802/803
Read pages 406-408 "Learning the Concept"
Define x-intercept, y-intercept, slope-intercept form
801
Read pages 398-399
Define x-intercept, y-intercept, slope-intercept form
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Monday, March 19, 2007
Slope HW due 3/20/07
Slope (m) – describes a lines steepness
m =
change in y difference in y coordinates (y2-y1) rise (vertical change)
change in x difference in x coordinates (x2-x1) run (horizontal change)
802 (Due Weds 803)
Page 403 14-21 and 24-33
801
Page 390 14-25
m =
change in y difference in y coordinates (y2-y1) rise (vertical change)
change in x difference in x coordinates (x2-x1) run (horizontal change)
802 (Due Weds 803)
Page 403 14-21 and 24-33
801
Page 390 14-25
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Stand & Deliver - Some Truth
Who is Jaime Escalante?
http://www.bc.edu/offices/ahana/about/history/escalante/
Bringing some truth to the movie....
Most of us learned what we know of Escalante's experience from Stand and Deliver. For more than a decade it has been a staple in high school classes, college education classes, and faculty workshops. Unfortunately, too many students and teachers learned the wrong lesson from the movie.
Escalante tells me the film was 90 percent truth and 10 percent drama -- but what a difference 10 percent can make. Stand and Deliver shows a group of poorly prepared, undisciplined young people who were initially struggling with fractions yet managed to move from basic math to calculus in just a year. The reality was far different. It took 10 years to bring Escalante's program to peak success. He didn't even teach his first calculus course until he had been at Garfield for several years. His basic math students from his early years were not the same students who later passed the A.P. calculus test.
Escalante says he was so discouraged by his students' poor preparation that after only two hours in class he called his former employer, the Burroughs Corporation, and asked for his old job back. He decided not to return to the computer factory after he found a dozen basic math students who were willing to take algebra and was able to make arrangements with the principal and counselors to accommodate them.
Escalante's situation improved as time went by, but it was not until his fifth year at Garfield that he tried to teach calculus. Although he felt his students were not adequately prepared, he decided to teach the class anyway in the hope that the existence of an A.P. calculus course would create the leverage necessary to improve lower-level math classes.
His plan worked. He and a handpicked teacher, Ben Jimenez, taught the feeder courses. In 1979 he had only five calculus students, two of whom passed the A.P. test. (Escalante had to do some bureaucratic sleight of hand to be allowed to teach such a tiny class.) The second year, he had nine calculus students, seven of whom passed the test. A year later, 15 students took the class, and all but one passed. The year after that, 1982, was the year of the events depicted in Stand and Deliver.
The Stand and Deliver message, that the touch of a master could bring unmotivated students from arithmetic to calculus in a single year, was preached in schools throughout the nation. While the film did a great service to education by showing what students from disadvantaged backgrounds can achieve in demanding classes, the Hollywood fiction had at least one negative side effect. By showing students moving from fractions to calculus in a single year, it gave the false impression that students can neglect their studies for several years and then be redeemed by a few months of hard work.
The Pipeline. Unlike the students in the movie, the real Garfield students required years of solid preparation before they could take calculus. This created a problem for Escalante. Garfield was a three-year high school, and the junior high schools that fed it offered only basic math. Even if the entering sophomores took advanced math every year, there was not enough time in their schedules to take geometry, algebra II, math analysis, trigonometry, and calculus.
So Escalante established a program at East Los Angeles College where students could take these classes in intensive seven-week summer sessions. Escalante and Gradillas were also instrumental in getting the feeder schools to offer algebra in the eighth and ninth grades.
Inside Garfield, Escalante worked to ratchet up standards in the classes that fed into calculus. He taught some of the feeder classes himself, assigning others to handpicked teachers with whom he coordinated and reviewed lesson plans. By the time he left, there were nine Garfield teachers working in his math enrichment program and several teachers from other East L.A. high schools working in the summer program at the college.
http://www.bc.edu/offices/ahana/about/history/escalante/
Bringing some truth to the movie....
Most of us learned what we know of Escalante's experience from Stand and Deliver. For more than a decade it has been a staple in high school classes, college education classes, and faculty workshops. Unfortunately, too many students and teachers learned the wrong lesson from the movie.
Escalante tells me the film was 90 percent truth and 10 percent drama -- but what a difference 10 percent can make. Stand and Deliver shows a group of poorly prepared, undisciplined young people who were initially struggling with fractions yet managed to move from basic math to calculus in just a year. The reality was far different. It took 10 years to bring Escalante's program to peak success. He didn't even teach his first calculus course until he had been at Garfield for several years. His basic math students from his early years were not the same students who later passed the A.P. calculus test.
Escalante says he was so discouraged by his students' poor preparation that after only two hours in class he called his former employer, the Burroughs Corporation, and asked for his old job back. He decided not to return to the computer factory after he found a dozen basic math students who were willing to take algebra and was able to make arrangements with the principal and counselors to accommodate them.
Escalante's situation improved as time went by, but it was not until his fifth year at Garfield that he tried to teach calculus. Although he felt his students were not adequately prepared, he decided to teach the class anyway in the hope that the existence of an A.P. calculus course would create the leverage necessary to improve lower-level math classes.
His plan worked. He and a handpicked teacher, Ben Jimenez, taught the feeder courses. In 1979 he had only five calculus students, two of whom passed the A.P. test. (Escalante had to do some bureaucratic sleight of hand to be allowed to teach such a tiny class.) The second year, he had nine calculus students, seven of whom passed the test. A year later, 15 students took the class, and all but one passed. The year after that, 1982, was the year of the events depicted in Stand and Deliver.
The Stand and Deliver message, that the touch of a master could bring unmotivated students from arithmetic to calculus in a single year, was preached in schools throughout the nation. While the film did a great service to education by showing what students from disadvantaged backgrounds can achieve in demanding classes, the Hollywood fiction had at least one negative side effect. By showing students moving from fractions to calculus in a single year, it gave the false impression that students can neglect their studies for several years and then be redeemed by a few months of hard work.
The Pipeline. Unlike the students in the movie, the real Garfield students required years of solid preparation before they could take calculus. This created a problem for Escalante. Garfield was a three-year high school, and the junior high schools that fed it offered only basic math. Even if the entering sophomores took advanced math every year, there was not enough time in their schedules to take geometry, algebra II, math analysis, trigonometry, and calculus.
So Escalante established a program at East Los Angeles College where students could take these classes in intensive seven-week summer sessions. Escalante and Gradillas were also instrumental in getting the feeder schools to offer algebra in the eighth and ninth grades.
Inside Garfield, Escalante worked to ratchet up standards in the classes that fed into calculus. He taught some of the feeder classes himself, assigning others to handpicked teachers with whom he coordinated and reviewed lesson plans. By the time he left, there were nine Garfield teachers working in his math enrichment program and several teachers from other East L.A. high schools working in the summer program at the college.
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Pi Day & Einstein's Birthday 3/14
In honor of Pi and Albert Einstein (who was born on March 14th ), I've included some sites provided by the Annenberg site.
Pi Day (March 14)
Pi Day is observed in the U.S. on March 14 -- 3/14 -- in recognition of the value of pi. Celebrations can begin at approximately 1:59 p.m. as a further reminder of pi's approximate value, 3.14159.
With "Learning Math: Measurement"
http://learner.org/redirect/march/meas46.html
Session 7, "Circles and Pi," investigate the irrational number pi and its relationship to the circumference and area of a circle.
Watch "The Brain: Teaching Modules"
http://learner.org/redirect/march/brain47.html
Program 20, "A Super-Memorist Advises on Study Strategies." This short clip features Rajan Mahadevan, who has memorized the first 99,000 decimal places of pi and, amazingly, can jump in and continue from any point within that
set of digits!
"Math in Daily Life"
www.learner.org/redirect/march/mech50.html
In particular, watch Program 25, "Kepler to Einstein," and Program 43, "Velocity and Time."
Middle school teachers and students can explore central ideas in physics with "Science in Focus: Force and Motion" http://learner.org/redirect/march/force51.html and "Science in Focus:
Energy" http://learner.org/redirect/march/energy52.html
Pi Day (March 14)
Pi Day is observed in the U.S. on March 14 -- 3/14 -- in recognition of the value of pi. Celebrations can begin at approximately 1:59 p.m. as a further reminder of pi's approximate value, 3.14159.
With "Learning Math: Measurement"
http://learner.org/redirect/march/meas46.html
Session 7, "Circles and Pi," investigate the irrational number pi and its relationship to the circumference and area of a circle.
Watch "The Brain: Teaching Modules"
http://learner.org/redirect/march/brain47.html
Program 20, "A Super-Memorist Advises on Study Strategies." This short clip features Rajan Mahadevan, who has memorized the first 99,000 decimal places of pi and, amazingly, can jump in and continue from any point within that
set of digits!
"Math in Daily Life"
www.learner.org/redirect/march/mech50.html
In particular, watch Program 25, "Kepler to Einstein," and Program 43, "Velocity and Time."
Middle school teachers and students can explore central ideas in physics with "Science in Focus: Force and Motion" http://learner.org/redirect/march/force51.html and "Science in Focus:
Energy" http://learner.org/redirect/march/energy52.html
Friday, March 09, 2007
Read This!
March 5, 2007
Op-Ed Column from NY Times
Education, Education, Education
By BOB HERBERT
It’s an article of faith that the key to success in real estate is location, location, location.
For young black boys looking ahead to a difficult walk in life, the mantra should be education, education, education.
We’ve watched for decades — watched in horror, actually — as the lives of so many young blacks, men and boys especially, have been consumed by drugs, crime, poverty, ignorance, racial prejudice, misguided social pressures, and so on.
At the same time, millions of blacks have thrived, building strong families and successful careers at rates previously unseen. By far, the most important difference between these two very large groups has been educational attainment.
If anything, the role that education plays in the life prospects of black Americans is even more dramatic than in the population as a whole. It’s the closest thing to a magic potion for black people that I can think of. For boys and men, it is very often the antidote to prison or an early grave.
A new report from the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston tells us that young adults in general have been struggling in the labor market. Many have been left behind by the modest economic recovery of the past few years, especially those with limited education credentials.
The report, which focuses on black males, emphasizes the importance of education in overcoming this tough employment environment:
“For males in each of the three race-ethnic groups (blacks, Hispanics and whites), employment rates in 2005 increased steadily and strongly with their educational attainment. This was especially true for black males, for whom employment rates rose from a low of 33 percent among high school dropouts to 57 percent among high school graduates, and to a high of 86 percent among four-year college graduates.
“The fact that only one of every three young black male high school dropouts was able to obtain any type of job during an average month in 2005 should be viewed as particularly distressing, since many of these young men will end up being involved in criminal activities during their late teens and early 20s and then bear the severe economic consequences for convictions and incarcerations over the remainder of their working lives.”
There is no way, in my opinion, for blacks to focus too much or too obsessively on education. It’s the fuel that powers not just the race for success but the quest for a happy life. It represents the flip side of failure.
The differences in rates of employment between white men and black men narrow considerably as black men gain additional schooling. After comparing the percentage of the male population that is employed in each race or ethnic group, the Northeastern study found:
“The gap in [employment to population] ratios between young white and black males narrows from 20 percentage points among high school dropouts, to 16 percentage points among high school graduates, to eight percentage points among those men completing 1-3 years of college, and to only two percentage points for four-year college graduates.”
For anyone deluded enough to question whether education is the ticket to a better life for black boys and men, consider that a black male who drops out of high school is 60 times more likely to find himself in prison than one with a bachelor’s degree.
Black males who graduate from a four-year college will make, over the course of a lifetime, more than twice the mean earnings of a black high school graduate, which is a difference of more than a million dollars.
According to the study, “Black males with college degrees and strong literacy/math skills also are far more likely to marry and live with their children and pay substantially more in taxes to state and national government than they receive in cash and in-kind benefits.”
This is not a close-call issue. It is becoming very hard for anyone to succeed in this society without a college education. To leave school without even a high school education, as so many males — and especially black males — are doing, is extremely self-destructive.
The effort to bolster the educational background of black men has to begin very early. It’s extremely difficult to turn a high school dropout into a college graduate. This effort can only succeed on a large scale if there is a cultural change in the black community — a powerful change that acknowledges as the 21st century unfolds that there is no more important life tool for black children than education, education, education.
Op-Ed Column from NY Times
Education, Education, Education
By BOB HERBERT
It’s an article of faith that the key to success in real estate is location, location, location.
For young black boys looking ahead to a difficult walk in life, the mantra should be education, education, education.
We’ve watched for decades — watched in horror, actually — as the lives of so many young blacks, men and boys especially, have been consumed by drugs, crime, poverty, ignorance, racial prejudice, misguided social pressures, and so on.
At the same time, millions of blacks have thrived, building strong families and successful careers at rates previously unseen. By far, the most important difference between these two very large groups has been educational attainment.
If anything, the role that education plays in the life prospects of black Americans is even more dramatic than in the population as a whole. It’s the closest thing to a magic potion for black people that I can think of. For boys and men, it is very often the antidote to prison or an early grave.
A new report from the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston tells us that young adults in general have been struggling in the labor market. Many have been left behind by the modest economic recovery of the past few years, especially those with limited education credentials.
The report, which focuses on black males, emphasizes the importance of education in overcoming this tough employment environment:
“For males in each of the three race-ethnic groups (blacks, Hispanics and whites), employment rates in 2005 increased steadily and strongly with their educational attainment. This was especially true for black males, for whom employment rates rose from a low of 33 percent among high school dropouts to 57 percent among high school graduates, and to a high of 86 percent among four-year college graduates.
“The fact that only one of every three young black male high school dropouts was able to obtain any type of job during an average month in 2005 should be viewed as particularly distressing, since many of these young men will end up being involved in criminal activities during their late teens and early 20s and then bear the severe economic consequences for convictions and incarcerations over the remainder of their working lives.”
There is no way, in my opinion, for blacks to focus too much or too obsessively on education. It’s the fuel that powers not just the race for success but the quest for a happy life. It represents the flip side of failure.
The differences in rates of employment between white men and black men narrow considerably as black men gain additional schooling. After comparing the percentage of the male population that is employed in each race or ethnic group, the Northeastern study found:
“The gap in [employment to population] ratios between young white and black males narrows from 20 percentage points among high school dropouts, to 16 percentage points among high school graduates, to eight percentage points among those men completing 1-3 years of college, and to only two percentage points for four-year college graduates.”
For anyone deluded enough to question whether education is the ticket to a better life for black boys and men, consider that a black male who drops out of high school is 60 times more likely to find himself in prison than one with a bachelor’s degree.
Black males who graduate from a four-year college will make, over the course of a lifetime, more than twice the mean earnings of a black high school graduate, which is a difference of more than a million dollars.
According to the study, “Black males with college degrees and strong literacy/math skills also are far more likely to marry and live with their children and pay substantially more in taxes to state and national government than they receive in cash and in-kind benefits.”
This is not a close-call issue. It is becoming very hard for anyone to succeed in this society without a college education. To leave school without even a high school education, as so many males — and especially black males — are doing, is extremely self-destructive.
The effort to bolster the educational background of black men has to begin very early. It’s extremely difficult to turn a high school dropout into a college graduate. This effort can only succeed on a large scale if there is a cultural change in the black community — a powerful change that acknowledges as the 21st century unfolds that there is no more important life tool for black children than education, education, education.
Thursday, March 08, 2007
Practice Integer Rules On-line
http://amby.com/educate/math/integ_x1.html Instant answers as soon as you choose.
Also here: http://www.mathgoodies.com/lessons/toc_vol5.html except you have to choose "adding integers" or "subtracting integers"
Also here: http://www.mathgoodies.com/lessons/toc_vol5.html except you have to choose "adding integers" or "subtracting integers"
Practice Math Questions....
1. If 5x - 4 = 26, what does x equal?
A. 4 B. 2 C. 6 D.5
2. Absolute value of -7 is
A. -7 B. 7 C. 0 D. None of the Above
3. Michael is two years older than three times Jennifer's age. If Jennifer is j years old, how would you calculate Michael's age?
A. 3j+2 B. 3j-2 C. 3(j+2) D. 3(j-2)
4. If x + 4 1/3 = 7, what does x equal?
A. 3 1/3 B. 2 2/3 C. 3 2/3 D. 11 1/3
5. 5.5 squared is:
A. Between 16 and 25 B. Less than 16 C. Greater than 36 D. Between 25 and 36
6. 2, 2, 3, 4, 5
Given the above set of numbers "2" is the:
A. Average B. Mode C. Median D. Standard deviation
7. If .4 < x < 1/2, x could equal:
A. 40% B. None of the above C. 45% D. 50%
8. What's the value of (10-5)^2 + 12/4?
A. 9.25 B. 28 C. 222 D. 103
9. If m + n = n, then what must m equal?
A. -1 B. 0 C. -n D. 1
10. If 1/3 (y + 4) = 3, then what does y equal?
A. 9 B. 7 C. 4 D. 5
ANSWERS
1.c 2.b 3.a 4.b 5.d 6.b 7.c 8.b 9.d 10.d
A. 4 B. 2 C. 6 D.5
2. Absolute value of -7 is
A. -7 B. 7 C. 0 D. None of the Above
3. Michael is two years older than three times Jennifer's age. If Jennifer is j years old, how would you calculate Michael's age?
A. 3j+2 B. 3j-2 C. 3(j+2) D. 3(j-2)
4. If x + 4 1/3 = 7, what does x equal?
A. 3 1/3 B. 2 2/3 C. 3 2/3 D. 11 1/3
5. 5.5 squared is:
A. Between 16 and 25 B. Less than 16 C. Greater than 36 D. Between 25 and 36
6. 2, 2, 3, 4, 5
Given the above set of numbers "2" is the:
A. Average B. Mode C. Median D. Standard deviation
7. If .4 < x < 1/2, x could equal:
A. 40% B. None of the above C. 45% D. 50%
8. What's the value of (10-5)^2 + 12/4?
A. 9.25 B. 28 C. 222 D. 103
9. If m + n = n, then what must m equal?
A. -1 B. 0 C. -n D. 1
10. If 1/3 (y + 4) = 3, then what does y equal?
A. 9 B. 7 C. 4 D. 5
ANSWERS
1.c 2.b 3.a 4.b 5.d 6.b 7.c 8.b 9.d 10.d
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Websites for Parents
www.getreadytoread.org
The site Get Ready to Read is an early literacy program designed to help parents make sure that young children have the skills they need to be ready to learn to read. This site enables parents to administer a pre-reading screening to determine their child's readiness. It also provides lots of skill-strengthening activities in English and Spanish.
www.cfw.tufts.edu
This is the Tufts University Child and Family Web Guide. It's a directory that evaluates, describes and provides links to hundreds of sites contaning child development research and practical advice. Topics are selected on the basis of parent recommendations. The site covers all ages from early childhood through adolescence.
www.aft.org
American Federation of Teachers website includes a Parent Page section and an area called the Summer Learning Calendar, where you'll find variety of learning activities for youngsters that change each week.
www.nypl.org
New York Public Library site. Click on "Summer Reading for Children and Teens" which will open to a section with reading suggestions, learning activities and games for kids of all ages. You'll also find schedules of special events and the location and hours of libraries throughout the city.
The site Get Ready to Read is an early literacy program designed to help parents make sure that young children have the skills they need to be ready to learn to read. This site enables parents to administer a pre-reading screening to determine their child's readiness. It also provides lots of skill-strengthening activities in English and Spanish.
www.cfw.tufts.edu
This is the Tufts University Child and Family Web Guide. It's a directory that evaluates, describes and provides links to hundreds of sites contaning child development research and practical advice. Topics are selected on the basis of parent recommendations. The site covers all ages from early childhood through adolescence.
www.aft.org
American Federation of Teachers website includes a Parent Page section and an area called the Summer Learning Calendar, where you'll find variety of learning activities for youngsters that change each week.
www.nypl.org
New York Public Library site. Click on "Summer Reading for Children and Teens" which will open to a section with reading suggestions, learning activities and games for kids of all ages. You'll also find schedules of special events and the location and hours of libraries throughout the city.
Practice Problems
1. 2x(x-2)
2. (x-2)(x-2)
3. (2y-3)(3y+1)
4. -2x^2y - 3x^2y^2 - 4xy^2 / -3xy
5. Factor 30x^2y - 24xy^2 + xy
6. Make a table and graph y = 0.5x- 1
2. (x-2)(x-2)
3. (2y-3)(3y+1)
4. -2x^2y - 3x^2y^2 - 4xy^2 / -3xy
5. Factor 30x^2y - 24xy^2 + xy
6. Make a table and graph y = 0.5x- 1
Sunday, March 04, 2007
Almost One Week Until State Math Exam
It's almost a week until the State Math Exam which is to be held Tuesday March 13th and Weds. March 14th. Book 1, which is compiled of 27 multiple choice questions, and Book 2, seven short response questions, makes up day 1. Day 2 is Book 3 with thirteen extended response questions.
This week will be spent reviewing all standards students will see on the exam and test taking strategies. Students should spend evenings reviewing integer rules and looking through their notes. Any questions on topics discussed at any point during the year should be asked in class or emailed to me at jmg2017@yahoo.com
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