Day 121 Graphing Inequalities

6th Grade Math Standards: 6.EE.5 Understand solving an equation or inequality as a process of answering a question: which values from a specified set, if any, make the equation or inequality true? Use substitution to determine whether a given number in a specified set makes an equation or inequality true.

6.EE.7 Write an inequality of the form x > c or x < c to represent a constraint or condition in a real-world or mathematical problem. Recognize that inequalities of the form x > c or x < c have infinitely many solutions; represent solutions of such inequalities on number line diagrams.

The Learning Objective: Graph inequalities in a mathematical and real-world context

Quote of the Day: "Be on time. Period."

Agenda:

1. March Madness
2. Graphing examples in notes (for example x > 4, x is less than or equal to 8)
3. Writing inequality examples (for example less than or equal to 48 inches to ride the roller coaster)
4. Exit Ticket with my age being described as 14 years old or older
5. Cheers clip 3-Act Math
6. Math Jack (basically Black Jack but renamed to take the gambling idea out of the minds of the students). I ask students to graph the inequality for the game. 

The Assessment: The exit ticket was a struggle for most students. They didn't know how to describe the variable. They said it was a or s, but didn't know what a or s represented (my age). The students also struggled with the term "14 or older." They mistook that to mean I'm greater than 14. Perhaps that was because I obviously am, but still the problem needs to be interpreted based on how it is written.

We called the March Madness "All-Star Friday." It represented our greatest challenge problems from the week in March Madness. I posted at the top of each jumpstart the record percentage in a given class for each question. The questions included surface area, ratios (with a tape diagram template given), the distributive property and decimal subtraction. All four topics were answered with at least 89% proficiency from each class. Perhaps I'll have the students make an inequality of this statement.

Homework: There was no homework over the weekend. Usually we allow students to work on the weekly quiz online, but this weekend I didn't post it because we are going to work on it in class on Monday.

My Glass Half-Full Take: Math Jack was enjoyable. It's nice to hear students say thank you that was fun as I had one student do at the end of class. It was also interesting to see what evolved from watching the Cheers video. It was supposed to help us calculate inequalities, but instead we were doing work with ratios. Students were calculating how much money $50 per month was in terms of weeks. That involved knowing how many days in a year and how many months in a year. It's a gentle reminder to the worksheet lover in me that math only takes one question to be interesting and assess many different skills if needed.

One Thing I Wish I Had Done Differently: I don't think students have a strong foundation in terms of writing inequalities in a real-world context as evidenced by the exit ticket. This has to be one of the first tasks to tackle when I see the students again. I also know that students will forget how to graph despite the fact that they were doing it without difficulty today. It's one of those skills that's easy to memorize in the moment but taking a break from it will make it much more difficult.