Claudette Tucker
During student teaching, my students and I spent an extended period of time on Factoring. The concepts and ideas of this unit were the most difficult part of Algebra I for the students to understand. Therefore, I have chosen to explore the unit again with an attempt to incorporate technology and other activities to minimize re-teaching and to ensure student comprehension. It may be useful to include some time for lecturing or simply class discussion about factoring beyond the investigation. This unit fails to implement this component.
The following timeframe was suggested by the resource. This is merely a reference point, which can be altered as necessary. For instance, we, as educator, should provide opportunities for student investigation in each problem-based lesson, and student should be assessed be periodically throughout the unit. (Note that assessment fails to be limited to graded assignments.)
|
Lesson |
Topic |
Timeframe |
|
Lesson 1 |
Factors |
2 days |
|
Lesson 2 |
Investigation |
1 day |
|
Lesson 3 |
Factoring Using the Distributive Property |
2 days |
|
Lesson 4 |
Factoring Trinomials x2+bx+c |
2 days |
|
Lesson 5 |
Factoring Trinomials ax2+bx+c |
1 day |
|
Lesson 6 |
Special Factors |
1 day |
|
Lesson 7 |
Study Guide and Assessment |
1 day |
|
Lesson 8 |
Chapter Test |
1 day |
The study guide, assessment, and chapter test can be found with the reference. Based upon the lessons presented, it may be best to modify these items to include similar explorations as the lessons.
Reference
Cummins, J., Mallory, C., McClain, K., Mojica, Y., & Price, J. (2001). Algebra: Concepts and Applications. New York, New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.