Algebra+1

Upload **Algebra 1** lesson files here. Along with your file, give a brief description for your choosing it to be the lesson of the week. Matthew Laroche Exponential Growth and Decay 10/7/11 Lesson of the Week

Comments: Matt, the students really enjoyed the "Rock-Paper-Scissors" tournament as well as the "Deal or No Deal" scenario. By the end of the two hours, they were excited to write their own scenarios for growth and/or decay. Maybe highlight that more if you redo this lesson plan. Dr. C. ** Combining Like Terms   ** ** Ashley Soares ** ** 9/19/11 ** Lesson of the Week  Comments: Ashley, I like the deck of cards as a way to help students think about combining like terms. I need to see your specific examples in the lesson plan (your examples; text examples, etc.) in the body of the plan rather than a description of the flow of the lesson itself. Dr. C.


 * Graphing Quadratic Inequalities **
 * Sara Almquist **
 * 2/27/09 **

I just started teaching Algebra I, Part II this week and this is the first lesson I taught them. When we were doing the examples together step by step as a class, the students seemed to be getting it and even seemed bored with it after awhile. Once they started working on it alone, however, most were completely lost. Most of the students were getting hung up in places way before actually graphing, like using the quadratic formula or finding the vertex, which they've been doing for a week now. It seemed like I was helping with arithmetic mostly instead of actual algebra, and I don't really know how to fix this for future lessons.


 * Comments:** Sara, can you think of some applied situations to motivate the examples that you are having students graph? Some students will do better with the details if they can picture a situation in their head. Dr. S.

Solving Mulit-Step Equations Kaylan Easterbrooks 2/27/09 This lesson went over well do to the adjustments that I made prior to teaching this lesson. I had a student that hardly ever answers question almost jumping out of her seat to answer the launch question. This class is very talkative so that sometimes can be and issue but this day they were quiet for most of the class. Kaylan, since this class is bright, see if you can get them to conjecture how these equations might be solved before you model for them. Dr. S.
 * Comments:**

** Using Algebra Tiles for Multiplication of Polynomials **
 * Sara Almquist **
 * 3/13/09 **

For this lesson, we spent the entire class using the Algebra tiles. I was a little nervous as to how well they would work out, but the students loved them! They even asked me if they could use them on their next quiz. The only thing I would have done differently is model more problems with them and then do more together as a class, because there were a lot of questions at first.

Comments: Sara, am glad that you tried algebra tiles. It can take a bit of time for students to catch on to any new manipulative, and this one is no different. Next time will be easier. Dr. S.

Sara, I had decided to create large algebra tiles to use as a whole class example. I decided to go this route because of my fear of the time it takes to organize each student having algebra tiles. After reading your lesson, I am encouraged to see that it appears worth it to spend the time to use them. Sounds like there was much positive feedback from the students. I also agree about modeling more examples. I find myself letting the students go without training wheels too soon at times when they are far better served with scaffolding by more examples. -Sean

We are going to be starting work with polynomials in my classes next week and I had remembered seeing this lesson and how the use of algebra tiles worked well for your class. Im going to be using the algebra tiles starting with combining like terms with additon and subtraction of polynomials, and I'll be sure to follow your advice about including more modeling with the tiles before giving the students the activity. -Amanda

Lessons due by 3/20

**Solving Systems of Linear Equations by Eliminating a Variable** For the past few days students had learned how to solve systems of linear equations by graphing and substitution. Students were mad that they had spent so much time on those when this came so much easier to them. We had to spend some time talking about why this isn't always the best method.
 * Amanda Sawyer & Mrs. Nault**

Comments: This is a nicely planned lesson. The execution had nice transitions so as to maintain attention of students. Dr. S.

Amanda, I really liked how you scaffolded the examples for the students. I could see that the lesson built confidence for the students as it went along. In addition, you still managed to challenge their higher order thinking skills by the way you presented the "re-ordering" examples. -Sean

**Jeopardy Review Game** This is a review game that I made to use the class before a test. The biggest problem was that the students couldn't see the questions on the ELMO so I had to read all the questions as they came up. All the students were working on the problems for the enitre class, however, and it gave me a really good idea of what we needed to go over before the period ended again. Comments: This was a nice class, Sara. Perhaps you would share your questions with others so that they could take advantage of your hard work. Dr. S.
 * Sara Almquist**

Sara, I used a Jeopardy style review game for one of my classes as well. I have noticed that the most important thing for such a lesson is the organization and the directions. Your preparation seemed evident and it sounded like you executed it well also. When you are as prepared as you were, it is easy to adapt to the glitch of not being able to read the Elmo. I have also found it quite helpful to have a worksheet for the students to follow along (or something similar) to guarantee that each student stays engaged. -Sean

** Lessons due 3/27 **

**Solving Systems of Linear Inequalites** This lesson was difficult. Im still transitioning into the school and getting to know the students. This actually went much better in the second block and I feel that the smaller class size played a large part in that. There were only 16 students in the second class so there were smaller groups, so students seemed more focused.
 * Amanda Sawyer**

Comments Amanda, the lesson is well planned and the activity was solid. It is interesting to note the effect that class size can have on the execution, isn't it? Dr. S.

**Using a Rope to teach Slope**
 * Mike Refici**

This was a nice lesson on slope where we turned the class into a virtual coordinate plane. Then, with the students representing ordered pairs (they were seated in rows), we investigated the meaning of slope by extending a large rope right across the room. It was absolutley as cool as it sounds!

Comments It seemed that part of your lesson objective was accomplished by the Launch....was that intentional? Dr. S.

I really like this lesson. It is very visual and shows that manipulatives do not always have to be high tech. The entire classroom was transformed into a minipulitve and the students became a part in it. I dont think that students will forget the content that they learned that day. -Amanda

Mike, this lesson sounds great to me. With all the technology we have now, it's so easy to overlook simple things that work just as well if not better in terms of manipulatives. I know you said that you didn't have any behavior problems during this period, but is this a class you usually have behavior problems in? Also, did you set up some ground rules before you actually brought the rope into the picture? I think I would be a little nervous with some classes, but it's definately worth trying! -Sara

= = **Writing Linear Equations** This lesson shows a lot of the problems I have with this class, mostly the huge differences in skill and mostly motivation between big groups of students. Comments: Brian, it would be useful for you to give lots of wait time and strategize how you might use groups of different ability to handle some of the issues you describe. Similar tasks at differentiated ability levels that students report results on will also be instructive for all students. Keep trying different strategies. Dr. S.
 * Brian Resendes**

 **Graphing inequalities in two variables**
 * This lesson was done with power point on smart board technology**
 * Sean Caffrey**

Comments: <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Nicely scaffolded. How did it go? How did the students react? You did not tell us! Dr. S.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">I like how even though you presented the information from a power point, you still had students up and completing the examples on the smart board (at least I think thats what you did.) It took the focus away from you and onto the student, and also gave them the opportunity to work with a new technological resource. -Amanda

**<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Lessons due April 3 **

**Product Properties of Exponets**
 * Amanda Sawyer** [[file:Exponentmaze.docx]]

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This lesson was focused around the students discovering the properties on their own. Many of the students were quick to predict the properties during the activities, especially the "maze". They were allowed to use their calculator because we hadn't discussed the properties yet, but many were quick to realize a pattern with the exponents and only used it to check their predictions.

Comments Although not a focus of the lesson, the handout that supported a^0 = 1 (a > 0) could have posed a question about negative exponents as an Extension. Even if students were not able to answer it at this time, you would have set the stage for its future appearance. Dr. S.

Amanda, you obviously put a lot of time into thinking up all the different examples and how to best incorporate them into your lesson. I think the maze is a great idea and a great way to get students motivated throughout the lesson. It's also good to know that the students caught on quickly to the concepts, for some reason I tend to think this concept isn't quite as intuitive to students as it probably is. I'd be interested to know if you would think it was worthwhile to incorporate the maze idea into other concepts. -Sara

Lessons due April 17

Project for Graphing Inequalities in Two Variables A Business Proposal by Sean Caffrey

Comments: How did this lesson go Sean? Were students successful with their projects? What standards were you addressing? Dr. S.

Midterm Review with Math Bingo Amanda Sawyer We didn't do anything new this week because of midterms. This review worked well... many seemed to enjoy it. Comments: Do you think that MATHO was an effective review for the exam? How did students perform on the exam? Did their MATHO performance correlate with their exam performance? Dr. S.

=Lessons due Apr 27=

Systems of Equations Solving by Graphing by Sean Caffrey

Intro lesson to systems of equations. Overall went well. Comments: Nice job and reflection. Dr. S.

Amanda Sawyer Adding Polynomials

This lesson went well. Students picked up on this concept faster then I thought they would have... I could have introduced subtraction as well in my first block.

Comments: I agree with your comment, Amanda. Dr. S.

Lessons Due May 1

Sean Caffrey Lesson on solving systems of equations using multiplication Comments: Nice lesson and expertly scaffolded. Dr. S.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'comic sans ms',cursive; text-align: center;">**Parallel Slopes** <span style="display: block; font-family: 'comic sans ms',cursive; text-align: center;">**Mike Refici** <span style="display: block; font-family: 'comic sans ms',cursive; text-align: center;">**4/28/09** = = <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: left;">

This was my final lesson of the week. It was was observed by Dr. Sullivan. My students always seem to be on their best behavior when I am being observed. I am wondering if other people are having a similar experience or not? This lesson went well, and the students really enjoyed the alphabet worksheet. My students have been working with slope and graphs of linear equations for 3 weeks now. Progress is slow but I do believe that the concepts are clicking for more and more students each day. Comments: Students really liked the demo with the sticks. Dr. S.

Intro. to Factoring (finding factors) Amanda Sawyer

I'm glad I spent a day going over finding factors of a number because many of the students did not recall what a factor was. I was surprised when many students claimed to have never seen a factor tree before. Many really enjoyed the factor tree (some even made them very artistic). Most of this class was a discussion on questions like "is there a number that is a factor of every number" and "what is least amount of factors that a number will have". Overall this went well... and I think that by reserving a day for the basics of factoring that the rest of the time spent on factoring will go smoother.

Comments: Am curious about your saying that each number has at least four factors - I trust that you are including negative values??? It is a nicely scaffolded lesson. Dr. S.