SCENARIO: You are the special education co-teacher in a Secondary Inclusive Math Class
with 25 students, 8 of which receive special education services due to a specific learning
disability or because their learning has been affected by attention or behavior issues.
Additionally, another 6 students have been identified as several grade levels behind, requiring
basic skills intervention.
During common planning, the general education teacher is concerned about the students’ ability
to problem solve and apply the skills and procedures taught week in and week out. The teacher
has just been to a professional development session on Three-Act Math tasks and wants to
begin implementing this instructional style once a week, but is concerned it may be too
challenging for the majority of the students in the classroom.
1. Using resources from the course (particularly from Week 13) to support your
response, justify why this type of problem solving instruction CAN work with your class.
Include any reservations you may have about using this style of instruction.
Ted Talk: Math Class Needs a Makeover – Dan Meyer
Chapter 6 – Problem
Solving notes.pdf
double click to open chapter 6
Going Beyond the
Math Wars.pdf
2. Pick a 3-Act Math Lesson from the list. Provide the link to the activity and a brief
description of each Act to gauge an idea of what the expected learning outcomes are.
*Many 3-Act Math lessons lend themselves to a variety of grade levels depending on the
problem you are hoping students can solve and the information that is provided in Act 2.
3. Describe how you would modify this lesson and offer accommodations to support
your students (these can be common examples since you do not have specific
information about each student’s needs).
• Consider organizational supports, additional visual representations,
questions that scaffold the tasks, etc…
