Planning Commentary

Central Focus
a. Describe the central focus and purpose of the content you will teach in the learning
segment.
Analyzing and recording transactions into credit and debit parts is the central focus of this
learning segment of Accounting 1. Students will develop skills related to analyzing
accounting transactions, identifying affected accounts, classifying accounts, and
recording transactions. This learning unit introduces T-accounts with their debit, credit,
and normal balance sides. Understanding how to analyze and correctly record
transactions in a T-account is the basis of double-entry accounting. The first lesson
reviews the accounting equation and introduces the use of T-accounts. Students learn
that rather than using a + or - signs to indicate an increase or decrease in an account, the
increase or decrease is shown by recording the transaction on either the debit (left) or
credit (right) side of the T-account. Students will also link the concept of balancing the
accounting equation to the need to record a credit for every debit or vice versa. The
second lesson furthers students analysis of transactions by introducing specific
questions that must be answered to fully analyze a transaction. The second lesson
focuses on fairly straight-forward transactions. The third lesson expands on the second
by looking specifically at transactions that affect owners equity. This lesson introduces
sales, expense, and drawing accounts, while referring to the same questions used in the
second lesson to analyze transactions. The final lesson gives students a chance to apply
their new knowledge of T-accounts. They will create a chart of accounts and record their
transactions in T-accounts while playing Monopoly (no game money is used, only T-
accounts). The students record-keeping during the game will count as 30% of their
summative assessment, and 60% of the summative assessment will be from the chapter
test on Aplia.com.

b. Given the central focus, describe how the standards and learning objectives within your
learning segment address business-related conceptual understanding, technical skills,
ANDproblem-solving strategies.
The technical skills of creating and properly recording transactions in T-accounts is
essential base knowledge needed to understand many financial documents. The
technical skills combine with the conceptual understanding, so that the students know
what is actually happening when debits and credits are applied to various accounts. For
example, if a student sees a debit of $1,000 in the cash account and a matching credit in
the sales/revenue account, that student will know that the company made $1,000 from a
sale of goods or services. On the other hand, a $1,000 credit to cash and a matching
debit to the sales/revenue account would let the student know that there was a problem
with a sale, which led to a full or partial refund. The students will know that recording a
debit in one account means that a credit must be recorded in another account. As
students work through the four essential questions for analyzing a transaction, they are
engaging in several problem-solving strategies. First, the four questions help students
break the problem into smaller parts that can be solved one at a time. All the while, they
are identifying key elements, so as to determine which accounts are affected in what way.
Finally, the knowledge that for every debit, a matching credit must be recorded gives
students a basis to apply logical reasoning to transactions with which they may be
uncertain.

c. Explain how your plans build on each other to help students make connections between
 business-related concepts, technical skills, and problem-solving strategies to deepen
their learning of business education through the completion of a project or product.
Students will have the opportunity to apply the use of T-accounts to a common Monopoly
game. The students will create their chart of accounts and decide on a recordkeeping
strategy for their groups. Within a group of four, students will play a game of Monopoly
without using game money. All transactions will be recorded in their T-accounts. The
creation of these accounts, which gives students a new way to play a familiar game, will
show students how their learning can be applied in a variety of financial situations. During
game play, students will further their understanding of net worth, by seeing that it is not
simply total cash, but all assets minus liabilities. The player with the most cash at the
end is not necessarily the winner.

Knowledge of Students to Inform Teaching

a. Prior academic learning and prerequisite skills related to the central focusCite
evidence of what students know, what they can do, and what they are still learning
to do.
Information from this learning segment builds directly from the previous chapter, which
focused on the accounting equation (assets = liabilities + owners equity) and the ways in
which changes affect it. The class average on the summative assessment for the
previous chapter was 88%; the lowest was score 73%, and the highest was 99%.

Only two students scored below 84%. Unfortunately, these are very quiet students, who
are unlikely to ask questions during class. When I walk around the room during
independent work time, Ill stop and ask students if they have questions. Both of these
students are likely to say they are doing fine and do not have questions. During this
chapter, I will stop and work through a few problems with each of these students. I will not
give them the option to pass on my help. Ill do the same with others, so they do not feel
singled out.

The majority of the incorrect answers on the previous test dealt with on account
transactions, such as bought on account, paid on account, sold on account, and received
on account. Ill spend more instruction time for each of the upcoming lessons with
examples of on account transactions.

b. Personal, cultural, and community assets related to the central focusWhat do you
know about your students everyday experiences, cultural and language
backgrounds and practices, and interests?
Unfortunately, I know that most of the students chose accounting because they needed
an elective credit and this course fit into their schedules. The students came into this
class thinking that accounting class only has a real-life value for those who plan to be
accountants. I am constantly relating new information to a variety of career fields and
personal uses. I have scheduled some local professionals to talk to my accounting class
about how accounting practices are used in a variety careers as well as for personal
finance. The students should see that this information is used many real-life situations.
The first guests are from the local bank. One will focus on the personal finance side of
accounting and budgeting, the other will focus the commercial side, especially ag related
business. It looks like we will finish this set of lessons before they visit, but I will relate our
visitors talks back to all of our previous work, as well as to the introduction of new
material.
Supporting Students Learning of Business Education
a. Justify how your understanding of your students prior academic learning and personal,
cultural, and community assets (from prompts 2ab above) guided your choice or
adaptation of learning tasks and materials. Be explicit about the connections between the
learning tasks and students prior academic learning, their assets, and research/theory.
Accounting is a course which must follow a fairly structured, sometimes rigid, order of
learning to build students knowledge in the content. For many of my students the basic
vocabulary of assets and liabilities in the previous chapter was completely new. The
textbook is well laid out to provide baseline knowledge which continually becomes more
detailed. However, I think the book relies too heavily on independent work and exercises
from the text. To counter this, I go through more exercises in class as part of my
instruction, with the students answering the questions. If the student is incorrect, I talk
them through the problem until we get to the correct response. This talk-through method
seems to be helping all students. I also encourage students to work through the
independent work that I do assign with a partner. When they disagree on an answer, they
both learn from the resulting discussion, which only sometimes involves me.
Incorporating the Monopoly game is an idea that I found in several online resources for
accounting. The game will increase student engagement and link accounting concepts to
different uses than only those described in the textbook. Ive adapted Monopolys game
play for this particular lesson with the use of T-accounts to record debits and credits.

b. Describe and justify why your instructional strategies and planned supports are
appropriate for the whole class, individuals, and/or groups of students with specific
learning needs.
My lessons give students a variety of learning strategies. For the visual learners, I use a
combination of the smartboard and white board to display information. I also have
designed a graphic organizer for this set of lessons which I will print out for every student.
For the auditory learners, we go through several examples in class, during which I
repetitively use the correct terminology and methods. I also try to repeat student
questions to make sure that everyone heard what was asked. For the read-write learners,
I always refer to the textbook page, which coincides with where we are in the lesson,
giving students the opportunity to read through the information. I also start the lesson with
a vocabulary list and ask the students to find the words in the chapter and write a quick
definition. For the kinesthetic learners, I have some sorting activities for the lessons, as
well as the Monopoly game.

c. Describe common preconceptions, errors, or misunderstandings within your content

focus and how you will address them.
From the previous chapter, I know that my students have some confusion with on
account transactions. I will add more on account examples to the set of problems that
we work through as a group. Ill also take extra time when addressing on account
transactions with our new material. Students must understand that purchasing and selling
on account do not affect cash. Whereas, paying and receiving on account signals that
a current receivable or liability is being paid with cash.

Supporting Development in Business Education Through Language

a. Language Function. Using information about your students language assets and needs,
identify one language function essential for students to engage in learning tasks related
to your central focus. Listed below are some sample language functions. You may
 choose one of these or another more appropriate for your learning segment.
Analyze Argue Categorize Compare/contrast Describe
Design Evaluate Explain Interpret Summarize
Analyze not only begins the central focus for this learning segment, analyzing and
recording transactions into debit and credit parts, but it is also an essential skill that
students must acquire to be successful in this accounting course. Throughout the course,
students will be presented with information that must be carefully analyzed before it can
be recorded correctly. During this learning segment, students are asked to analyze
transactions by answering four key questions, the answers to which provide students with
the information needed to correctly record those transactions in the appropriate T-
account on either the debit or credit side. Accounting requires precise analysis and
attention to detail. As we move further through the course, the students will need to build
on the analytical skills that we are beginning to foster in this learning segment.

Although I do not expect my students to become accountants, giving them the opportunity
to develop and practice their analytic skills will serve them in their futures. According to
Bloom et. al. (1956), analysis is ranked fourth in complexity of the six levels of the
cognitive domain. As students build their analytical skills, they will be able to move to the
higher levels in the cognitive domain evaluation and creation.

b. Identify a key learning task from your plans that provides students with opportunities to
practice using the language function. Identify the lesson in which the learning task occurs.
(Give lesson day/number.)
The four essential questions needed to accurately analyze and record a transaction are
introduced in Lesson 2 and focused upon further in Lesson 3. The paired activities, using
transaction flashcards, in the second and third lesson give the students an opportunity to
practice analyzing. The flashcards only show the transaction; they do not have the
answer listed on them. Students will practice using the four questions to analyze each
transaction and determine how accounts would be affected. Because answers arent
given, they will need to carefully listen to each other to determine if they agree.
Disagreements will spark peer discussion regarding the analysis of the transactions. I will
be walking around and listening to the discussion and analysis, so that I can redirect
misunderstandings, correct mistakes, and answer questions.

c. Additional Language Demands. Given the language function and learning task identified
above, describe the following associated language demands (written or oral) students
need to understand and/or use: vocabulary and/or symbols, plus at least one of the
following: syntax and/or discourse.
Students will need to understand the vocabulary as it is used in accounting. For example,
students are analyzing transactions in order to record them correctly into their debit and
credit parts. In accounting, debit simply means the left side of an account and credit
means the right side. Debit and credit in this sense have no relation to the meaning of
debit and credit cards. I will need to make this very clear, as I remember trying to link the
meanings when I was learning accounting and wound up confused and frustrated for a
time. Students will also need to know the terms asset, liability, and owners equity, as
wells as have the ability to classify accounts into each of these categories. Whether
recording a debit increases or decreases an account depends on that accounts
classification.
 In addition to the vocabulary, students will need to connect the words debit and credit to
their appearance in account records. The terms debit and credit are not displayed on the
T-accounts, nor in the journal pages which will be the focus of the next learning segment.
Students will need to see an entry on the left side of an account and know that the
transaction was a debit to the account. They need to make the same connection with
recordings on the right side of an account and the word credit.

d. Language Supports. Refer to your lesson plans and instructional materials as needed in
your response to the prompt. Identify and describe the planned instructional supports
(during and/or prior to the learning task) to help students understand, develop, and use
the identified language demands (vocabulary and/or symbols, function, syntax, or
discourse).
Lesson 1 supports students knowledge and understanding of the key language by first
reviewing previous learning and then linking that knowledge to the introduction of T-
accounts with their debit and credit sides. Students previously learning the terms assets,
liabilities, and owners equity, as well as various account which are classified into each.
During the review, I will write the accounting equation, assets = liabilities + owners
equity, on the board. I will ask the students to give me examples of accounts for each. I
will then draw a T-chart under each account heading. From there I will introduce the idea
of debit as the left side and credit as the right side of any T-account. The students can
then label the accounts. The work in pairs exercise from Lesson 1 gives the students a
chance to classify (review) account cards, and label (new instruction) the cards with the
debit and credit sides, as well as which side is the normal balance for each account.
During the work together, students will engage in discourse with each other about the
review and new information.
Lesson 2 builds upon the new and review material from the first lesson. Students are
introduced to the 4 questions, which they need to answer to correctly analyze and record
transactions. These questions are at the heart of the students analysis of transactions.
They have the opportunity to practice both their analytical skills and their language use
during the pairs activity, which asks the students to analyze transaction flashcards and
describe how those transactions would be recorded. At this point I can monitor their
discourse for errors. Through further discourse with individuals, I can determine whether
a language error is the result of a simple slip of the tongue, a misuse/misunderstanding of
the vocabulary, or a misunderstanding of the concepts or content of the lesson.

Lesson 3 has a very similar activity to Lesson 2 planned, except it focuses specifically on
expense and revenue accounts. To this point in instruction, the students have learned to
apply these types of transactions directly to the owners capital account. In Lesson 3,
students will learn to use expense and revenue accounts, and that these accounts
directly affect the owners capital (equity). In pairs, students will analyze transactions,
using the four questions learned in Lesson 2, and then explain to each other how those
transactions will be recorded. Again, I can monitor their discourse for errors and provide
whatever corrections might be needed.
In Lesson 4, the students will be playing Monopoly in groups of 3-4, during which they
can practice their use of language as they fill in their T-accounts. This will be an important
time for me to monitor their language use for understanding, because it is the last activity
planned before the Chapter test. If reinstruction or clarifications are needed, Ill see that
during this group activity.
Monitoring Student Learning
a. Describe how your planned formal and informal assessments will provide direct evidence
of students business-related conceptual understanding, technical skills, AND problem-
solving strategies throughout the learning segment.
During the beginning of each lesson, students will be led through a review of previous
concepts and into new material. During this review and instruction, I will be asking
students to answer questions relating to the material. I will draw a popsicle stick with a
student name for each question. This ensures that Im not calling on only those students
who know the answer; Im getting a better picture of the entire classs understanding and
level of confidence with the material. Following the large group instruction, I will have a
pairs or small group activity. During these formative assessments, I can monitor the
students work as well as their conversations. I can stay longer and provide direct
instruction to those pairs or groups who are struggling. During the previous chapter, I
found monitoring the peer discussion quite helpful in determining students understanding
or misunderstanding of the material. The final portion of each lesson is an assignment
from the textbook that serves as a summative assessment. While I think that the textbook
work gives me less insight into their understanding of the material than monitoring
student discourse, it is an objective basis on which to grade their applied knowledge. My
intention is to monitor the formative assessments throughout each lesson, so that I can
reteach or provide more practice if there is confusion before I assign the independent
graded work.

I am using a similar strategy for the review, except that I have a rubric and grade
assigned to the group activity, along with the chapter test provided by the textbook
company. During the Monopoly game, I will have a chance to monitor each students
work and discourse. Ill also have the ability to orally quiz students as they enter their
transactions. Based on my observations during game play, Ill know whether the students
are ready for their chapter test or if we need to spend an extra day reviewing and
completing supplemental material.

Because the chapter test is broken into several sections and the online system provides
detailed statics on each question and each student, it is fairly easy to identify problem
areas. For example, I know coming into this chapter that my students have some
confusion with on account transactions. Therefore, Im planning to add several on
account examples to our large group review and instruction during this learning segment.
Based on the results of this test, Ill be able to better plan instruction for the following
learning segment.

b. Explain how the design or adaptation of your planned assessments allows students with
specific needs to demonstrate their learning.
The online worksheets on www.Aplia.com follow a very rigid path of learning, which
parallels the textbook. While I dont think the layout and style of the assessments are
terrible, they do very little to engage a variety of learners. Therefore, I created the
account classification activity for Lesson 1 and transaction flashcards for Lessons 2 and
3. I also intend to cover many of the exercises from the online worksheets during our
large group instruction with the students. I will only assign one of the online worksheets
per lesson as a graded summative assessment. During the previous learning segment,
about 35 minutes of class time was devoted to large group instruction and pair/small
group activities, leaving about 10 minutes of class time for the students to complete the
online worksheet. This was enough time for most students to leave class without
homework. Lesson 4 is designed to take the work completely offline and give the
students a different type of experience with the learning targets. I think the variation of
discourse and activities offsets the impersonal online learning environment for all of my
students.

So far, I have had very few students need additional support, other than my IEP student
who required extra time to finish his last test. I can easily accommodate the extra time,
because my prep period is right after this accounting class. My student with vision
problems prefers the individual computer work, because he can alter the display to fit his
needs. In the previous chapter, when we worked through the online papers as part of our
large group activity, he would log into his Aplia account and follow along on his computer
screen, while the rest of the class followed along on the whiteboard or overhead
projector. He will be able to do the same during this chapter.
References
Bloom, B., Englehart, M. Furst, E., Hill, W., & Krathwohl, D. (1956). Taxonomy of educational
objectives: The classification of educational goals. Handbook I: Cognitive domain. New
York, Toronto: Longmans, Green.