Today is day 4 of the challenge and I'm having fun. It's taking a little longer than I want it to but I feel good about the concept. I be taking the weekends off so that I don't take time away from my family, especially since I am taking longer than I wanted to get the posts published. I'm not editing them as well as I like, but it's a good first draft of material and I can come back to the editing process later.
So on to today's lesson. It will be slightly different approach than the ones previously published. I'm going to focus on using an interactive word wall for vocabulary development. Technicall! y this is a classroom routine and not a lesson, so I'm going to add some extra thinking to the template and then develop a lesson, so here goes:
The word wall really works once you get the words on the wall, when students have interactions with the content. I always think of five processes/routines that I want to use with my students over the course of the unit of study/semester:
- students categorize/organize the terms on the WW (the categories change in relation to content, and can be about metacognition- terms we know well/terms we are working on/terms we still don't know)
- put a diagram/graph on the WW and students identify characteristics/components they recognize
- students use the words in a mathematical sentence or make a synthesis of the days learning utilizing terms for the WW (this component may need to be added as students get more experience writing mathematical sentences/summaries, which also means I need to think about how I will develop ! their mathematical writing skills)
- like I did with the ! teachers , someone comes to the WW, chooses a word, explains it, someone else comes to the WW and chooses one that connects to the first one chosen, etc.
- students take a word or a couple of words and develops in-depth explanations that uses multiple representations (drill that focuses on creating in-depth understanding. I like to ask students to create an example that uses the term or word)
- Students go to the WW during the lesson and identify words that relate to the days learning which lets everyone stop, make sure they understand the content and can explain the concept
These are just a few ways of interacting with a WW, but I think they get at the heart of the idea.
Standards:
Big Idea: Number Properties and Operations
Students will justify the solution steps in simplifying expressions or solving an equation.
Students will add, subtract, multiply and divide real numbers.
Students will determin! e the relative position on the number line of real numbers, including very large and very small numbers.
Big Idea: Algebraic Thinking:
Students will write expressions, equations, inequalities and relations in equivalent forms.
Students will use symbolic algebra to represent and explain mathematical relationships.
Students will judge the meaning, utility and reasonableness of the results of symbol manipulations, including those carried out using technology. (Not sure I fully understand this standard, but I believe it means understanding any changes made to an equation or expression.)
Students will write equivalent forms of equations, inequalities and systems of equations and inequalities and solve them with fluency - mentally or with paper and pencil in simple cases and using technology in all cases.
Students will solve one-variable equations and inequalities using manipulatives, symbols, procedures and graphing, including graphing the ! solution set on a number line.
Students will solve linear equations and inequalities in one variable
Lesson Description:
Yesterday, we explored solving linear equations using a dynamic applet. In this lesson, I want to explore how I support student understanding of vocabulary as part of teaching the mathematical concepts. It is a day in which students will focus on practicing some procedural fluency and some communication skills.
Accessing Prior Knowledge:
- Using a Pair/Share activity, have students nominate equations that they think were difficult from yesterday's lesson with the focus on being able to describe what they think was difficult about the equations
- Focus the discussion on having students discuss and capture the issues that caused confusion, and how they dealt with those issues. The goal being to develop a process for how to solve a variety of equations using a process of identif! y the mathematical operation and figure out how to undo or simplify the operation.
New Learning:
- With the discussion of yesterday's equations over, have students go to the word wall and pull terms/words/symbols used in the discussion and place them on the whiteboard beside the item (i.e. put inverse beside the "-1" step in one equation, or coefficient beside the 2 in 2x)
- When time expires or no more terms can be pulled off of the WW have students write down in their double entry organizer the three terms that they are still having trouble identifying or remembering, and create an example to accompany the term
- Students are going to work in small groups to solve a variety of equations. They will work solve the equations in their own section of the poster board for the first fifteen minutes of the activity. they may collaborate if you wish, but I like them to work on their own for a while
- After 15 minutes ! hand out the answer sheet and have them continue to work throu! gh the e quations, checking the work they have already done. At this time if they miss any they should work together to correct the equation to make sure that everyone knows how to solve the equation correctly. the goal is not to finish all of the equations but to make sure the equations that are done are done correctly and everyone knows how to solve them.
- After 10-15 more minutes, students change the focus to identifying the equations that were hardest for them to solve. Identifying 3 equations and what was hard about each equation (not because I missed it, but because I had trouble dividing by 2.3 or I didn't simplify the distributive property correctly)
- Students now negotiate the 3 equations that were hardest for the group to solve. I intentionally use 3 equations for 4 people so the group has to work together and analyze rather than just everybody say one.
- Short discussion of the most difficult equations and how people dealt with the problems.
- You n! ow have problems that your students find difficult, how they deal with those equations, posters of good work to hang around the room, and shared thinking about the processes of solving equations
Summary/Synthesis:
- The whole group discussion will act as the summary of the day's learning and if captured on the whiteboard then students should write down the equations, the identifying issue, and the groups way of dealing with that issue which acts as a great study guide (much better than anything I've ever been able to create)
- The posters with student work.
- Exit Slip, have students respond to the following prompt "Create an equation that uses three operations, and has a solution of z = 4" (Another way of creating an equation bank) and then have students swap and identify the first step to take in solving the equation (not actually solving it), again the focus on process
Assessment:
See Ab! ove, the poster boards, the exit slips, the discussion, during! the act ivity walk around asking questions, make sure to track the questions and ask everyone at least two questions, group questions can count but I prefer individual.
Materials Needed:
- Poster Board
- Word Wall
- List of or Equation bank
Final Thoughts:
I started the description of this lesson as a focus on the word wall, but it turned into a dialogue lesson, but I still like both aspects of the lesson. Maybe I should count this as two lessons... Nah, but I am going to take the weekend off!
Thanks and I look forward to your thoughts!
solve linear equations
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