Ms. Loznak's Blog: Creative Commons Lab

In Algebra 1, we are currently learning about slope intercept form. I often tell my students it is like rate and base. Slope is the rate. The variable represents how many at the rate. The y-intercept is a base price or one time fee. I am always looking for application problems that relate to the students' lives. I often compare solving equations in slope intercept form to ordering a pizza with toppings. In the lesson, the pizza alone with crust, tomato sauce and cheese would cost $5, and each piece of pepperoni costs and additional $0.10. The lesson begins by showing the cost for 1, 2, 3, and 4 additional pieces of pepperoni. But a majority of the students agree, that 4 pieces is not enough. One idea would be to continue to add $0.10 to the $5 for each piece of pepperoni; however, if you wanted a pizza like the one in the picture, it would take a while to continue adding the same number repeatedly. From here you show students that you can multiply the "slope/rate" by the number of pieces of pepperoni and then add the "y-intercept/base." We continue to go further by asking how many pepperoni's they could get with $6 and if that would be enough for good pizza. The final part would be to ask the students how many pieces they could get for $7.25. How would the $0.05 affect the number of pepperoni pieces. Many times students often round up even though the case is to round down because you wouldn't have enough money. I often look for personal pictures that the students can relate to and make the math come alive to them. Throughout Algebra, I am often embedding pictures into flipcharts or worksheets. Our Promethean Board comes with a bank of pictures for everything and I am always able to find a visual for things that we are learning. For some lessons, I begin by solving application problems where the students know what "makes sense" and then I show them that they are already doing Algebra in their reasoning. I don't think students even realize how often they use Algebra without even thinking about it: going to the movies and paying for childrens' and adults' tickets, going to a fair and being able to buy tickets for rides, and going to the grocery store and deciding how much you can buy with a given amount of money. I have also found that adding pictures to any document makes it not seem as "boring" to students. It catches their attention and gives them a visual for each word problem rather than just words.