5/17/07

The debate is still on as to whether I can modify my students' test by writing in "slope" by "m" and "coefficient" by "b." My perspective is that, if my students understand what these two things are and can find them using tables, graphs, and equations, they should not be punished for not having had as much exposure to the letter form. It's my fault that they haven't seen "m" and "b" more often. If they can truly understand what "slope" and "y-intercept" are, and know how to find them in multiple settings, then I am not so worried about whether they know "m" and "b." We modify assignments, tests, and quizzes for so many kids, and this is just another type of modification.

When considering this, I debated whether making the changes would affect the test results drastically enough that they wouldn't be comparable to the results for other students. I also spoke to an eighth-grade math teacher to hear that perspective. She pretty much agreed with me, and saw this book as a stepping-stone to her class next year.

5/10/07

Connected Math has so many different terms for slope: rate of change, coefficient, scale factor, and steepness. For the most part, this works. I like to slowly introduce more and more difficult concepts for the same thing. However, this is incredibly difficult for some of my lower level students. We've got posters around the room that outline the most important information from this book. The one that I refer to the most is this one:

HOW TO WRITE AN EQUATION

Y = 5t +/- 6 (I have the following labeled above and below or with arrows. I can't show this through the computer, but I'll do my best.)

Y (dep. variable) = 5 (slope, rate of change, steepness, coefficient) *t (indep. variable) +/-6 (y-int)

We have to constantly refer back to this poster, because there are five students in my class who can put the slope in the correct spot in an equation on paper, but can't verbalize where it belongs.

We started Investigation 4 this week. Students really understand the idea behind slope and how to find slope. I was surprised at how quickly this class picked up the concept. We didn't start 4.1 with the students going to the stairs and measuring. We started talking about what kind of stairs are the easiest to climb and which are the hardest to climb. I took a piece of chart paper and a crayon, and did a rubbing of the wall. This allowed me to "trace" the bricks, which showed a stair-step type pattern. We began class talking about the rise and run, and used the wall rubbings as examples. This really helped students make the connection between the word and the action.

5/3/07

Okay, so today was one of those days when I felt like nothing I did got through! It was frustrating! I gave a mini-quiz yesterday, based on class discussion and entrance/exit slips that we've been working on. I figured this quiz was a guaranteed success for my students. There were 10 questions total, all related to solving equations. But there were three questions in there that were different from the one-step or two-step equations we've been doing.

1. 22 (3+p) = 88
2. 40 = c + 2c - 101
3. 4x + x - 2x + 3 = 54

These should look familiar, because in my last blog entry I said that I was going to give this quiz the next day. However, we took some more time to go through the more confusing equations, so that students would be able to master this.

They have been kicking butt on all of this! Almost all of them have aced the past one or two exit slips, which were on solving equations using distribution, as well as simplifying before they solve the equation.

My plan for this quiz was to make the second and third questions listed above count for extra credit (without telling them, so that they would all try it). To my amazement, these kids bombed on this quiz. Two of my students did pretty well, but there was one student who only got one question correct, and was confused as to how to even begin solving the questions. And one student didn't get any of the questions correct. I was so surprised! I really didn't expect this.

Today I handed back the quizzes. They were not really graded. Instead, I put a star next to the questions that were correct. When I handed the quizzes back, the first thing I did was ask what happened, and I was pleasantly surprised at the feedback I received.