You have to love the Internet and the inspiration you get from other teachers. I put together an investigation based on the tweet below. Inspired by a session at #T3IC last year, we used lasers to find "mystery points" (foci) of parabolas based on their lines of reflection. The conversations turned to satellites, flashlights, [...]
I was intrigued by Sarah Carter's Domain and Range Cards on her Math=Love blog. I was afraid I would lose a lot of time having my students cut out the cards, so I made border-less cards with functions my Pre-Calculus students will see throughout the year. Pages 1 and 2 are the framework for the [...]
Spring break brought out the creative juices. I spent time reworking guided notes sheets from last year into Vizual Notes this year. I like how they turned out. The Tangent Ratio Sine and Cosine Ratios I love it when I can start the class with a real world problem and help them arrive at a [...]
Based on feedback from my geometry students, I've created some Vizual Notes for my pre-calculus classes as well. Sequences and Series This notes sheet can be used to help explain the the vocabulary involved withe sequences and series - explicit, recursive, summation, factorial, etc. It helps prepare students for Arithmetic and Geometric Sequences. Arithmetic Sequences [...]
Special Right Triangles Two special right triangles appear in upper levels of mathematics and in construction. In this investigation you can learn how to find the lengths of the sides of isosceles right triangles and 30-60-90 right triangles using short cuts. Special Right Triangles Investigation
A normal distribution is one type of probability distribution. It has a bell-shaped curve. Normal distributions are often used when calculating grades and curving them based on the standard deviation. The notes sheet below asks students to use what they know about the mean and standard deviation to fill out a normal distribution template for the [...]
The start of the second semester has me teaching both Algebra II and Pre-Calculus trigonometry simultaneously. My initial plan is to post material for both classes here. It it becomes confusing or too cumbersome, I'll split the two classes. Algebra II Right Triangle Trigonometry A foldable on trig concepts seems in order given the amount [...]
Learning through discovery is always better than being told something - unless it involves something that causes pain. I learned about electricity when I was 4 years old by sticking a key into an electrical outlet. I had been told not to, but the lesson didn't sink in until I tried it on my own. [...]
Graphing Polynomial Functions A monomial is a number, a variable, or the product of a number and one or more variables. A polynomial is a monomial or a sum of monomials. A polynomial function is of the form f(x) = anxn + an – 1xn – 1 + … + a1 x + a0. When [...]
