Lesson: Going Viral

Ask students if they know what TikTok is. If students haven’t heard of TikTok, explain that it is a social media platform where people share short video clips, often including dances. If allowed, play a few appropriate TikToks for the class as examples. For students who are familiar with TikTok, have them share the types of videos they like to watch and explain why.

Distribute or digitally share the “Problem and Solution” literacy skills sheet to each student. Have students read the article individually and complete the skills sheet. Then choose volunteers to share examples of their problems and solutions. (Possible answer: Problem: Jalaiah created a dance but was not getting credit for it; Soultion: She spoke to The New York Times, which wrote an article on her dance and gave her credit for creating it.)

Before playing the video, post the following focus questions to have students respond to after watching:

• How are you and Jalaiah alike?

• How are you different from her?

• What surprised you about Jalaiah and why?

Read through the introduction and the example of the “Finding a Percent” box on page 5. For Step 1, have students think-pair-share about how to find the number of seconds in 4 minutes and 10 seconds. After reviewing each step, have a few volunteers restate how to calculate percents in their own words. Then complete question 2 from the “Your Turn” section as a group. Ask:

• Which of the numbers in the word problem is the whole? How do you know? (3 minutes and 46 seconds; it is the length of the full song.)

• How can you convert this length of time into seconds? (3 minutes ×  ^{60 seconds} / _{1 minute}  = 180 seconds, 180 seconds + 46 seconds = 226 seconds)

• Which of the numbers is the part? (15 seconds)

• Which of the numbers should you not use in your calculations? Why? (2.1 million; this number has to do with the number of videos using the song, not with the song or TikTok length.)

This article gives students a formula for finding a percent given a part and a whole. Use Step 2 in the “Finding a Percent” box and have students determine how to manipulate the formula so that the part is isolated, and then manipulate it again so that the whole is isolated. Explain that they now have formulas for finding the part, the whole, or the percent if given the two other values. Then have students each make up 3 questions similar to the article’s “Your Turn” questions but that require the part or whole to be found. Allow them to share or post their questions so they can solve each other’s word problems.

Have students write or share about a time they may have felt like Jalaiah because they didn’t get the credit they deserved. Discuss some of the feelings associated with these situations. Then provide students with a mini-lesson on the importance of giving credit to avoid plagiarism.

Play 5 of your favorite songs. As each song plays, time the full length of the song and the length of the chorus (the part of a song that recurs at intervals, usually following each verse). For each song, find the percent of the song the chorus is.