Day 28: Absolute Value Inequalities Are Stifling

Quote of the Day: “Csikszentmihalyi reports that people are happier when they are at work than they’re caring for a child, and researchers observe that happiness increases when children leave home. Yet many people also say that bringing up their children was the best experience of their life. Happiness is not simply the aggregate of happy moments.” – John Kay

Regular Math Objective: Find the cubed root and square root of low numbers

Regular Math Standard: 8.EE.3

Regular Math Lesson Sequence:

1. Jumpstart via Engage New York. This included two charts. One chart was x to the second power and the other was x to the third (or m and p respectively as the chart chose those variables instead of the world famous x). I really thought that this was engaging and a goldilocks task as students struggled, but did not quit in doing this. They were especially perplexed about how to express the relationship when it was a variable and not a constant that they needed to find a rule fo
2. QSSQ
3. Partner Work via Engage New York. I had to reteach how to solve basic equations and explain the merits behind that in terms of multiple step equations. Students were very ignorant of doing something to both sides of the equations. 
4. Exit Ticket. This was really difficult to fit in because students were unable to complete more than five of the nine questions in most classes which left them stranded on negative exponents which was a component of this exit ticket. Instead I verbally went over negative exponents in the last two minutes of class, which is not typically what I like to do. 

Honors Math Objective: Solve absolute value inequalities

Honors Math Standard: A1-A-REI B3 Solve linear equations and inequalities in one variable; including equations with coefficients represented by letters 

Honors Math Lesson Sequence: 

1. QSSQ 
2. Basic absolute value inequalities |x| > 2, |x| < 3 and two that were similar. Students were able to  recognize the pattern with absolute value that started out as greater as being "or" compound inequality and less than to mean that they were and compound inequalities. 
3. Advance toward higher problems that involve moving constants around such as 5 |x - 4| - 3 > 7 

Students were able to conquer the very basic inequalities such as the ones listed in problem two. As soon as we start to introduce the questions with more meat on them, students have a phobia. We could not get to a third problem in this day and completely go over it. Obviously this is where we will enter tomorrow. It's amazing to me how much they understood absolute value and yet could not muster a solid answer on a multiple step absolute value inequality.