Course Syllabus (Cont.)

Course Syllabus

8th grade Accelerated Algebra I

Mrs. Susie Morehead Instructor: Turkey Foot Middle School Apache Team Phone: 859-341-0216 ext. 273 E-mail [email protected]

TEXT: Springboard – Mathematics with Meaning Algebra 1 (provided by school)

MATERIALS NEEDED: Textbook and pencil – assignments done in ink will NOT be accepted. Calculators (the TI-83/84 Graphing Calculator is recommended) are to be provided by the student and will be used almost daily. Rulers, graph paper, protractors, etc. were listed on the school supply list and may be kept in lockers or my classroom.

GOALS: My goals for this class are to build student confidence in Algebra and to create an active learning environment. This course will be exciting and challenging! Kentucky has adopted the nationwide Common Core Mathematics Standards. Many concepts traditionally seen in Algebra I are now in PreAlgebra. This also means some concepts traditionally from Algebra II are now found in Algebra I. A large portion of the challenge of this course is to complete all of the traditional Algebra I concepts along with the new standards from Algebra II.

In prior years, 8th grade Turkey Foot students were able to complete a portion of Algebra I in 8th grade, and finish the course at Dixie Heights High School. This is no longer an option, and mastery of the entire Common Core Mathematics Standards is mandatory as this course earns high school math credit and will appear on your high school transcript. It will also be counted into your high school GPA and class ranking. For further information regarding the advanced math courses in Kenton County, please go to the Kenton County website and click on the Prep/Prep+ links. To meet our goal of completing the standards and the course the pace is accelerated. Commitment, dedication, concern for academic excellence and a good strong work ethic is a must. Students are expected to attend class regularly, take accurate class notes, and do their homework religiously. There will rarely be a day without some type of homework.

This class therefore, is obviously not for everyone. There may be factors which may contribute to a student feeling that this class may not be the best option for him/her. Each student has until midterm of the first quarter to monitor his/her progress and determine if this class is the best placement. If it is not, or the student is not being successful in the course, their schedule will be changed to reflect PreAlgebra as their math course instead of Algebra I.

EVALUATION: I assign two types of assignments, although all are based on points earned divided by points possible. One type is a completion grade, usually worth 10 points. If a student has attempted all problems, 10 points are given. These type of assignments are normally given on the day a topic is introduced. The other type is an accuracy grade (number correct over the number Course Syllabus (cont.) possible and one point per problem). So as you can see, every assignment will “count” although not all are collected. Quiz problems are generally worth two points each. Tests count as double grades, and at least one review day precedes a unit test. At the end of the course, a comprehensive final exam is given. Because the completion grades naturally boost averages, I rarely, if ever, give extra credit.

TOPICS: Unit 1: Students are introduced to fundamental concepts necessary for success in algebra by recognizing patterns and exploring real number sets, properties of operations, and properties of equality. Further into this unit, students will generate rules for solving simple linear equations and inequalities as well as rules for solving absolute value equations and inequalities.

Unit 2: In this unit, students study functions, in particular linear functions, function concepts including domain, range, y-intercept, x-intercept, or the zero of a function, and what it means for a function to be continuous or discontinuous. Students represent functions in multiple ways. Most students come to Algebra 1 already familiar with linear patterns and an informal sense of the functional relationship between two quantities. This unit formalizes much of that knowledge. Students write linear equations in various forms given a point and a slope, two points, a table of values, or a graph. They write algebraic models for verbal situations that exhibit a constant rate of change, direct variation, and inverse variation using multiple representations. The unit includes two activities with collected data where students write and use a trend-line to solve problems.

Unit 3: In prior units, students have learned to analyze patterns, solve multi-step equations, and investigate linear functions. This unit continues the study of linear concepts by introducing students to piece-wise linear functions, inequalities with one and two variables, and systems of linear equations and inequalities. Unit 4: In prior units students have looked at linear and nonlinear patterns and extended the linear concepts to functions, inequalities, and piece-wise defined functions. This unit changes focus and moves students to explore exponent rules and functions, and extends into operations with radical, and polynomial functions and operations. This unit concludes with an introduction to an introduction to rational expressions. Unit 5: Quadratic equations and functions are the focus of this unit. The unit opens with students modeling a quadratic function from a verbal description numerically, graphically, and algebraically. Students learn to graph quadratics using transformations of the parent function f (x) = x 2 and are able to identify key features of quadratic functions. They solve equations using a variety of methods and finish the unit by modeling physical situations with quadratic relationships.

Unit 6: In prior levels, students have learned the basic concepts of measures of center, plotting data, and sampling bias. This unit continues the study of statistics with a deeper look at center and spread, measurement and sampling errors, sources of bias in the collection and representations of data, and the process of developing a survey.

Once these units are completed, the Algebra 1 Comprehensive End of Course Exit Exam is given. This exam grade along with the students four quarter grades are all averaged together

Course Syllabus (cont.) (the exam counting as 1/5 or 20%) for the final Algebra 1 average.