DIGITAL UPSC - Graphic Organizer for Solving Word Problems

To best understand how this UPSC (Understand, Plan, Solve, Check) graphic organizer supports students' understanding of word problems, visit: https://eatpraysolveforx.com/2019/02/05/math-gibberish-the-upsc-approach-to-teaching-word-problems/

For those of you familiar with Cue Think, this resource is almost a Google slides version of the process. Students will download slides, delete "type" in each text box, and input their own answers to submit (via email or Google classroom). You can choose to either assign a single slide, or the entire slide deck at once (not recommended for this activity).

The acronym stands for the following:

Understand: Asks students to identify the question and information given

Plan: Students set up their solving process (i.e. - defining operations & variables)

Solve: Students estimate, write an equation, and solve it.

Check: Students write a sentence to interpret their work.

This set of UPSC questions is geared toward the beginning of the year in Math 7/ Math 8/ Algebra 1, especially for students who struggle with vocabulary and structure.

I have created a paper version of this resource as well. And in the near future I will be creating a 2nd version geared toward writing and solving linear equations.

To access Digital Vocabulary Practice that helps prepare students for decoding word problems, visit the following TPT resources:

• Translating Algebraic Operations
• Translating Inequalities
• Translating Applications

Thanks for choosing this resource! It has done wonders for my high school Algebra 1 students (gen ed, ESOL, and special ed) - the year we implemented it our state scores improved immensely. I also chose to use this as a data checkpoint for my teacher evaluation, and 95% of my ESOL students were successful with implementation by the end of the year.