More Unit Rates Fluency - Practice, Practice!

Opener:  As students enter the room, they will immediately pick up and begin working on the opener –Instructional Strategy - Process for openers.  This method of working and going over the opener lends itself to allow students to construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others, which is mathematical practice 3. 

Learning Target:  After completion of the opener, I will address the day’s learning targets to the students.  In today’s lesson, the intended target is, “I can calculate unit rates, including those involving complex fractions, without the use of a calculator.” Students will jot the learning target down in their agendas (our version of a student planner, there is a place to write the learning target for every day). 

• Self Checking Unit Rate Activity: Coloring....I said it....coloring.  This assignment (Self Checking Color Sheet), however, is not really about the coloring - it is about the math!  Students will work to complete 20 unit rate problems without a calculator.  I like for students to get immediate feedback on their efforts, and since there is only 1 of me, a self-checking activity like a color by answer is a good method of providing that immediate feedback.  Thus, students will complete a problem and look for their answer on the scarecrow, and should they choose to color (I don't force them to color, but most like the short break after a problem) they color the corresponding section of the picture whatever color the number says (for example, if question 1 is red, and the answer is 54 - anywhere they see a 54 on the picture they color it red).  While students are working on the assignment, I am freed up to assist as necessary, as I am not bogged down by "is this right?" "can you look at this?"  When completing the problems, students are urged to keep trying until they can arrive at an answer on the picture (mathematical practice 1).  Working with complex fractions and units requires students to be very careful with operations and units (mathematical practice 6).  As students become more comfortable with the problems, they are able to develop shortcuts for making the problems easier (mathematical practice 8) - for example, looking for the term "per" to help them determine the numerator and denominator of the rate.