Monday, October 11, 2010

A step....

I actually got my 1st period class laughing with (at?) me on Friday.  It was quite an accomplishment. :)  I have to admit that it was me being dumb... but what's new?  We'd been talking about quadratic functions - I gave them f(x) = ax2 + bx + c and asked for it in standard (vertex) form, axis of symmetry, and x-intercepts.  After letting them muddle through the completing the square bit I stepped in to help out.  It's sad how many kids just sat and stared at it... will definitely have to keep this question in mind for the quiz!  It was when we were solving for x-intercepts that the lightbulb finally went off for me - we should end up with the quadratic formula!  How fun!  I guess I was acting kinda dumb about it, but it really got me excited.  They thought it was pretty funny, but then some of the kids actually agreed with me that it was kinda cool.

We're reviewing today in Algebra 2 - I'd planned on giving them a graphing linear equations/inequalities quiz on Friday, but the piecewise functions bit is really tripping some of them up.  Ended up doing an extra day of review on Friday.  I hate Monday quizzes and avoid them if possible, so the quiz is tomorrow instead.  I didn't want to just give them another worksheet today, so I worked yesterday and came up with some review stations (a la @JackieB's post).  If I can, I'd like to split the kids up into groups of 3 making sure that each group has a kid that I know can graph the piecewise functions.... 

Here (box.net link) are the problems I came up with.

A2 Graphing Equations Review Stations                                                                                                                                   

I'm trying to figure out how to get them the answers for each of the problems so they can check their work.  The stations shouldn't take the whole class period, so I may just project the answers after everyone's done.  We'll see.  I'd also thought about getting out the little dry erase boards and having a station where they graph on the board, but I want to be able to see what they've done, too.  Guess I'll stick with the paper.

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