Teaching Notes     Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL). How will students’ learning be assessed? This lesson plan is designed to help prepare students for the 7th grade WASL exams in reading, writing, and mathematics. The math problems are designed to be similar to story problems the students will encounter on the WASL; similarly, the written assignment will help students hone their abilities to respond to a persuasive writing prompt.   Procedure: This lesson is designed to be taught in one or two sessions. For session one, distribute the students’ version of the “Fred Pasquale” case study to your class. Have the students work alone or divide them into groups of two or three.   Read aloud to them or let them read one section of the case study at a time. Don’t let them read ahead. After each section, either ask the students to brainstorm the answer to the question they have been asked or distribute the worksheets and have them proceed through the worksheets to answer the questions.   Finish by giving students the remainder of the class period to begin the written assignment, the paper for Fred’s boss. Answer keys for all worksheets and the written assignment are included with these teaching notes. Closure/Assessment: Review students’ written work both for basic writing skills as well as for students’ ability to explain the steps Fred took in calculating the costs of various shipping methods, and for students’ ability to synthesize this information into a coherent explanation for Fred’s boss.   Then, in small groups or as a whole group, have students review the steps they should follow when they are confronted with a problem and don’t have enough information to decide what to do. Ask them to share personal experiences of having to gather information to solve a problem. What did they do? How did they use the information they gathered? What did they do right or wrong? What would they do if they were confronted with the same problem today?   Click to continue previewing the teaching notes on screen. Home Journey Log Trade Topics People Profiles Index Ask the Eagle