Lesson Plan Guide

Teacher Name: Alexandria Sullens Class and Grade Taught: Algebra 1 Lesson Date: Monday, November 21, 2011 Lesson Logistics and Setting Unit Topic: Previous Lesson Topic: Finding slope given two points Current Lesson Topic: Graphing using slope intercept form. Next Lesson Topic:

Lesson Objectives: (The learner will know/understand/be able to ) Identify what slope is. Compare the slope of a rollercoaster with the four different slope characteristics. Develop equations that describe the slope of the rollercoaster. Graph the equations they developed on the graphing calculator. Standards Addressed: How will I know students have met the objectives? Students will have met the objectives when they can develop a graph that describe the rollercoaster. They will also be able to explain how they developed the graph.

Materials Needed: Graphing calculator, paper, pencil, and projector.

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Introductory Routines (announcements, homework review, etc.)
When students enter the classroom they are to bring their homework up. Once students are finished bringing their homework up, they will be asked to turn their desks around in groups. This particular day their seats will be changed so I will give them the new seats they will be working in.

Lesson Activities (Attach any handouts you will use)

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Students are working Lesson

(details about how students are configured, what work they are doing and how they are recording their work)

Anticipated Student Thinking/Questions

Teacher Moves

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Launch For the launch I will project a picture of a rollercoaster that will just be there for students to write down everything they see in reference to slope. There wont be any particular questions, I just want them to tell me everything they know about slope. Students will be asked to do this individually. After 5 minutes has passed we will have a whole group discussion. I want this time to just be general conversation about rollercoasters and any references to slope they see. We have been working on the different characteristics of slope, positive, negative, 0, and undefined. It is my hope that the students will use those characteristics to describe the slope. We also worked on a piecewise function is which we graphed a particular function in which the equation changed depending on the domain. When the rollercoaster is moving up, the students will say it is positive. When the rollercoaster is moving down they will say it is negative. It has been my experience that many of my students confuse 0 slope with negative slope. They know that the two characteristics exist they are just unsure which is which. I think they mix the two when they are describing the slope.

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I will ask what makes one undefined and what makes the other 0. One is undefined because you cant divide by zero. And dividing by zero means what? Some may say I dont know. What are our two quantities that we are comparing in slope? Rise and run. And which is the denominator? Run. So what does that mean? There is no run or the run is zero. Exactly, so which one of these slopes characterizes a slope that has no run? This one, pointing to the vertical rollercoaster. Good, now explain to me why the other rollercoaster has a slope of 0. Because it does not rise, so its 0 divided by a number which is 0.

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It is my hope that the negative slopes will be clearer with the rollercoaster. They know that negative slopes fall from left to right, but I think the idea of actually going down is a better representation. Some of them dont understand falls from left to right, but I think they will understand going down.

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Explore Description of Task(s) Each student will be given a task, which is attached. The students will be asked to work individually for the first 5 minutes on the question of describing the slopes. There are 5 different pictures of rollercoasters that are all unique. Once they are finished working individually, they will be asked to collaborate with their group members. I anticipate that each group Exact question that you will pose to students to begin the member will have at least exploration. one person who hasnt been on a roller coaster. Working in groups will give those people who dont know how to compare the slopes with the feeling in their stomach a chance to talk to someone who can describe it for them. We have not talked about steepness of slope and Im hoping that using the stomach feeling will help them better understand the idea of steepness. Steepness is not covered in the book unit, but I think it is an important concept for the students to explore. For students who are having trouble with the characteristics, I will ask the same questions as I did in the launch. See launch.

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Some students may only describe the butterflies in their stomach depending on just the characteristics but not go any further in terms of different angles. I will point to two rollercoasters one which will be steeper than the other, I will ask the student to describe the feeling of each rollercoaster. Well, (pointing to the steeper slope), my stomach has more butterflies when Im on this part than it is on the other (pointing to the other slope).

Exactly, so why dont you go back and describe how your stomach feels for each different slope.

Ok. Students may have trouble developing the equations. For this I want this to use the technology they have to play around with it to see how they should develop the equations.

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This is the beauty of using the graphing calculators. If students are stuck on what to do. I will pick one rollercoaster to get them started. What do you think an equation for this should be? They will say I dont know. Just pick a linear equation, in slope-intercept) form that you think correlates. They will pick one. Ok, lets use our graphing calculator to test it out. Many students will have never used the graphing aspect of the graphing calculator. I will walk the students through how to use the graphing calculators as we are working. I anticipate that some of my students that come from certain middle schools will have used the graphing calculators and will be of good assistance.

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I do anticipate that students will not know how to graph different equations to form one graph. I will show the students how to do this as a class with the document cam. Once everyone has developed their different equations, we will come together as a class and work on how to make all of the equations one graph. For sake of time, the group is who has to develop the graph not individuals. This way different members of the group can be playing around with different equations until as a group they develop one graph.

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Summarize/Share and Discuss Groups will be asked to present the graphs they have developed.
Presentation mode Sharing solutions, teacher-led discussion, student led discussion, etc. What will you say or do to set up the discussion of the big math ideas?

When students are showing us their different solutions they will be asked to share how they developed their graph.

How did you develop your different equations? What ideas did you find when developing your equations? Describe the feeling you get in reference to your different equations? What new ideas did you learn about slope? What can you tell me about steepness of slope? What did you learn today?

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Summary Statement:
(May change based on what actually happens in class)

So today we did a task about rollercoasters. We compared the different slopes of rollercoasters to the slope we have been talking about in class. Who can tell what they learned today? What new ideas were brought about doing this task? We had a discussion about steepness, and how the slope changes depending on the steepness of the graph. We noticed that the bigger slope, the steeper the slope. What can we take away from this? Do we now have a better understanding of what slope is?

Homework: For homework, go home and create a rollercoaster. Once you have created a rollercoaster, describe the different equations present in your rollercoaster.

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