Monday, April 25, 2011

We began with this opener (pdf).

Today's  lesson (pdf) was over how to add and subtract rational expressions.

Your homework for Wednesday is:

1. Finish the first half of the worksheet #1-12 (key, pdf) if necessary. Do only as many as you need to.
   
   
2. Prepare for the Multiplying, Dividing and Simplifying Rational Expressions Assessment on Wednesday. There are a variety of ways to do that including, but not limited to: review the online pre-assessment; review your notebook and/or the openers and lessons posted on the blog; review the video, work some practice problems in your textbook or that you find online. You can, of course, also get help from me, another math teacher, a teacher in the Study Center, a peer tutor in the Study Center, or a parent, sibling or friend. Do whatever works best for you, but make sure you're prepared. The expectation is that you should all be able to do very well on this assessment.
   
   
3. By no later than midnight on Friday, read about our next Skype session and submit at least one question.
   
   
4. Watch the Adding and Subtracting Rational Expressions video, including completing the Self-Check section in your notebooks.
   
   

Friday, April 15, 2011

I apologize for being out today - my daughter is sick.

You began by reviewing the quadratic formula (Thanks Mr. Rottschafer!). Here's the key (pdf) to the worksheet.

Then you took your Quadratic Formula assessment (key, pdf).

Your homework for Monday 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. Watch the Simplifying Rationals Video. Please be sure to do the self-check problems. The Rational Expressions unit will be our last one - let's finish strong.
   
   

Monday, April 11, 2011

We began with our opener (pdf).

Today's lesson (pdf) was reviewing how to graph y = ax² + bx + c and learning how to use the Quadratic Formula to solve quadratic equations.

Your homework for Wednesday is:

1. Prepare for the Graphing Quadratic Equations Assessment on Wednesday. There are a variety of ways to do that including, but not limited to: review the online pre-assessment; review your notebook and/or the openers and lessons posted on the blog; review the video, work some practice problems in your textbook or that you find online. You can, of course, also get help from me, another math teacher, a teacher in the Study Center, a peer tutor in the Study Center, or a parent, sibling or friend. Do whatever works best for you, but make sure you're prepared. The expectation is that you should all be able to do very well on this assessment.
   
   
2. Watch the Quadratic Formula video.
   
   

Thursday, April 7, 2011

We began with our Pythagorean Theorem assessment (key, pdf).

Today's lesson (pdf) was finishing up from yesterday graphing y = ax² + c and then starting on how to graph y = ax² + bx + c.

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. Watch the Graphing y = ax² + bx + c video.
   
   

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Today's opener (pdf).

Today's lesson (pdf) was learning how to graph y = ax² +c.

Your homework for Thursday is:

1. Prepare for the Pythagorean Theorem Assessment on Thursday. There are a variety of ways to do that including, but not limited to: review the online pre-assessment; review your notebook and/or the openers and lessons posted on the blog; review the video, work some practice problems in your textbook or that you find online. You can, of course, also get help from me, another math teacher, a teacher in the Study Center, a peer tutor in the Study Center, or a parent, sibling or friend. Do whatever works best for you, but make sure you're prepared. The expectation is that you should all be able to do very well on this assessment.
   
   
2. Watch the Graphing y=ax²+c video.
   
   

Friday, April 1, 2011

We began with a quick review and then our assessment over Simplifying Radicals (pdf).

Today's lesson (pdf) was learning about the Pythagorean Theorem.

Your homework for Monday 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. Work on the two problems (Distance from home to second base, HD TV dimensions) that are at the end of the lesson (pdf). You should be able to figure out the distance from home to second base, the HD TV one is harder.
   
   
3. Watch the Pythagorean Theorem video.
   
   

Thursday, March 31, 2011

We began with our assessment over Solving Quadratic Equations by Factoring (pdf).

Today's lesson (pdf) was a review of simplifying radicals. Keep in mind the key (pdf) to the worksheet from yesterday - worked out step by step - was already posted to the blog yesterday. Did you work on the worksheet? Remember I asked you to do all the first page, as many on pages 2 and 3 as you needed to until you got the hang of it (and no more than that), and then work on the last page. I have a feeling that I spent more time on your homework then some of you did - why is that? Did you look at the key and try to figure out any you got stuck on? That would be an excellent way to review tonight.

By the way, the video? You know, the one you were supposed to watch sometime between Monday and Wednesday's class. The one that takes you step-by-step through how you simplify radicals. It's still only been watched 18 times since class on Monday. Even if that's 18 different students from our class and not someone else or someone in our class watching it more than once, that still means that at least 8 of you haven't watched it.

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. Prepare for the Simplifying Radicals Assessment on Friday. There are a variety of ways to do that including, but not limited to: review the online pre-assessment; review your notebook and/or the openers and lessons posted on the blog; review the video, work some practice problems in your textbook or that you find online. You can, of course, also get help from me, another math teacher, a teacher in the Study Center, a peer tutor in the Study Center, or a parent, sibling or friend. Do whatever works best for you, but make sure you're prepared. The expectation is that you should all be able to do very well on this assessment.

Monday, March 28, 2011

Welcome back. We began with this opener (pdf).

Today's lesson (pdf) was about simplifying radicals.

Your homework for Wednesday is:

1. Complete the Solve Quadratic Equations by Factoring Online Pre-Assessment.
   
   
2. Watch the Simplify Radical Expressions video.
   
   
   

Monday, February 28, 2011

We began with our assessment over Multiplying Polynomials (pdf).

Today's lesson (pdf) was reviewing factoring ax² + bx + c and then exploring special products and factors.

Your homework for Wednesday 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. Complete the Factoring ax² + bx + c Online Pre-Assessment.
   
   
3. Watch the Special Products and Factors video.
   
   
   
   
4. Finish your parent/teacher conference reflection by midnight tonight.
   
   
5. Continue to practice with polynomials.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

We began with our assessment over Adding and Subtracting Polynomials (pdf).

Today's lesson (pdf) was reviewing factoring by grouping and then exploring factoring trinomials using Algebra Tiles.

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. Complete the Multiplying Polynomials Online Pre-Assessment.
   
   
3. Watch the Factoring ax² + bx + c video.
   
   
   
   
4. Between now and Monday, do some factoring ax²+bx+c practice, as well as factoring by grouping practice.
   
   
5. No later than by midnight on Monday, complete your reflection for parent/teacher/hopefullystudent conferences. Like last time, you should do this in a Google Doc.
   
   a) Create a new Google Doc and title it "Your Name 2nd Semester Conferences Reflection."
   
   b) Write to the following prompt (but don't be limited by it - you can write about additional stuff as well if you feel it's important):
   
   Parent/Teacher Conferences are coming up next week. Since these conferences are about you, I think you should be there. It makes very little sense to me that we should have a conference about you and you’re not there, so I’m encouraging your parents to come and to bring you with them. Please bring your Algebra notebook as well, so that we can look at your work if we need to.
   
   Whether you end up attending or not, I want you to spend some time thinking about what you want your parents to know about this class and how you are doing. Here are some questions for you to respond to (all in terms of second semester):
   
   What’s going well for you?
   
   What’s challenging for you?
   
   What could I do as your teacher that would help you be more successful?
   
   What could you do as a student that would help you be more successful?
   
   Is there anything your parents can do to help you be more successful?
   
   Is there anything else you think your parents should know about this class or about how you are doing in this class?
   
   Please be thoughtful and specific in your responses, and please don't wait until the last minute, as I want you to put some real thought into this. The more you put into it, the more valuable it will be for you, me and your parents. Thanks.
   
   c) After you've completed your response, simply drag and drop the document into our shared folder (Algebra-Fisch-YourName) - you may have to expand (by clicking on the arrow) "Collections shared with me" first in order to see the shared folder. If you need help, please ask.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

We began with our opener (pdf).

Today's lesson (pdf) was reviewing GCF and then learning about factoring by grouping.

Your homework for Thursday is:

1. Prepare for the Adding and Subtracting Polynomials Assessment on Thursday. There are a variety of ways to do that including, but not limited to: review the online pre-assessment; review your notebook and/or the openers and lessons posted on the blog; review the video, work some practice problems in your textbook or that you find online. You can, of course, also get help from me, another math teacher, a teacher in the Study Center, a peer tutor in the Study Center, or a parent, sibling or friend. Do whatever works best for you, but make sure you're prepared. The expectation is that you should all be able to do very well on this assessment.
   
2. Watch the Factoring Polynomials by Grouping video.
   
   
   
   
3. Do some more factoring by grouping practice.

What If It Was Possible?

Teachers get this fairly often.

That's impossible Mr. Fisch. I can't do that.

Is it really impossible? Or does it just take a whole lot of work?

Watch.




So next time you feel yourself getting ready to say,

That's impossible.

remember this video and ask yourself,

Is it really impossible? Or do I just have to work at it?

What kind of box have you put yourself in?

(via A Year of Reading)

Thursday, February 17, 2011

We began with our opener (pdf).

Today's lesson (pdf) was reviewing divisibility rules and then learning about finding the Greatest Common Factor (GCF) of a polynomial.

Your homework for next Wednesday is:

1. Watch the Factoring Polynomials using GCF video.
   
   
   
   
2. Complete the Adding and Subtracting Polynomials Online Pre-Assessment.
   
   
3. Complete #1e and f and #2d, e and f from yesterday's worksheet lesson (pdf).
   
   
4. Take Friday off from Algebra. Maybe even Saturday. But spend at least 20 minutes on Algebra each day on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Some possibilities:
   
   Go over the review worksheet.
   
   Work some Adding and Subtracting Polynomial problems
   
   Work some Multiplying Polynomials problems (here and here).
   
   Review the videos on Adding and Subtracting Polynomials, Multiplying Polynomials, and GCF (above).
   
   Prepare yourself to do well over the next few weeks.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

We began with our assessment over Perimeter, Circumference and Area (pdf).

Today's lesson (pdf) was exploring area models to model multiplying polynomials.

Your homework for Thursday 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. Complete #1d and #2b and c from today's worksheet lesson (pdf).
   
   
3. Watch the Multiplying Polynomials video.
   
   
   
   
4. Work some practice problems from this page and this page (a few from both). Write them down in your notebook.
   
   How many problems? That's up to you. Do enough until you feel comfortable you've mastered multiplying polynomials.
   
   Note: You do not need to type anything on the website. Simple click the "Give me a problem" button. It will give you a problem. Write it down, work it out on paper in your notebook, then click "What's the answer?" to check it. Repeat as many times as you need to until you've mastered the concept.
   
   Note 2: They indicate exponents with the ^ character. So x² is written as x^2.

Monday, February 14, 2011

We began with our opener (pdf).

Today's lesson (pdf) was exploring the use of Algebra Tiles to model polynomials.

Your homework for Wednesday is:

1.  Finish the worksheet - lesson (pdf).
   
2. Prepare for the Perimeter, Circumference and Area Assessment on Wednesday. There are a variety of ways to do that including, but not limited to: review the online pre-assessment; review your notebook and/or the openers and lessons posted on the blog; review the video, work some practice problems in your textbook or that you find online. You can, of course, also get help from me, another math teacher, a teacher in the Study Center, a peer tutor in the Study Center, or a parent, sibling or friend. Do whatever works best for you, but make sure you're prepared. The expectation is that you should all be able to do very well on this assessment.
   
   
3. Watch the Adding and Subtracting Polynomials video on Monday.
   
   
   
   
4. On Tuesday, work some practice problems from this site. Write them down in your notebook.
   
   How many problems? That's up to you. Do enough until you feel comfortable you've mastered adding and subtracting polynomials.
   
   Note: You do not need to type anything on the website. Simple click the "Give me a problem" button. It will give you a problem. Write it down, work it out on paper in your notebook, then click "What's the answer?" to check it. Repeat as many times as you need to until you've mastered the concept.
   
   Note 2: They indicate exponents with the ^ character. So x² is written as x^2.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

We began with our opener (pdf).

We then briefly looked at a mathematical mistake in a graphic that accompanied the State of the Union (pdf).

Today's lesson (pdf) looked at measures of central tendency and dispersion.

Your homework for Thursday is:

1. Please complete through Step 5 of the worksheet - page 4 of the lesson (pdf).
   
   
2. Prepare for the Permutations and Combinations Assessment on Thursday. There are a variety of ways to do that including, but not limited to: review the online pre-assessment; review your notebook and/or the openers and lessons posted on the blog; review the video, work some practice problems in your textbook or that you find online. You can, of course, also get help from me, another math teacher, a teacher in the Study Center, a peer tutor in the Study Center, or a parent, sibling or friend. Do whatever works best for you, but make sure you're prepared. The expectation is that you should all be able to do very well on this assessment.
   
   
3. Watch the Measures of Central Tendency and Dispersion video.
   
   

Friday, January 21, 2011

Today's opener (pdf).

Today's lesson (pdf) explored the idea of combinations.

Your homework for Monday is:

1. Prepare for the Probability and Odds Assessment on Monday. There are a variety of ways to do that including, but not limited to: review the online pre-assessment; review your notebook and/or the openers and lessons posted on the blog; review the video, work some practice problems in your textbook or that you find online. You can, of course, also get help from me, another math teacher, a teacher in the Study Center, a peer tutor in the Study Center, or a parent, sibling or friend. Do whatever works best for you, but make sure you're prepared. The expectation is that you should all be able to do very well on this assessment.
   
   
2. Watch (including completing the Guided Practice and Self-Check sections) the Combinations video.
   
   

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Today's opener (pdf).

Today's lesson (pdf) discussed the counting principle and permutations.

Your homework for tonight is:

1.  Complete the Probability and Odds Pre-Assessment.
   
   
2. Watch (including completing the Guided Practice and Self-Check sections) the Permutations video.
   
   
   
   
3. Figure out the factorial (!) and Permutations (nPr) buttons on your calculator (Scientific Calculator: Typically the shift or 2nd button, then a key; Graphing Calculators: look in the Math Menu, then arrow over to PRB menu). If you don't have these buttons, pay special attention to the formulas in the video and how to calculate factorial and permutations "manually" with your calculator.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Today's opener (pdf).

Today's lesson (pdf) looked at the concepts of probability and odds.

Your homework for tonight is:

1. Play around with the Cold War Kids video and try to answer the two questions from the lesson:
   
   a) If we set all of the tracks before we start, how many different videos could we watch?
   
   b) How many clips did each musician have to record?
   
   c) Bonus question: If we started watching all the possible different versions we could watch starting tomorrow in class, and only watched during our Algebra class (and did nothing else - you wish), on what day and at what time would we finish watching the videos? (Helpful link: AHS Calendar)
   
   
2. Here are two interesting articles about probability that you might be interested in.
   
   5 Worries Parents Should Drop, and 5 They Shouldn't looks at what parents typically fear will happen to their kids (but is actually pretty unlikely), and what they should be concerned about (because they have a higher probability of happening).
   
   Chances Are looks at a conditional probability problem involving the likelihood of having breast cancer is you have a positive mammogram. We won't be getting into conditional probability this year, but it's still an interesting and important article for you to see how probability is something you need a good handle on in order to make good health care decisions.
   
   
3. Watch (including completing the Guided Practice and Self-Check sections) the Find Probability and Odds video.
   
   

Friday, January 14, 2011

We began with the Scientific Notation Assessment (key, pdf).

Today's lesson (pdf) explored more applications of exponential growth.You might talk with your parents about PERA/Social Security/Medicare, budgets, and exponential growth. You might also ask them the moon question and see what their guess is.

Your homework for next Wednesday 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. Make sure your notebook is organized including your notes from class each day (openers, lessons), the notes you take when you watch the videos, the worked out on.line pre-assessment problems, and the assessments that have been handed back. You should also be filling out your skills checklist with the scores you receive on those assessments to track your progress.
   
   
3. Here's another Power of 10 video you might like called Cosmic Voyage
   
   
   
4. And yet another, the opening scene from the movie Contact