Yesterday I started the class by asking the groups (random, as per
usual) to draw a picture summarizing everything they know thus far about
Linear Relations. This worked quite well. Here's a sample of the
student work:
My second goal for this lesson was to cover section 1.1 (Linear
Relations in Tables and Graphs) in the workbook. I gave the groups a
problem from the end of the lesson that required students to:
Create a graph from a table of values
State whether the relation is linear or not
Determine the slope and describe what it represents
Extend the graph to the y-axis, state the y-intercept, and state
what it represents
Note that I didn't teach slope or y-intercept, however enough students
remembered these terms from previous classes that I didn't have to tell
anyone. The groups shared their knowledge.
The problem was done well by all groups, then I referred to definitions
and descriptions on 3 different pages in the workbook.
Finally I had them graph the relation A = π r2 and tell me if it
was linear or not.
So now I see a pattern emerging that works well for me:
Identify the lesson that deals with the material I want to cover
Put students in random groups and give them a problem from the end
of the workbook lesson, without any initial teaching. This problem
typically takes 30 - 50 minutes
When students have difficulties, refer them to other groups that
didn't have that difficulty
When most groups get to a similar stage of solving the problem
(hopefully correct, given prompting by me and other groups), discuss
the features (good and bad) I see among the different groups' work
If there are definitions / descriptions in their workbook, pull
those pages up on the projector and refer to them
Tell students to take one of the groups' work and any annotations
I've made, and write down "whatever you need to remember this
material"
