Day 52: Graphing

Quote of the Day: “Everything we accomplish happens not just because of our efforts but through the efforts of others.” - Mark Sanborn

Regular Math Objective: Compare and contrast two different linear functions

Regular Math Standards: Graph proportional relationships, interpreting the unit rate as the slope of the graph. Compare two different proportional relationships represented in different ways.

Regular Math Lesson Sequence:

1. Graphing Jumpstart comparing two different graphs. There were some really good conversations that came out of this. Students were able to express that if x was positive  the corresponding y would be negative in one graph, but not the other.
2. QSSQ
3. Review the homework and pepper. The question from the homework we reviewed was the bamboo problem. The text read "bamboo grows at an average of five inches per year." We had a really powerful discussion that was too engaging in one of my classes about what happens as the graph continues to increase over time. We had to look up the fact that bamboo will eventually be capped at 98 feet. We also discussed whether this would be a discrete or continuous graph and if it were truly linear in a real-world sense. 
4. 10 Minutes of the Goldfish lesson from the previous class
5. Exit Ticket that resembled the jumpstart.

It's amazing how the conversations in a class can go from silent to productive by doing two things. Asking kids to share in groups of two to three as opposed to the entire class. I guess it's just a matter of confirming their suspicions, but after giving this time for them to think and hear others thoughts I get much richer responses. The second thing is asking a simpler question of "What do you notice?" It has allowed us to dive into discussions surrounding the words slope, linear, discrete, impossible, real-world, mathematical, quadrants, etc.

Honors Math Objective: Apply the Pythagorean theorem in a real-world context

Honors Math Standards: 8.EE.7, 8.EE.8

Honors Math Lesson Sequence:

1. QSSQ
2. Pepper/HW Review. Right away as students entered I had three students on the marker board writing problems from the homework down. 
3. Dan Meyer's Taco Cart

I've discussed the Taco Cart on a previous post, but I really enjoy this lesson. It went better for this group because fluency isn't as much of an issue and they had two partners that communicated fairly well.