Ann thinks I am standing on a ladder, however she doesn't know THE fact that I'm half white, half amazing.

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Ann's Lesson Plans

Lesson Plan #1

Target Audience: High School Geometry Class (10th-12th grade)

Big Idea: Using Geometer’s Sketchpad to construct different quadrilaterals and also use it to discuss the similarities and the differences between them.

Goal: For students to learn how to construct the different types of “special quadrilaterals.” Also, have them make conjectures about each quadrilateral and their diagonals.

Standards:
- G.3.1 Describe, classify, and understand relationships among the quadrilaterals square, rectangle, rhombus, parallelogram, trapezoid, and kite.
- G.8.3 Make conjectures about geometric ideas. Distinguish between information that supports a conjecture and the proof of a conjecture.

Resources:
- http://www.indianastandards.org/index.asp
- http://mathforum.org/sketchpad/sketchpad.html


Lesson Plan #2

Target Audience: High School Algebra II Class (10th-12th grade)

Big Idea: How to model exponential decay and exponential growth and also, using a graphing calculator to show either growth or decay.

Goal: For students to understand what exponential growth and decay means. How to model exponential decay and growth with real world problems. To teach the students the proper way to graph these models on a graphing calculator.

Standards:
- A2.7.1 Graph exponential functions

- A2.7.8 Solve word problems involving applications of exponential functions to growth and decay.

Resources:
- http://www.indianastandards.org/index.asp
- http://serc.carleton.edu/quantskills/methods/quantlit/expGandD.html


Lesson Plan #3

Target Audience: High School Algebra II Class(10th-12th grade)

Big Idea: Using a graphing calculator to graph inequalities and also to solve systems of quadratic inequalities.

Goal: For the students to understand how to graph inequalities using a graphing calculator and also what they will look like, what area to shade for example. The students will also learn how to solve systems of inequalities and they will understand the meaning of the graphs.

Standards:
-A2.2.3 Use systems of linear equations and inequalities to solve word problems.

-A2.2.1 Graph absolute value equations and inequalities.

Resources:
- http://www.indianastandards.org/index.asp
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Lesson Plans

Lesson Plan 1:
Target Audience:
Students ranging from 7th to 8th grade.
Overall Goal of the Lesson:
The overall goal of the lesson is to have students learn more about computation, percents, and representing them as decimal numbers. Fluency in computation is essential. They use percentages to calculate simple and compound interest. They also use mental arithmetic to compute with fractions, decimals, powers, and percentages.
Student Learning Objectives
Solve problems with percent of increase or decrease.
Rewrite fractions, decimals, and percents.
Assessment:
The students can be asked how do they prefer to spend their time? They will be given five options to pick from. Once you are done recording the survey, you can record the data by making a circle graph, with each part being a percent of the data. The sum of the percents must equal 100% because the circle graph represents all of the data. Some studentsd may already have some understanding of percents. Have them discuss what they already know about percents.
Indiana Content Standards Addressed:
7.2.2 Calculate the percentage increase and decrease of the quantity.
8.1.1 Read, write, compare, and solve problems using decimals in scientific notation.
8.2.4 Use mental arithmetic to compute with common fractions, decimals, powers, and percents.

Lesson Plan 2:
Target Audience:
Algebra 1 students that range from 7th to 8th grade students.
Overall Goal of the Lesson:
The goal of this lesson is to apply percent problems to real world situations such as finding the sale price of a pair of jeans.
Student Learning Objectives:
Solving percent application problems.
Assessment:
A worksheet will be given to the class in order to see if they understood and met the learning objectives. This worksheet will consist of questions that consist of successive discounts, which are used by retailers to make their discounts seem bigger. Will have students work a few more examples of applying one discount after another to show that the net discount rate is always smaller than the sum of the separate discount rates.
Indiana Content Standards:
8.2.1 Add, subtract, multiply, and divide rational numbers (integers, fractions, and termininating decimals) in multi-step problems.
8.7.1 Analyze problems by identifying relationships, telling relevant from irrelevant information, identifying missing information, sequencing and prioritizing, and observing patterns.

Lesson Plan 3
Target Audience:
Students in Algebra 1 ranging from 7th to 8th grade.
Overall Goal of Lesson:
Students will be expected to know what all different type of angles are and their properties. If we have two angles on a line, and one angle measurement is given, students should know how to solve for the other unknown angle.
Student Learning Objectives:
Solve equations to find angle measurements.
Assessment:
Students will be introduced to this by going back to the methods in which they used to solve equations to find the value of a variable. They will use this when they have to find the measurement of a certain angle on a given straight angle.
Indiana Content Standards:
8.4.1 Identify and describe basic properties of geometric shapes: altitudes, diagonals, angle and perpendicular bisectors, central angles, radii, diameters, and chords.

Monday, February 26, 2007

Lesson Plan 1:

Target Audience:

Students ranging from tenth grade to twelfth grade.

Overall Goal of the Lesson:

The overall goal of this lesson is to have students learn more about geometry and the properties of triangles, quadrilaterals, circles, and polygons.

Student Learning Objectives:

  • Understand deductive reasoning
  • Understand Euclid’s proof of the Pythagorean theorem
  • Demonstrate mathematical proofs of selected theorems
  • Learn more about Greek achievements in mathematics

Assessment:

The students will be assigned to research different proofs of the Pythagorean Theorem as well as a Greek mathematician using various resources from the internet. The students will watch a video about different theorems and use those theorems to complete an activity. This activity could be having the students measuring their own heights and the heights of their shadows and then record their results. From this lesson, students should be able to clearly demonstrate the ability to measure indirectly, and show a complete understanding of deductive reasoning in mathematical proofs.

Indiana Content Standards Addressed:

  • G.5.1 Prove and use the Pythagorean Theorem.
  • G.5.2 State and apply the relationships that exist when the altitude is drawn to the hypotenuse of a right triangle.
  • G.8.1 Use a variety of problem-solving strategies, such as drawing a diagram, making a chart, guess-and-check, solving a simpler problem, writing an equation, and working backwards.
  • G.8.2 Decide whether a solution is reasonable in the context of the original situation.
Lesson Plan 2:

Target Audience:

Geometry high school students ranging from ninth grade to twelfth grade.

Overall Goal of the Lesson:

The overall goal of the lesson is to make sure the students have a clear understanding of how perspective drawing differs from three dimensional sketching, how to do both types of drawing, and what is meant by a vanishing point.

Student Learning Objectives:

  • Understand perspective drawing
  • Understand three dimensional sketching
  • Demonstrate both types of drawings
  • Understanding of a vanishing point

Assessment:

A worksheet will be given in order to demonstrate that the students have met the learning objectives. This worksheet will have the students do two different types of sketches: those that ‘look’ three dimensional and those that are drawn into perspective. Students will be able to finish most of this worksheet during class; however, what is not completed will be assigned for homework.

Indiana Content Standards:

  • G.8.7 Construct logical arguments, judge their validity, and give counterexamples to disprove statements.
  • G.8.2 Decide whether a solution is reasonable in the context of the original situation.
  • G.8.9 Perform basic constructions, describing and justifying the procedures used. Distinguish between constructing and drawing geometric figures.

Lesson Plan 3:

Target Audience:

Students in Algebra I.

Overall Goal:

Students will find the slope and y-intercept of a line given its graph and write the equation of a line in slope-intercept form. Students will also demonstrate understanding of how the slope and y-intercept of a line are related to its equation.

Student Learning Objectives:

  • How to find the slope of a line
  • How to find the y-intercept of a line
  • Demonstrate how both a related to its equation

Assessment:

The students will be introduced to the concept by studying the slope of the line and its intersection point with the vertical axis in the xy plane. In order to demonstrate that the students have met the learning objects an activity will be given a worksheet that they could work on individually or in a group. Finally, a discussion will be held in order for the students to present their findings from the worksheet and put together the information they learned from this lesson.

Indiana Content Standards:

  • A1.4.2 Find the slope, x-intercept, and y-intercept of a line given its graph, its equation, or two points on the line.
A1.4.3 Write the equation of a line in slope-intercept form. Understand how the slope and y-intercept of the graph are related to the equation

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Amy, Reflection 6

http://www.adobe.com/education/products/captivate.html?tab:k12=1
This website provides information about the computer program Adobe Captivate 2 for Education. This computer program provides both students and teachers the abilitly to create an engaging learning environment. Within this website there are different testimonials that users have written about their experience with this product. This program would be good to use in the classroom because students would be able to use the many different features and tools incorporated with it. I would use this program to create a positive and stimulating learning environment through different quizzes, scenarios, and simulation tools that are available.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simulations
This website provides interesting information on the use of simulations. Not only does it provide a detailed definition and history, but it also provides different ways simulations can be applied to things like education and medical concepts. I would use this website in my classroom to correctly inform students on how simulations are and could be used to further their education.
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http://phet.colorado.edu/web-pages/simulations-base.html

This website provides great information on different simulations that are available to use. It also gives other really good website that could be used while learning about simulations. It would be a very useful tool to use in the classroom because the students would be able to relate their math related activity to a fun and interesting simulation. It would help the students to be more focused and intrigued with learning mathematics.

Monday, February 19, 2007

Ann's Resources

http://olc.spsd.sk.ca/DE/PD/instr/strats/simul/index.html
My first resource is a site that gives the definition of what a simulation is. It also provides advantages and disadvantages for using simulations. This site also gives advice on how to incorporate simulations into the classroom and also how to adapt to this different way of teaching. This site provides information to teachers who want to learn more about and also how to use simulations in the classroom.


http://www.csupomona.edu/~ajm/ip.html
My second resource actually gives examples of simulations that a teacher could use in their actual classroom. It provides video clips, lesson plans and also worksheets on how to do various simulations. This site can be used for real life math problems. The exercises in this website will show the students how math can be applied to real life and how math is actually used in every day life.

http://www.techtrekers.com/sim.htm
My last resource is like my second one. It once again gives examples of simulations that can be used specifically for math. This site gives grade range for each simulation and gives a brief description of what it is all about. The grades range from 4th to 12th, and there is an example for a lot of different topics in math.

Sunday, February 18, 2007

My first resource for scenarios comes from scenario thinking. It says it is the world's No. 1 open community on scenario thinking and scenario planning where one can publish scenarios, and reflect on the planning processes and also share online resources about scenario planning in a democratic manner.
http://scenariothinking.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

My second resource comes from Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OEDC). They talk about seeking more efficient ways of maintaining established practice, rather than about shaping the long term. It discusses how to develop scenarios and use them to address the challenges confronting policy and practice.
http://www.oecd.org/document/42/0,2340,en_2649_35845581_36507370_1_1_1_1,00.html

My third resource comes from Global Business Network. It explains the history of scenario thinking. It also says that scenarios are tools for ordering one's perceptions about alternative future environments in which today's decisions might be played out. Scenarios resemble a set of stories, written or spoken, built around carefully constructed plots.
http://www.gbn.com/AboutScenariosDisplayServlet.srv
My first resoure comes from Wikipedia, which is the free encyclopedia online. It basically goes into detail of what a blog is. It includes such information that range from the history, types of blogs, blog popularity, blogging and the mass media, and legal issues with blogging. The site basically notes that a blog is a user-generated website where entries are made in journal style and displayed in a reverse chronological order.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog


My second resource comes from marketingterms. It basically gives information on blogging and what it consists of. It also states that a blog is often a mixture of what is happening in a person's life and what is happening on the Web, much like Wikipedia had done when it stated as being an on-line journal.
http://www.marketingterms.com/dictionary/blog/



My third resource is blog connection. It has such items as blog connection that categorizes the blogs into personal, business, photo, family, and community blog. It also contains blog FAQs, articles, software, templates, and directories.
http://www.blog-connection.com/