8th grade, Algebra I class

Welcome to the blog!! I'm learning as I go -- first I'll include what we have been doing this Quarter. Later, I'll learn how to add links to useful websites, ways to interact, interesting problems (for bonus points), etc.

This quarter, Algebra class focuses on the standards concerning solving equations and inequalities, linear equations and graphing. This information builds on what students have done in earlier years, so should not be as "weird" as some of the math last quarter. That also means that grades should be as high or higher !!

During the first week, we visited a website (www.Shodor.org) and explored the function machine activity. We also spent several days investigating different types of functions: radical, cubic, quadratic and linear -- we graphed them by hand and using a graphing calculator (free on line and my personal one in class). We debriefed our information and made notes about the characteristics of each function family.

It is now Wed, Oct 21, and we have spent 2 days in a problem solving workshop that is covering some basic equation-solving skills (so we have a good starting point on this critical topic).

What about grades?
the function lab grade is worth a total of 20 points -- everyone did a nice job of working on this and has earned 10 of these points. The other 10 are based on the quality of their notes (from our debriefing session). So far, 13 students have shown me their notes so they have a grade. Everyone else needs to show me their notes by the end of class tomorrow.
We will have a quiz on the function families (notes may be used!) before the end of this week.

The problem solving workshop will be graded in two parts -- the first involved completing a series of math puzzles and is worth 70 total points; the second is a "chapter 1 test" from another good algebra book I like to use -- worth a total of 25 points. These will be scored and entered before next Monday.

Note to parents: we have been having more than the usual amount of absences and I have altered my lesson plans accordingly -- students have longer to work on items and we spend more time in class on them. However, if they are slipping, they may need to come for some extra help to catch up -- tutoring is available almost every day from 3:20 - 4:00.