Snapshot 6.3. Choosing and Defending a Unit of Data Analysis
Integrated Literacy and Mathematics Lesson in Grade Six (cont.)The students then create a poster of their work to present to the class as a final draft.
After students present their posters, they are displayed throughout the room. Once the last
presentation of the day has been given, students will then conduct a gallery walk where,
again, working with a partner, they examine their peers’ posters and put a sticky note on each
one, stating whether or not they believe the argument has been adequately supported and
why.Sample Scenario
The owner of a car dealership is looking to promote a salesperson to the position of
Sales Manager. He decides to look at the number of cars and trucks each salesperson sold
over a four week period. Since data are easier to read in a table, the owner constructs
the table below. The owner spent many days thinking about how best to look at the data
to be fair to all his employees. He eventually decided to ask his employees to make an
argument as to why they should be the one promoted.
Some of the employees believe John is a good candidate for promotion, but they do
not know how to analyze data and would appreciate your help. Determine which measure
of central tendency is most appropriate to use to represent how many cars and trucks
John sold in a four week period. Since these employees must meet with the owner, they
also need to justify why this measure of central tendency best represents John’s skills as
a salesperson. (Construct a viable argument.) Remember, John wants this job promotion,
but he also must be honest with the owner.
Car and Truck Sales
Jennifer José John Ahmad Tim
Week 1 7 5 0 8 7
Week 2 4 4 9 5 4
Week 3 6 8 8 8 6
Week 4 5 9 7 6 8By engaging in mathematics argument writing and critiquing the arguments of
others in writing, the students in Ms. Smith’s class learn to reason like mathematicians
while simultaneously strengthening their abilities to understand and use the language of
mathematics.CA CCSS for ELA/Literacy: WHST.6–8.1; RST.6–8.7
Related CA CCSS for Mathematics:
MP.3 Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.
6.SP.5.c Giving quantitative measures of center (median and/or mean) and variability (interquartile range and/or
mean absolute deviation), as well as describing any overall pattern and any striking deviations from the overall
pattern with reference to the context in which the data were gathered.In the writing sample in figure 6.11, the student author demonstrates achievement of Writing
Standard 3 for narrative writing. (See sections for grades seven and eight in this chapter for examples
of student writing for argument and informative/explanatory text types.)
Grade 6 Chapter 6 | 555