One of the objectives in my first lesson plan is “students will be able to describe the graph of a polynomial given as equation in factored form and interpret what the Constants and the x and y-intercept represent in the graph of the polynomial.” For this specific lesson, the formative assessment is going to be the closure/exit ticket that students will be doing.
By the end of the three lessons however, I will ask the question "How would you describe the effect that the roots and the degree of a polynomial have on the shape of its graph?" This will be answered in the posters that students will be making by the end of these lessons but I will also ask this question as a closure for these series of lessons and get direct- in the moment feedback for students' thinking and understanding of polynomials and their roots.
The main task of this lesson is called “mathamericaland carnival” and it is a problem that asks students to find the equation for the “first” underground roller coaster but in order to do this they must begin by plugging in three different polynomial functions, comparing them to each other, understanding how each of them is different and how this affects their graphs. HOWEVER, the main task of the series of lessons is a poster that they will have to get done in groups in which they will be given a polynomial and they have to analyze it and its graph in depth while annotation and labeling anything that it is important for them.
In my slack post I mentioned that my students are in 11th grade and that the majority of these students are behind content because attendance is a huge issue at school right now and this still holds true. Most of the students are Hispanic or Latinx, and only three of the students have a READ plan that has not been updated in many years.
The cognitive and language demands for the first lesson is a remembering level one and understanding level two as they will need to recall the process of factoring and also describe the key aspects of a graph and explain the similarities and differences between multiple graphs. As the lessons continue, these are going up in levels because the rigor of the class is also increasing.
RESOURCES
Some of the main resources that have been extremely helpful to me when writing my lesson plans are the following websites:
Sam Northern, Ed.D.
Also, all of the exemplars from class have truly helped make the difference on understanding some of the things that are required during lesson planning.