Lesson Plan Title: Introduction to Slope Concept/Topic to Teach: Standards Addressed: 8.4.

2 Calculating the slope of a linear relation given as a table or graph Specific Objectives: The students understand and find the constant rate of change of linear functions and their lines, which is the slope. Required Materials: Clipboards, measuring tapes, rulers, yard sticks, paper, pencil, handouts, graphing calculators, Promethean Board, graph paper Anticipatory Set (Lead-In): What is slope? Does anyone know any examples of slope or what slope is used for? Step-By-Step Procedures for Teaching the Lesson: Introduce slope with classroom discussion of what slope is and what it is used for. Divide students into groups of 4, give out materials, and give directions for the outside activity. Group 1 will measure in centimeters, group 2 will measure in inches, group 3 will measure in feet, and group 4 will measure in millimeters. Take the students outside to measure the rise and run of sets of steps all around the school to find the various slopes of different sets of stairs. Once all measurements are recorded on the handout the students draw a picture to represent the steps they measured and label the measurements they took on the drawing. After drawing the steps on the graph paper the students will determine what ordered pairs are associated with all vertices of the steps. Then the point on each outer edge vertex of each step is connected to make a line or a linear function. Next the class will watch a youtube video call Creating Lists in TI-83 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8cw_xiwFKw)too see how to enter their coordinates on the calculator. Then the group will get a graphing calculator and get out their handout to

make a list in the table function of the calculator. The handout has the step listed to use the calculator to find the slope. List 1 is the x-coordinate of their ordered pair and list 2 is the y-coordinate of their ordered pair. After labeling list 1 and list 2 the students will decide what increments the x and y axis should increase by. This is determined by the measurements. The axes have to be long enough to include all x and y coordinates. The students will then enter all ordered pairs into the two columns. Once all coordinates are entered the student will hit GRAPH using the graph function to draw their steps on the calculator. After graphing the steps on the calculator the students will choose two ordered pairs for the calculator to find the slope with. First, they choose the slope option on the calculator, and then trace the graph using the arrow keys on the calculator until they get to the first vertex they chose. Once the cursor is on the first vertex they hit the enter button. The calculator will then ask them for the second point so again they will use the arrow keys to trace the graph until they get to the second point they plan to use. Once the cursor is on the second point again they hit the enter key. The calculator will automatically draw a tangent line that connects the two points chosen and display the slope of the tangent line in the lower left hand corner of the graph. Next each group will connect their calculator to the laptop that is connected to the Promethean Board using a USB cord and the TI software will automatically detect the connected calculator and display whatever is on their calculator onto the Promethean Board as a screen shot. At this point we will have a classroom discussion about each groups graph and we can write on the screen shot using the Promethean software to analyze the graph. Guided Practice/Monitoring: Once we re-enter the classroom setting, I will oversee each group to ensure that they are on task and answer any individual questions about graphing their points to make their drawing of their steps. If the groups seem to be confused or if they have

misconceptions I will use questioning techniques to guide them to answer the question on their own. As I walk amongst the students I am making notes of any misconceptions to discuss as a whole group activity as well as making notes of specific tasks they are having problems with. Closure (Reflect Anticipatory Set): Whole Group Discussion: What is slope? How did each groups slopes differ or how were they the same? What did each group have the most problem with? Where else could we use this skill in real world applications? Is this a useful skill for now? Do you think this is a useful skill for after you graduate? Assessment Based on Objectives: The students should understand and find the constant rate of change of linear functions and their lines, which is the slope with 80 % accuracy on a classroom quiz at the end of the period. Adaptations (For Students With Special Needs): An SLD student with a disability in math can use a calculator to divide the rise and the run to calculate the slope of the line. Extensions (For Advanced Students): More advanced students could calculate the slope by using the degree of measure the steps make with the ground and the degree of measure the steps make with the porch to calculate the slope. Possible Connections to Other Subjects: After discussing slope, their History teacher could discuss the Ancient Incan Pyramids. After their historical discussion on the pyramids, we will discuss how the Incas knew what slope to use so that the pyramids would stand without the measuring devices we have today. Reflection: This lesson reinforced my belief that math is learned best through hands on activities. When students can learn

through real life situations and apply what they have learned they retain the knowledge with a higher success rate. An area for improvement would be to use more videos.