Reply To: Lesson 5-2: Applying Different Types of Comparison – Discussion

[Lavon Heath]

I wish there were a way to “like” other people’s comments because I am learning so much from the course but also from the comments as I see how other’s are applying the content.

The main reason I took this course was the dismay I felt last year when I was thrown into teaching Math 8 due to COVID and started to teach similar figures. I thought I could do a day review of proportions and then explain how it applied to similar figures, since proportions are Math 7 content in my district. My students had such a limited understanding of proportions that I had to revamp my plans for the week, but even then they continued to struggle, which impacted them big time when we hit slope.

I knew I had to do something different this year. Last year I started with equivalent fractions; this year I need to start with visuals just like the video shows. They need to see the relationship first before they just work with fractions.

I also love Brent’s idea of having them see the difference in slopes by comparing the triangles and squares made by different slopes. Let’s look at the triangle made by a slope 1/2 and compare it to a slope of 1/4. Let’s look at the triangle made by a line with the slope of 2/1 and compare it to the triangle with a slope of 4/1 and talk about rise and run. Definitely incorporating this into my classroom! Thanks!

• This reply was modified 10 months, 1 week ago by  Lavon Heath.