Algebra, Tues 2/16

Not our best day, I'm afraid. Only 3 students had actually tried the modest assignment -- which was 8 exercises that were all review. We started our new unit on polynomials by asking what we already knew about them. All we knew was that the word roots mean "many numbers". We determined that we needed to know what they are, how to add, subtract, multiply and divide them and to also learn how they are useful. However, students mostly didn't focus on the class learning activities -- which build on a review of like terms.
I asked, I waited, I asked again, I handed out minor incident reports. We were not in "learning mode" today. Therefore, THE ASSIGNMENT is to write a paragraph, using complete sentences, on "How I will succeed in algebra class". Those who think they are already using successful habits should enumerate them. Those who think they should modify their classroom behavior should outline these changes. I told students that, depending on the quality of their paragraphs, I may have them signed by parents. We generally waste at least 1/2 of our class period waiting for students to settle down and get back on-task. It is not everyone, but it is too many of them. I'm tired of it.