Day 25

Today's opener builds on yesterday's lesson to see if they can construct a slope triangle and/or use the slope formula to find the slope between two points. Then there are two problems seeing if they can figure out the y-intercept from an equation in slope-intercept form, then a dimensional analysis problem involving texting and driving.

Today's lesson was then an activity with bouncy balls where they compare drop height with bounce height. Each group got a bouncy ball and a meter stick and had to record the mean of 3 bounces from each of 4 heights, then plot those points, sketch a line of best fit, and then come up with an equation for that line. They then use that equation to predict drop height and bounce height for a couple of scenarios.

 

Their homework for tonight is watch the Slope video and, optionally, do some slope between two points problems at CoolMath (they can do none, some, or a bunch, depending on what they think they need).

Day 21

Today is a shortened class period due to our Homecoming Royalty Assembly. So, the bell rings and we have about 4 minutes where I'll remind them that we're going to have an assessment and briefly remind them of some things they should think about while doing the assessment, then we go to the assembly. When we get back, they take the assessment over Graphing Linear Equations by Using a Table.

After the assessment we work out the key together (to post on the blog), and then due to the shortened class period we previewed the Graphing Linear Equations Using Intercepts video that they need to watch tonight so that we could go over, once again, some good strategies to utilize while watching these videos.




Their homework was check the portal for the results of their assessment and schedule an appointment to re-assess if necessary, and to re-watch the video.

Day 14

Today's opener reviews the distributive property and solving two-step equations.

Last year I just assumed that students were pretty good at two-step equations (they've had them before and they had the video for homework), but I think I need to spend another day to help solidify this. So we'll spend some time practicing with two-step equations and then extending our procedure to deal with equations with variables on both sides.

For homework they'll watch the Solving Equations with Variables on Both Sides video.

Day 13

Today's opener reviews solving one-step equations, distributive property, and direct and inverse variation.

Today's lesson is an introduction to multi-step equations. We start by doing some magic:

We then reveal the secret behind the magic:

We then talk about working "backwards" and "undoing" the steps (doing the inverse operation/opposite).

Their homework for tonight is then to watch the Solving Two-Step Equations video.

Day 9

Today's opener reviews Order of Operations, solving a one-step equation involving multiplication, and a Dimensional Analysis problem. While they are working on the opener I'll be walking around checking to make sure they have at least the Self-Check problems from the video they were supposed to watch for homework.

Then today's lesson is to learn about Inverse Variations in the context of speed (d = rt). First, we take a look at this.

I solicit guesses but am not counting on them guessing - at least not until I pick up a tennis ball and start tossing it in the air and catching it. Then, perhaps. Then I'll show them this:

Again, they won't see this entire slide at once. I'll show them the top two images and ask them what question(s) we could ask. Hopefully they will come up with at least "how fast is it moving" and perhaps "how high was it dropped (thrown?) from. I'll then ask how do we figure out speed (based on last year, most students don't seem to really know this). I'll then display the equations and the additional pictures (and, with the picture of the meter stick, I'll open the original so we can zoom in on it to see the markings on the meter stick better).

After we figure out speed, then we'll work through these questions:

I'll then display these pictures for context and to see whether our answer seems reasonable.

Assuming that goes well (that may not be a good assumption, the students struggled with this last year), we'll move on to another rate problem. Using an excerpt I've edited from this video, we'll see if we can figure out Rich Eisen, Tim Tebow (bonus, since he's a Denver Bronco and a hot topic around here), and Jacoby Ford's (average) speed (again, borrowed from Dan Meyer). We'll then do a quick table of values and sketch the graph to (hopefully) notice this is not a straight line, and then define inverse variation.

If we have time, we'll then do a couple of skill practice problems (if not, we'll pick up with this tomorrow).

I'm not sure at this point whether I'll give them any homework or not, depends on how it's going. Most likely their homework will be to review their notes and determine what areas they are feeling comfortable with and what areas they need some extra help on.

Day 8

Today's opener reviews Order of Operations, integer operations, and Dimensional Analysis.

We then move into a lesson on Direct Variation, attempting to connect it to our work with rates and proportions (with a touch of measurement and dimensional analysis thrown in). First we do some converting between kilograms and pounds, write an equation for that relationship, and graph it.

Then we see if we can apply what we've learned to a unit rate (price) problem.

Their homework is then to watch the Solving One-Step Equations Video. This is something they theoretically already know how to do, so it should be a review for all of them.




I don't feel great about today's lesson. It's okay, but I feel like I have to lead them through so much that I'm not sure it's that helpful in terms of their learning process or the actual content, and perhaps just 40 minutes of skill practice might be more effective. What do you think, would it be better to can the semi-interesting problems and just practice a bunch of dimensional analysis and then direct and indirect variation problems?