STEPP Lesson Plan Form

Teacher: Mitchell Tandy

School:
Lesher Middle School
Content Area: Math

Date: April 2015

Grade Level: 7

Title: Solving Systems of Linear and Quadratic Equations

Lesson #: 1 of 1

Content Standard(s) addressed by this lesson:

directly from the standard)

(Write Content Standards

A.REI.7 Solve a simple system consisting of a linear equation and a quadratic

equation in two variables algebraically and graphically. (Common Core)
Understandings: (Big Ideas)
Using substitution or graphing, we can solve a system of equations with a linear
equation and a quadratic equation. This system can have 0, 1, or 2 real solutions.
Inquiry Questions: (Essential questions relating knowledge at end of the unit of
instruction, select applicable questions from standard)
When a linear function and quadratic function are graphed, where can you find the
solutions?
When you have a linear equation and a quadratic equation, how can you replace
one of the variables?
How many solutions to a system of one linear and one quadratic equation can you
get?
Evidence Outcomes: (Learning Targets)
Every student will be able to: (Create your own lesson objectives from the
standard, follow the ABCD format, using student voice)
Students will be able to solve a system of equations given a quadratic equation and
a linear equation using graphing and substitution methods.
I can:
I can find the solution to a system of a linear equation and a quadratic equation.
This means:
This means I can find the values that solve a given linear equation and quadratic
equation.
List of Assessments: (Write the number of the learning target associated with
each assessment)
Students will be provided with a worksheet with practice problems relating to each
method of solution, culminating in an application problem where students need to
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construct the system and solve it. Questions 1-3 target the graphing method,
question 4 targets the recognition of the number of possible solutions, and
questions 5-7 target the substitution method.

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Planned Lesson Activities

Name and Purpose of Lesson
Should be a creative title for you and the
students to associate with the activity.
Think of the purpose as the mini-rationale
for what you are trying to accomplish
through this lesson.
Approx. Time and Materials
How long do you expect the activity to last
and what materials will you need?
Anticipatory Set
The hook to grab students attention.
These are actions and statements by the
teacher to relate the experiences of the
students to the objectives of the lesson, To
put students into a receptive frame of
mind.
To focus student attention on the
lesson.
To create an organizing framework
for the ideas, principles, or
information that is to follow
(advanced organizers)
An anticipatory set is used any time a
different activity or new concept is to be
introduced.
Procedures
(Include a play-by-play account of what
students and teacher will do from the
minute they arrive to the minute they
leave your classroom. Indicate the length
of each segment of the lesson. List actual
minutes.)
Indicate whether each is:
-teacher input

Solving Systems of Linear and Quadratic Equations:

This lesson is designed to demonstrate how several of the same
methods that students used to solve systems of linear equations can
also be used to solve systems of linear and quadratic equations. As a
result, students can connect what they learned and practiced before to
a new concept, and solve new problems accordingly.
Approx. Time: 40 minutes
Materials: Technology with graphing software (computers with Desmos
or graphing calculators can work)
The lesson begins with a group review over how the class solved
linear systems of equations in the previous unit, which will be required
background knowledge for the lesson. Given its importance, this
review includes an example problem for each method that the class
does together as a whole.
Once this preparatory segment is complete, the teacher sets the
hook by asking the class what happens when one of the equations in
the system isnt linear. This is followed by real world examples of this,
such as situations with falling objects and running/driving/etc. objects.
Then, the teacher explains to the class the learning objectives of
the lesson, and how the same methods used for linear systems can be
used for linear and quadratic systems.

5 minutes Teacher will lead a review, heavily reliant on questioning

strategies, over methods of solving systems of linear equations. This is
a whole-class practice activity that looks at how each method is used
on an example problem completed as a class.
2 minutes Teacher will introduce learning objectives and real life
applications.
2 minutes Teacher will model using a graph (created on Desmos) to
solve a system of linear and quadratic equations in front of the class
5 minutes Students will individually practice the graphing method

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-modeling
-questioning strategies
-guided/unguided:
-whole-class practice
-group practice
-individual practice
-check for understanding
-other

Closure
Those actions or statements by a teacher
that are designed to bring a lesson
presentation to an appropriate conclusion.
Used to help students bring things
together in their own minds, to make
sense out of what has just been taught.
Any Questions? No. OK, lets move on is
not closure. Closure is used:
To cue students to the fact that
they have arrived at an important
point in the lesson or the end of a
lesson.
To help organize student learning
To help form a coherent picture and to
consolidate.
Differentiation
To modify: If the activity is too advanced
for a child, how will you modify it so that

with problems 1-3 on the provided worksheet and work on question 4.

Meanwhile, the teacher will assist students around the room.
5 minutes Teacher will check for understanding by calling on students
to share their solutions with the class.
4 minutes Teacher will model solving a system using the substitution
method in front of the class
7 minutes Students will individually practice the substitution method
with problems 5-7 on the provided worksheet. Meanwhile, the teacher
will assist students around the room.
3 minutes Teacher will show a short clip of Superman to introduce the
application problem (Superman flying to catch a falling Lois Lane), then
give the application problem to the class.
5 minutes Students will work on the application problem. Meanwhile,
the teacher will assist students around the room.
2 minutes Teacher will lead a discussion on the solution to the
application problem and ask the class the inquiry questions to check for
understanding.
The lessons closure begins after the class talks about the
solution to the application problem. The teacher will ask the class the
three inquiry questions:
When a linear function and quadratic function are graphed,
where can you find the solutions?
When you have a linear equation and a quadratic equation, how
can you replace one of the variables?

How many solutions to a system of one linear and one quadratic

equation can you get?
In order to hear the most number of students possible (and have
students hear it being said as much as possible), each question will be
answered and then followed by the teacher asking can I have
someone else answer that in their own words?

For the application problem, students who need additional

assistance can be given the two models directly so they can
jump straight to looking at the graphs, where they can still apply

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they can be successful?
To extend: If the activity is too easy for a
child, how will you extend it to develop
their emerging skills?

Assessment
How will you know if students met the
learning targets? Write a description of
what you were looking for in each
assessment.

the lessons content to a real world problem. Creating the

models, while valuable, is secondary to the lesson objectives.
For students who are ahead of the class, these students can be
challenged with figuring out how fast Lois Lane is falling when
Superman catches her, and how much time do they have to slow
down her descent before she would hit the ground. These apply
students understanding of quadratic models, which is the
current unit.
The questions on the worksheet are specifically designed so that
students are met with problems that show different kinds of situations.
Correct answers on 1-3 show that the students graphed the models
correctly and the correct answer on 4 shows that students understand
the different situations that create different amounts of solutions.
Questions 5-7 allow for better analysis, because the students work
doing computations can be seen directly. In these problems, the
answer is less important than seeing that, in each problem, students:
1. Substitute for the y variable
2. Solve the quadratic with factoring
3. Find the corresponding y value for each x value to make an
ordered pair

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Post Lesson Reflection

1. To what extent were lesson objectives achieved? (Utilize
assessment data to justify your level of achievement)
To evaluate the success of the objectives, we can look to each section of
the assessment using the collected student samples.
The graphing method utilized in questions 1-3 saw great success. Only
one wrong answer was found across the entire sample for questions 1 and 2
each, and these errors were both very small and belonged to different
students who answered the other questions right. 100% of students
correctly answered question 3.
The number of possible solutions asked about in question 4 also was
successful, with 100% of students correctly identifying 0, 1, and 2 being the
numbers of possible solutions.
The substitution method utilized in questions 5-7 was not as successful as
previous parts of the lesson objective; the general concept had been
understood, but the specifics had been lost. While students showed the right
steps of substituting and factoring, many students chose incorrect values for
factoring and few remembered to find the corresponding y value for each x
at the end. Those who did must have tried to complete the calculations
mentally (because their work isnt shown), so I cannot track down the source
of the arithmetic errors that commonly occurred during this step.
In summary, students successfully understood using graphing to solve
systems of linear and quadratic equations and understood the number of
solutions that could occur in different situations, but the substitution method
achieved only minor success and would need additional instruction and
practice.
2. What changes, omissions, or additions to the lesson would
you make if you were to teach again?
First of all, my understanding of timing was WAY off, and the lesson took
somewhere between 50-60min. As a result, I need to reduce the number of
questions in each section to two. In addition, this would reduce the issue of
some students finishing it too fast while others were still working on the first
problem, because the slower students wouldnt have so many problems to
try to catch up on.
In the graphing section, a way for me to better track students
understanding would be to have a Cartesian coordinate plane for students to
draw the graph that they see on Desmos. That way I can see the graphs that
they make and make sure they are using the intersection points correctly.
Having students draw graphs would also help me see their understanding in
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question 4, where I should ask students to graph an example of the three

situations.
The moment that I started seeing students work on questions 5-7, I
remembered that finding the corresponding y value had been a reoccurring
issue for students in the class. In the future, I need to take additional steps,
including additional instructions on the worksheet, to make sure students
dont forget this step.
I am conflicted over my use of the application problem. It was interesting,
and students thought it was fun, but perhaps it would be better suited as a
differentiation problem for students who already showed success in the
previous questions. As it was used in the lesson, it used time that I feel may
have been needed by students to better understand the substitution method
with factoring. At the same time, though, there are vital problem-solving
skills involved with creating models for the system rather than just having
arbitrary models given to them.
3. What do you envision for the next lesson? (Continued practice,
reteach content, etc.)
The next lesson would certainly be focused on solving quadratic equations by
factoring, which was the source of the issues in the substitution method. I
dont think that much reteaching is necessary, as students understood the
idea behind it, so a simple practice day with some guided problems could
have a very positive impact.

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