Lesson Plan Guide

Teacher Name: Kaitlin Benson

Class and Grade Taught: 12th Grade/ Precalculus
Lesson Date: November 20, 2015
Lesson Logistics and Setting
Unit Topic:
Previous Lesson Topic: Distance, Midpoint, and Circles
Current Lesson Topic: Finding Solutions by Graphing
Next Lesson Topic: Test #6
Lesson Objectives:
Students will be able to:
Algebraically prove if two equations have shared solutions, as well as explain why this process works.
Graphically demonstrate whether or not two equations intersect and describe what this intersection means in terms of
the equations.
Make connections between the algebraic, graphical, and table representation of functions and how to find their
intersection in all three of these models.
Construct a graph using given equations (lines, quadratics, absolute value) using a table, graphing calculator, or by
identifying different key points on the graph ( y-intercept, slope, max/min., x-intercepts, etc.).
Articulate their thoughts and processes on the paper as well as productively communicate with their groups.

TE 407 Fall 2007

1/16

08.27.07

Lesson Plan Guide

Standards Addressed:
o CCSS.Math.Content.HSA.REI.C.7: Solve a simple system consisting of a linear equation and a quadratic
equation in two variables algebraically and graphically.
o CCSS.Math.Content.HSA.REI.D.11: Explain why the x-coordinates of the points where the graphs of the
equations y = f(x) and y = g(x) intersect are the solutions of the equation f(x) = g(x); find the solutions approximately, e.g.,
using technology to graph the functions, make tables of values, or find successive approximations.
Mathematical Practices Addressed:
o MP1: Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.
o MP2: Reason abstractly and quantitatively.
o MP3: Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.
o MP4: Model with mathematics.
o MP5: Use appropriate tools strategically.
How will I know students have met the objectives?
I will know students have met the objectives by their communication on the work paper for each group. More
specifically I will be looking for accurate graphs clearly demonstrating the point of intersection as well as clear algebraic work.
I will look at the graphs and see that they labeled their intersections or realized the equations they chose didn't work.There
should be multiple graphs that don't intersect and 2 that do. I am also looking for them to check their methods for creating the
graph.Mainly, I will be looking for students verification of the original method they used. The reasoning behind this is that this
will hopefully show me what connections the students are making between the different representations. It will be important to
note if students are commenting possible different strategies and how they are thinking about HOW to verify their
answers.Students will also be demonstrating what they know about switching between different representations.
I will also be looking for clear explanations of students work and what they were thinking while they were doing the
task. Since it is a goal of ours to see if Let The Chalk Do the Talk actually does give us a good look into how students are
thinking about and processing the material, I will be looking for clear writing and discussion on students paper in order to get
a better insight on how students process identifying which equations will produce systems out of a list of equations. In
addition, I will be walking around writing questions on groups' papers to address their thinking and get a written response
about why they are thinking the way they are.Furthermore, I will be looking for clarifying questions and responses amongst
TE 407 Fall 2007

2/16

08.27.07

Lesson Plan Guide

groups. In doing this I can see who still has misconceptions as well as those who understand. It would also be possible to see if
those who are struggling are gaining more understanding throughout the task via their responses.
Finally, not only will I be asking questions on their thinking, I will be making note of facial expressions, body
language, and student interactions. There will also be another person walking around and monitoring for a closer perspective
on how the students are interacting with each other and with the content. In addition, the students will be able to engage in self
assessment. After the discussion, I will ask the students to put their heads down and I will ask a series of question in regards to
their understanding of the lesson. These questions will include the following:

definitely no

course

How confident do you feel about the material? 1 being not confident and 5 being super confident.
Do you feel like this activity was successful at helping you understand solving by graphing? 1 being
and 5 being a lot
Do you feel more comfortable solving by graphing? 1 being definitely no and 5 being a lot
Do you know this information well enough to be successful on a test? 1 being definitely no and 5 of

If they agree with the statement, they will raise their hands. Finally, students will have an exit slip asking them to verify if x24=5 is a system and if so, what is its solution. (Ans: (-3, 5) and (3, 5) )

Materials Needed:
Chart paper
Colored pencils
Marker
Calculator
Ruler
PowerPoint
Document Camera

TE 407 Fall 2007

3/16

08.27.07

Lesson Plan Guide

Introductory Routines (announcements, homework review, etc.)
We will review a small assignment from the day before and then move into the activity. I will also introduce our visitors for the
day. After this, I will present a brief PowerPoint explaining the activity for the day. This slideshow will highlight that the task for
today is to be done silently and each of them must communicate via writing on their chart paper. It will also include the significance of
this task, which is being able to communicate in a different way with their peers in order to complete a task. This is not meant to
embarrass anyone or make anyone feel slighted. The activity is in place to strengthen the way we speak about our understanding of the
math content.They will also be told that they are to use colored pencils as writing utensils for the day so I can follow the flow of their
work/ conversations. On their table, there is 1 maker. They can only use that marker to write their absolute final answer to each
question and to write their answer large so everyone can read their work. They are to do this so a) everyone can clearly tell what their
answer is and b) the answer seems like it is a group effort instead of an individual answer. If the students decide to graph, they will
need to show each of their graphs on the back of the chart paper. To conclude the slideshow, I will briefly talk about the group roles
that we will use today (since we have never used them) and that slide will be left up for the remainder of the day. The roles that we
have decided upon are:
Facilitator Makes sure that everyone is participating and is contributing. Asks questions like: What do you think?, Should
we start with this piece of information/ question?
Time Manager Keeps track of time within the group. Uses phrases such as: We only have 3 minutes left, lets make sure
were on task
Resource Manager The one person that can ask the teacher the question and more importantly, they are in charge of all of
the resource (the calculator)
Reporter- Speaks for the group during the discussion. Uses phrases such as: We decided this because of ________, We
were wondering ______, what do you guys (the whole class) think?
Recorder Keeps track of lingering questions that were not answered and brings them up within the group to ensure no one is
left behind.checks to be sure that ideas are clear and accurate.Asks Questions such as: We forgot about this question, what do
you guys think? What if we followed through with ____ &______s idea?

TE 407 Fall 2007

4/16

08.27.07

Lesson Plan Guide

In doing these group roles, we hope to see more participation amongst the students. During the last lesson study, we noticed that there
was one group that was led by one student and another group that worked solely on their calculators. We were not able to fully
explore what every member in those groups were thinking due to those circumstances. For this lesson study, we hope to change that.
We are implementing a resource manager as to limit the use of calculators and not having work written down. As for the other roles,
the are in place to keep everyone in the group accountable for each other and engaged throughout the entire lesson.
Lesson Activities
(Attach any handouts you will use)

TE 407 Fall 2007

5/16

08.27.07

Lesson Plan Guide

Lesson

Students are working

(details about how students are
configured, what work they are
doing and how they are recording
their work)

Launch

Configuration:
Students will be placed in groups
of 5. The lead teacher will make
these groupings. These groups
will have a mixture of students
with varying math levels.
However, the goal of the seating
will be to help every student learn
for the other. And this will allow
students to work with students
they dont normally talk to.
Materials Distribution:
Each group will receive a large
sheet of grid chart paper with the
task attached. In addition to that,
each member in the group will
have different colors pencil so it

TE 407 Fall 2007

Anticipated Student
Thinking/Questions

Students will most likely be

upset to know that they cannot
talk during this task. To remedy
this, it would be good to
reassure them that this is a good
opportunity to see how their
peers think. It would also be
good to point out that spelling is
not the purpose of this activity.
The main goal is to see HOW
everyone thinks.
What if I dont understand the
question?
"What if I don't spell something
right?"

6/16

Teacher Moves

Have the students revoice the

directions so we know they
understand and hear the
instructions in a different way.
Activate prior knowledge in
terms of content. I will ask the
students several question and
some include identifying the
shape of the graphs based on the
equation,
If we have a
linear equation what
does that look like?
How about a
quadratic? Can you show
me with your hands?
And what about
absolute value? Is it a

08.27.07

Lesson Plan Guide

is easy to identify their work.

What if someone isn't

participating in my group?

Class Expectation:
The room is to be completely
"What if we need help?"
silent and students are expected to
write out their thinking as much
"So we're graphing?"
as possible. This activity will
continue to use our classroom
"Can we use the calculator?"
norms of everyone participating
and being heard in their groups.
The lead teacher expects to see
everyones color on the paper.
This activity will continue our
previous discussion of solving by
graphing.
Instructions:
The lead teacher will have a
student read the questions given
on the task card. Then, the
students will begin their work.

squiggle or a swirl?
What does it look like?
what information tables give
about the graphs,
What does the
table actually tell us? Are
these just random
numbers?
What's there
meaning?
information we can gather from
the equation
If we look at a
line with the equation y=
mx + b, what
information does the
equation tell us?
What about a
quadratic? What
information can it tell me
about the graph?
What about
absolute value?
To connect to students lives, ask
students if they think all
situations in real life would fit
one particular type of function
(linear quadratic, absolute value,
etc.). Life is not a perfect math

TE 407 Fall 2007

7/16

08.27.07

Lesson Plan Guide

problem so we have a lot of
overlap of different types of
functions right? The goal of this
is to help students think about
intersections and the meaning
behind them, both algebraically
and graphically.
Ex: Make the connection
between the students lives and
the systems discussed.
Many of the
students play sports so
we can connect any sport
with a ball to the topic of
class (you kick/ throw/
shoot/ toss a ball and it is
represented by one
function and the
opponents height is
related to another
equation, Could they
stop your play)
Others are in
band and their
movements on the field
can easily be represented
by a system of equations.
Have another student revoice
what is going on in the situation

TE 407 Fall 2007

8/16

08.27.07

Lesson Plan Guide

in order to aid students who may
have been confused by the
wording of the problem to make
it accessible to all students.

TE 407 Fall 2007

9/16

08.27.07

Lesson Plan Guide

Explore Description of
Task(s)

TE 407 Fall 2007

Students will begin working on

the task in their groups. They will
begin by answering the question
of which the varying equations
are considered systems and from
that, what is the systems
solution.

Misconceptions:

For the activity, students are

allowed to use their graphing
calculator to find where the
graphs intersect. We suspect
there may be some
misconceptions with the
This requires them to use their
technology and Kaitlyn will use
graphing technology correctly as careful questioning strategies to
well as their knowledge on
combat these. More specifically,
graphing. Although it may seem
when dealing with calculators,
like there is only one way to go
the students must pay attention
about solving, the students can
to how they are interpreting
use their calculators as well as
what they are seeing. For
their own graphing abilities to go instance:
about answering the questions.
Did they put the
Students will then go on to
equation into the
explain how they used the method
calculator the right way?
they chose. Next, they will be
To
asked how they verified the
remedy this, the
solutions they got. There are also
student can
multiple ways they could do this
verify
as well. Finally they will be asked
algebraically
to consider what that solution
using the original
means in terms of the equations
two equations.
and in terms of the graph. This
Th
question requires that students
ey can also graph
made the connection between
the table by hand
setting the two equations equal to
as well.
each other, graphing them, and
Are they reading

10/16

Exact question that you will

pose to students to begin the
exploration.
Question:
I want you guys to think about:
What tools do you have that
can help you in this task?
Lead teacher will be monitoring
the room and writing questions
on groups papers regardless if
they are struggling to start or if
they are well into the task. It is
important to monitor what all
the students are thinking. Lead
teacher will pose questions that
will get them thinking about
HOW to solve the problem and
to make sure they EXPLAIN
their work. She will also prompt
them to draw out the graphs they
are working on and will make
sure ALL students are
participating. This can include
write questions regarding
participation to specific

08.27.07

Lesson Plan Guide

being able to substitute the
solution back into the both
equations ultimately showing
they have a shared solution.

the table for the graph

correctly?
if
students misread
the table on the
calculator, they
can check by
making a chart
by hand and vice
versa.
Another potential challenge
would be the drawing of their
graph. Although the students
used the table on the calculator
to get their points, they could
still confuse the x and y portion
of the table and switch the
coordinate points around. Or
they could right the wrong entry
for one of their values.
There are many
ways to remedy this:
if
one is is
incorrect, we can
ask the students
if the graph they
have matches
with the normal
look of the graph.

TE 407 Fall 2007

11/16

students. An example of this

would be if writing a question to
a student about what they think
about the groups work, if the
student is not participating.

Students will have just learned

about how to graphically solve
two equations and verify
algebraically (substituting the
solution into the equations and
making sure they are true). This
graphical representation can be
done by hand (choosing points
to create a table of values) or by
using the graphing calculator.
Aside from this, the students
have talked about graphing
systems of equations in Algebra
2 as well as graphing absolute
value.
The lead teacher will write to
groups asking if they would be
willing to share their work for
certain sections. She will be
looking for different solution
paths and start sequencing the
discussion from the most

08.27.07

Lesson Plan Guide

if
its all of the
points, they can
do a table by
hand.

common (graphing using the

calculator) to the least (graphing
by hand)

The correct response for this

question can be found on the
solution sheet for the task card.
For the problem 3, the students
may get confused on how to
verify their answers. The idea of
substituting the solution back
into both of the equations could
be difficult. Students may
switch up the x and y values
because they dont understand
what goes where. Students could
simplify incorrectly. The correct
means for verifying would be
for students to do it
algebraically (plug the solutions
into both the equations and
determine if the statements are
true) or they may also check by
typing in both functions into
their calculators and using the
intersection function.

TE 407 Fall 2007

12/16

08.27.07

Lesson Plan Guide

For Problem 4: A major
misconception about this
question (what does the solution
tell us about the equations and
graphs used?) may be that the
students don't think theres a
connection. The student should
say that it means the two
equations are equal there or that
they have one shared solution.

TE 407 Fall 2007

13/16

08.27.07

Lesson Plan Guide

Summarize/Share and
Discuss

Presentation mode Sharing

solutions, teacher-led discussion,
student led discussion, etc.
Students will share their solutions
with the class in the specified
order by the lead teacher.When
the student presents, they will
either have someone in their
group come up with them to hold
the groups paper or they may
post it on the board. We will
approach the questions in the
order they are presented. We will
sequence answers from
misconceptions to most- least
common methods. This will give
students the opportunity to share
out and verbalize their thinking
about the problems and
demonstrate how their choosing
of a solution path could have
been different than other groups
and the solution path could have
even been much different. The
hope is that students are able to
recognize all the different ways in
which to solve these types of
problems. If student writing is too
small, we will put it on the
document camera .It will also

TE 407 Fall 2007

Anticipated students responses

are that students will be making
connections and recognize
differences and similarities
between their work and the
presenting groups.

What will you say or do to set

up the discussion of the big
math ideas?

Some student questions may

include:
"Why did you
decided to graph it that
way?"
"Where did
______ number come
from? We tried the same
one and got a different
answer."
"Did you graph
that by hand or using the
calculator?"
"Did you all
check to make sure the
graph you did by hand
was right?"
"How did you
know to use those points
when you graphed?"
"How did you get

Q: Could you explain to us how

you went about doing it?

14/16

Q: How can we go about finding

which equations are systems?

Q: So that was one way to do it.

Did anyone else think of another
way?
Q: _______, what do you think
of _______s groups strategy?
Q: How do you know that is a
solution? Prove it.
The sequencing of answers will
go from misconceptions to
most-least common approach.
We expect the students to:
1. (Misconception)
Put the equations into the
calculator wrong.
2. Make an
algebraic mistake in
08.27.07

Lesson Plan Guide

give students the opportunity to
check their groups work and
compare and contrast it. Although
we did not have a problem with
students continuing the task after
time was called, to ensure all
writing stops, the lead teacher
will come around and collect
colored pencils and the marker.

that point of
intersection?"
During the discussion, students
may struggle with justifying
their answers either because
they feel uncomfortable talking
aloud in front of their peers or
they are not certain as to why
something is written as it is.
We hope that the addition of
group roles will lessen the
anxiety for the presentation.
There will be a reporter whose
job will include keeping track of
everything that is being written
and the paths that their group
took in order to effectively
present their work to the class.

TE 407 Fall 2007

15/16

verifying their answers.

3. (Most Common)
Use the calculator to find
what the graphs look like
then using the table to
plot the points on the
coordinate plane to see
whether or not the
graphs intersect. (This
may include the students
graphing one equation at
a time or graphing the
pair together)
4. (Least Common)
Graphing the equations
by hand using a table of
their own creation.

08.27.07

Lesson Plan Guide

Summary Statement:
(May change based on what actually happens in class)
We see that there are different ways we can go about finding the solutions for systems. Not only that, but we found that there are other
ways we can go about checking to see if our solutions from are correct. The important part of this whole process is saying that all of
these ways are valid and can be used when graphically solving for a system.

Homework:
There will be no homework.

TE 407 Fall 2007

16/16

08.27.07