Class Notes (12-16-08) Tuesday

Class Notes (12-16-08) Monday

Class notes (12-12-08) Friday

Class Notes (12-4-08) Thursday

Writing Exponential Equations

Understand Multipliers and Simplifying Exponential Expressions

Class Notes (11-25-08) Tuesday

A week of absence

So far this week I have given my students what may be considered to be one of the hardest math tests they have ever taken. The test consisted of 25 questions in which the responses were always true, sometimes true, or never true. There were also a few true/false questions. Each student was given two attempts to take the test, after which they would have to justify/defend their answers using explanations and examples. Throughout the course, the goal has been for mathematics to make sense. However, this has been a difficult process. For example, many students who have taken the quiz and received a 24/25 have yet to be able to demonstrate that there answers are in fact correct based off what they’ve learned in class. They are under the assumption that I, Mr. Rochester have posted all of the correct answers. The students who have received low scores such as a 10/25 believe that they are incorrect in their responses. What is evident is that many of the unit objectives have been missed.

I do not believe that students are even aware of these objectives that are posted on moodle. Those objectives are listed below:

1. Continue to work in teams and use problem solving strategies as strategies for learning new mathematics.
2. Use patterns to make conjectures and write algebraic representations.
3. Become familiar with patterns and graphs of functions that are multiplicative, or geometric, as compared to additive or arithmetic.
4. Determine relationships between discrete functions, such as arithmetic sequences, and continuous functions, such as straight lines.
5. Continue to use previously learned algebraic skills in new problem contexts, particularly in solving linear and quadratic equations, solving systems of equations and using exponents.

It looks like we will be continuing with the second unit when I return to class next week. I want to thank those students who actually took the test, collaborated with students and other math teachers and those who tried to refer to textbook problems, class notes located on the class blog, or the internet to help verify their responses. I want to thank those students who will be handing in work that was done on paper on Monday that will later be translated to our class notebook so that it may help someone else understand. I want to thank those students who followed the guidelines for the wikispace entries and who did not just copy and past from the internet. I want to thank those students who took the time to send me daily messages about their lack of understanding. I want to thank those students who actually know how to edit a wikispace page because they’ve been on task everyday. I want to thank those students who take responsibility for their actions and do not make excuses.

test

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Class Notes (10-23-08) Thursday

Class Notes (10-20-08) Monday

Notes from (10-17-08) Friday

2C

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