Day 119 Functions Study Guide & Quiz

6th Grade Math Standards: 6.EE.9 Use variables to represent two quantities in a real-world problem that change in relationship to one another; write an equation to express one quantity, thought of as the dependent variable, in terms of the other quantity, thought of as the independent variable. Analyze the relationship between the dependent and independent variables using graphs and tables, and relate these to the equation. For example, in a problem involving motion at constant speed, list and graph ordered pairs of distances and times, and write the equation d = 65t to represent the relationship between distance and time.

6.EE.1 Write and evaluate numerical expressions involving whole-number exponents.

6.EE.3 Evaluate expressions at specific values of their variables. Include expressions that arise from formulas used in real-world problems. Perform arithmetic operations, including those involving whole-number exponents, in the conventional order when there are no parentheses to specify a particular order (Order of Operations). For example, use the formulas V = s3 and A = 6s2 to find the volume and surface area of a cube with sides of length s = ½.

The Learning Objective: Find an input based on an output and a function rule, determine the rule for a table that shows two different variables, graph a function in a coordinate plane, create a table of values based on a function rule.

Quote of the Day: “I received an email from a gentleman who wrote that during his ten years in the military, whenever something went wrong, the only acceptable response was, ‘No excuses!’ He accepted it, he believed it, and he lived it. When he returned to civilian life, he started working as a territory manager for a large firm in the food industry. He wasn’t doing as well as his company expected, and he wasn’t pleased with his own performance either so he started asking his manager questions like these: Why don’t I get more of your time? Why don’t you coach me more? Why isn’t our pricing competitive? Why doesn’t marketing support us? If this man after living and breathing ten years of “No excuses” can slip into this victim thinking, no wonder the rest of us can too.” - Jon Miller

Agenda:

1. MCAS Math March Madness
2. Study Guide page 1 (4 minutes)and review 
3. Study Guide page 2 (4 minutes) and review 
4. Study Guide page 3 (4 minutes) and review 
5. Study Guide page 4 (4 minutes) and review
6. Study Guide page 5 (4 minutes) and review
7. Take the test on functions
8. Work on the weekly quiz
9. Fill out an NCAA tournament bracket if the weekly quiz is perfect

The Assessment: Performance on the test was very good overall. As far as the March Madness went, students struggled most with surface area and writing ratios. One class only had 24% get the ratio question (keep in mind it was multiple choice so a monkey would do better). The ratio topic was one that I was concerned with, so we will be reviewing that topic on next week's weekly quiz. The top score all day on the surface area question was 57%.

Homework: There was no homework other then continuing to work on the weekly quiz.

My Glass Half-Full Take: I really liked timing everything on the study guide today. I knew going into class that the agenda was jam packed if I let the students do March Madness. Since I wanted to keep this routine going, I decided to ditch using partners for the study guide and to break each section into chunks. I put the timer on the board so that students could be reminded to stay focused and I circumvented the room. There wasn't much difficulty with this from a classroom management standpoint. After doing the study guide in the first block, I was relatively pleased with the results on the test in the second block.

One Thing I Wish I Had Done Differently: The test asks for students to show work a certain way and I'm not really a fan of it now. I think that I will give less restrictions as to how the answers get on the paper the next time around as it only adds to the confusion and for the most part is an impediment toward mastery of the objectives.