Tuesday, April 9, 2013

WWYD? - my students did not prove to me they know quadratics

I thought my freshmen Accelerated Algebra I class was really understanding the quadratic unit. However, I just graded their tests and they didn't prove it to me. They can't complete the square when "a" is not one. They cannot factor! They cannot solve by square roots. Forget "i". I thought they understood that, too, but they didn't do those problems correctly. They did okay with the word problems and putting it all together, though. Maybe something was wrong with my teaching but I have taught it the same way to my sophomores in Algebra II honors for years and they got it. Maybe the test was too hard. The numbers were tricky, but it wasn't just the numbers that were tripping them up. They didn't have the processes down. I am not a fan of make ups, but this is important stuff and they need to get it. We are moving into radicals and rationals next and they will be really stuck if they can't factor. I am not sure what to do. Maybe a series of mini-assessments as I am still teaching the new material. Any thoughts?

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