resources (including citations for original sources):