Wednesday, February 22, 2012

We began with this opener (pdf).

We then reviewed everything we've learned about polynomials up to this point (lesson, pdf).

Your homework is:

1. Prepare for the Multiplying Polynomials Assessment tomorrow.
   
   
2. Do as many of the Coolmath practice problems as you want (links in the lesson pdf). There are practice problems on adding and subtracting polynomials, multiplying polynomials, factoring using GCF, factoring by grouping, and factoring trinomials using x-box.
   
   
3. No later than by midnight on Monday, complete your reflection for parent/teacher conferences. You can choose to do this in a variety of ways, but all involve word-processing it: You can create a google doc and share it with me; you can type it up in Microsoft Word and email it to me as an attachment; you can type it up and copy and paste it into the body of an email; you can write it as a blog post on your Algebra blog and then send me the URL; or you can come up with some other creative way.
   
   Write to the following prompt (but don't be limited by it - you can write about additional stuff as well if you feel it's important):
   
   Parent/Teacher Conferences are coming up next week. I will not be available that night to meet with your parents. If your parents want a conference, they can schedule a face-to-face conference in the following weeks, or we could do a phone or skype conference if they'd prefer.
   
   Whether they want a conference or not, I'd like you to respond to the following questions (all in terms of second semester):
   
   What’s going well for you?
   
   What’s challenging for you?
   
   What could I do as your teacher that would help you be more successful?
   
   What could you do as a student that would help you be more successful?
   
   Is there anything your parents can do to help you be more successful?
   
   Is there anything else you think your parents should know about this class or about how you are doing in this class?
   
   Please be thoughtful and specific in your responses, and please don't wait until the last minute, as I want you to put some real thought into this. The more you put into it, the more valuable it will be for you, me and your parents. Thanks.