Today's class begins to open an appropriate space for review and synthesis of our work during the first ten weeks of class. By opening with the third Patterns Quiz of the year, we begin that work. This quiz is of the same form as the two that have come earlier in the semester. As always, quizzes are open-notebook affairs, which means that students are allowed to look at prior quizzes for help and ideas on how to complete this one.
Resource Note: If you make double-sided copies of Patterns Quiz 3.pdf, you'll end up with all five questions on a half-sheet of paper.
After the Patterns Quiz, the focus of today's class is on problem solving, review, and synthesis of the work we've done so far this year. This problem set, What Can You Do So Far, is organized by student learning target, which gives students a preview of what their unit exam will look like. Beneath each learning target is a reminder of the projects that have been related to a target. Each target includes a task for students to complete.
This problem set serves a few purposes today. In no particular order, they are as follows:
I don't commit to any formal structures to get class going today. I just walk around encouraging students to work together, answering questions, and occasionally demonstrating a problem on the board. There is a lot of work to do on this problem set, and I make that point to students that they can skip around. If they're really unsure where to start, I ask them to consult their progress reports. Which SLTs require their attention? If they still don't know what to do, I tell them to take a look Mathematical Practice #7, and those snippets of Addition and Multiplication tables, because I love those problems. Give them a try - these are fun.
As I've done while circulating today, I emphasize again the importance of coming prepared to tomorrow's class. Students will critique each other's work on Part 2 of the Linear Equations Project. Everyone must bring that work for the activity to work. I reassure students that their work doesn't have to be perfect; after all, that's the whole purpose of critique and revision.
I again frame the What Can You Do So Far problem set as an important opportunity for students to consider what they've learned and are able to do so far, and I tell everyone to think about what they'd like or need to accomplish tonight.