Thursday, September 23, 2010

First we took the Graphing Linear Equations by Using Intercepts Assessment (key, pdf). As always, you should check your results on the portal and schedule a time for help/re-assessment if you need to.

Then our lesson (pdf) for the day was taking a look at slope via tax rates and wind chills.

Your homework for Friday is:

1. Check the portal for the results of your assessment, fill out your student checklist with your results, and make a plan for retake (if necessary), including making an appointment.
   
   
2. If you haven't yet, read the info for our next Skype session and submit your question(s). Questions are due no later than 7 am on Friday, but by Thursday afternoon would be better.
   
   
3. Finish Part II (table 4 and questions) and review the rest of the lesson (pdf). Make sure you understand how to calculate slope when given two points, and that the slope for a line is the same everywhere on that line. (Note the difference between the tax rate example, where the slope changed for each income bracket, and the table four example, where the slope was always the same). Talk to your social studies teacher about marginal tax rates and the different arguments for and against raising taxes.
   
   If you'd like to read more about the current tax discussion, here is the original Denver Post article that I read that generated this problem. It doesn't include the nice chart that was in the print edition, but here is a fancy interactive chart. And here's a related article from Wednesday's Denver Post.
   
   
4. Watch the Slope Video (split into two parts: Part 1 and Part 2 - sorry, a little bit longer than 10 minutes this time, but not too bad - 13 minutes). Make sure you complete all parts, including doing the self-check problems in your notebook.