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Texas Adult Education Standards and Benchmarks
for ABE ASE and ESL Learners

Lesson Plan Bank

ABE/ASE LESSON PLANS

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Texas Adult Education Standards
Lesson Plan

Before you begin

Title: What’s on TV?

Setting: ABE/ASE

NRS Level(s):

Level 4: High Intermediate Basic Education
Level 5: Low Adult Secondary Education
Level 6: High Adult Secondary Education

Open entry/exit: Yes

Context: Family

Standard(s): Use Math to Solve Problems and Communicate

Benchmark(s): 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 10.4, 10.5, 10.6

Objective: To determine the percentage of the day devoted to various types of television programming.

Materials:

• Local TV programming guide
• Chart with the following columns: (1) Type of Program; (2) Total Time of TV in 24 hours; (3) Percentage of Day on TV
• Computers with chart software. If not available paper to construct circle graph
• Pen or pencil

Estimated time needed to prepare for this lesson plan: 15 minutes

Estimated time needed to complete this lesson plan: 3 hours

The Lesson Plan

Introduce the lesson:
Have students brainstorm the types of programs that are offered on television. Discuss how certain types of television shows are broadcast everyday.

Teach the lesson:
Explain to students how they can determine the amount of time devoted to certain types of programming by collecting specific data and using their knowledge of figuring percentages.

Review basic concepts of calculating percentages. Demonstrate how to convert number of hours to a percentage of the day. Show illustrations of a circle or pie graph. Demonstrate how to construct a pie chart using a computer software program or by manually drawing the graph. Explain to the class that a circle graph is used to show how a portion of something relates to the whole. Explain that a circle graph is needed to show percentages effectively.

Practice the lesson:
Students individually gather and analyze television programming for one of the major networks for a 24 hour period. They will determine the percentage of the day devoted to each type of programming and construct a circle graph showing the results. Students will use the local television guide to gather their data. This data will be transferred to a chart similar to the one shown below (Figure 1). The data will then be used to calculate and record the findings in a circle graph (Figure 2).

Figure 1.

Type of program	Total time on television	Percent of day on TV
Sitcoms	5	21%
News	2	8%
Drama	10	42%
Game	4	17%
Other	3	13%

 

Figure 2.

D.

Assess the lesson:
Each student will turn in their charts to the teacher. Teacher will provide feedback on construction of charts and interpretation of data.

Apply the lesson to the real world:
Students should gain awareness of the various uses of percentages in everyday situations.

Submitted by: Jan Whisonant

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