AnnaThin

SolvingOneStepEquations

Objectives

Standards

Studentswillbeabletosolveonestepequationsfor
asinglevariable.

Studentswillusespecificselfmonitoringquestions
toguidethemthroughsolvingonestepequations.

CORE.PA.2.2.AlgebraicConcepts
CORE.P.A.2.2.HS.D.8.Applyinverseoperationsto
solveequationsorformulasforagivenvariable.

CORE.PA.2.2.AlgebraicConcepts
CORE.PA.2.2.HS.2.9.Usereasoningtosolve
equationsandjustifythesolutionmethod.

Baseknowledge

Mathematicaloperations
Variables
PEMDAS
Inverseoperations

Materials

Guidednotes

Opener(10mins)

Goodmorningstudents.Today,weregoingtobelearningsomeofthemostimportant
andfundamentalconceptsofalgebra.Beforewemoveintothat,however,weneedto
reviewsomeotherthingswevelearnedthisyear.WhocanremindmeofwhatPEMDAS
is?Whyisitimportant?
Letsdoacoupleexamplestogether.

DirectInstruction(20minutes)//IXL(20minutes)

Studentswillbedividedintotwostations,onewhichtheylogontoIXLandpracticespecificskillsthatthey
areassignedandtheotherwhichIwillbedirectlyinstructing.

Whenwedontknowwhatsomethingisinmath,whatdoweusetorepresentit?Dowe
rememberusingourprimarycolorstodefinewhatvariablesareearlierintheyear?Yes!
Whichcolordidweuseforthevariable?Sometimeswedontalwaysknowwhatthe
variableequals.Inthatcase,weneedtosolveforthevariable.Letslookatanequation.

Weseethatthevariableisthere,thereisanequalssign,andacouplenumbers.Butits
notjustyequalssomething.Whatsnexttothevariable?Wewanttheytoequalone
number.So,weneedtogettheyalone.


Questionsforselfmonitoring:
Whatsbeingdonetothevariable
writeintheDobox
Howcanwegetthevariablealone?WhatistheoppositeoperationoftheDo?
writein
theUndobox
Whatgoesthroughtheequalsign?Whydowedrawthat?
tokeepthesidesseparate
Ifweundosomethingononeside,howdowekeeptheequationbalanced?
dotothe
otherside
Whatcancelsout?
remindthatthegoalistogetthevariablealone
Whatdowebringdown?
Whatdowedoonourcalculator?
Isthevariablealone?

Ido//Wedo

(15mins)

Studentswillseememodeltwoproblemsandwillbeguidedthroughtwoproblems.Selfmonitoring
questionswillbeusedthroughout.

Letslookatthisproblem.Whatsbeingdonetothey?Theresaplus4.Imgoingtowritethatundermy
Docolumn.Whatistheinverseoperation,theoppositeofplus4?Minus4.Imgoingtowritethat
undertheUndocolumn.Now,Imgoingtodrawalinedownthemiddletoremindmyselfthatthetwo
sidesareseparate.WhatdidwewriteundertheUndocolumn?Thatshowwearegoingtogetthey
alone.Subtract4fromthe4+y.IfIdothisononeside,Ineedtodothisontheother.4minus4will
cancelout.Webringeverythingdownthatisnotcancelledout:theyandtheequalsign.Ontheleftside,
whats6minus4?Weputthe10belowthetwonumbers.Isyalone?Then10equalsy.

Problem:

6=4+
y

MD

AS

Do

Undo

Work

Letslookatthenextproblem.Whatsbeingdonetothec?Thevariableisbeingdividedby15.Imgoing
towritethatundermyDocolumn.Whatistheinverseoperation,theoppositeofdividingby15?
Multiplyingby15.ImgoingtowritethatundertheUndocolumn.Now,Imgoingtodrawalinedown
themiddletoremindmyselfthatthetwosidesareseparate.WhatdidwewriteundertheUndo
column?Thatshowwearegoingtogetthecalone.Multiplythe c 15 by15.IfIdothisononeside,I
needtodothisontheother.Whats15dividedbyfifteen?One.Therefore,the15cdividedby15will
cancelout.Webringeverythingdownthatisnotcancelledout:thecandtheequalsign.Ontheleftside,
whats15times4?Webringdownthatanswerontherightside,andwegetthatcequals60.

Problem:

c 15 =4

Do

Undo

Work

MD

AS

Youdo(5minutes)
Studentswillcompletetwoproblemsontheirown.Goal:Useselfmonitoringquestions

Reflection

Thislessonfocusedonincludingdirectinstructionandcognitivestrategyinstructionasintervention
practices,whichweretwostrategiesthatMarjorieMontaguediscussesinherchapterMathematicsin
Boonetal.s
BestPracticesfortheInclusiveClassroom:ScientificallyBasedStrategiesfor
Success
(2010).Withinthefirstfewpages,Montaguedefinesoneofthemostimportantfactorsofsuccess
instudentsasselfmonitoring.Morespecifically,shedefineswhatsuccessfulselfregulatorslooklike:
Studentswhoareeffectiveselfregulatorstellthemselveswhattodowhentheyareengagedinatask,ask
themselvesquestions,locateandcorrecttheirerrors,andconstantlychecktheirperformance(207).The
emphasisonspecificlinesofquestioningspoketome,asIoftenusethistechniquetoguidemystudents
learning.InsteadofhavingthemwatchandrepeatwhatIdo,usingguidingquestionsinsteadforcesthem
toreasonthroughwhattheyarelearning.Theseguidingquestionsallowsstudentstobecometheirown
problemsolvers,inadditiontoguidingthemthroughthetaskathand(inthiscase,solvingonestep
equations).BecauseIalreadyincorporatethesetypesoftechniques,Idecidedbuildontheselfmonitoring
process,muchlikehowMontaguemightsuggest.Ultimately,byrepeatedlyusingscriptedquestions
followedbyspecificinstructions,mystudentsweresuccessfulinselfmonitoringforthislesson,asboth
mycolleagueandIobservedanddiscussed.

ThislessondidnotdrasticallydifferfromwhatImayhavedonepriortothiscourse,however,this
interventioncausedmetoapproachmylessonplanningprocessdifferently.Ifocusedonspecifically
scriptingboththelessonandtheselfmonitoringquestionsthatIwantedstudentstofocuson.Itwas
essentialthatIaskedthequestionsthesamewayeachtimesothatstudentswereabletorepeatthe
questionsontheirown.BecauseIwasawareofthisintervention,usingveryparticularscriptedwordsand
intonationwereessentialstepstothislesson.

Overall,Iwantedtoreflectontwoaspectsthatwentwellinmylesson.Thefirstwasthatmystudentswere
veryquicktopickupontheselfmonitoringquestionsasawaytohelpthemsolveonestepequations.I
didnothavetotellthemtousethem,butinstead,theyunderstoodthatthequestionswereguidingthem
toananswer.Becauseofthenaturalprogressionofthequestions,reachinganansweralsoseemed
attainable.
Thesecondaspectofmylessonthatwentwellwasthestudentengagement.WhileInoticedthatitwas
particularlyhigh,uponlaterreflection,mycolleaguediscussedwithmeonepossiblereasonastowhythis
was:perhapsmystudentswereexcitedaboutthelesson
because
theyweresetupforsuccess.Whiletheset
ofselfmonitoringquestionsforthislessonwerenewtothem,mostofthequestionswereonesthatthey
couldanswer.Therefore,addingafewmoredetailsandstepstotheprocessdidntseemtobeadaunting
andoverwhelmingtaskformystudents,butinsteadsomethingthattheycouldbesuccessfulat.

Oneaspectofmylessonthatcouldhavegonebetterwasensuringthatstudentsphysicallymodelthe
problemssimilarly.Whilesolvingforonestepequationsdoesinvolvespecificproblemsolvingand
mathematicalskills,someofmystudentsstruggledwithsettingupandorganizingtheirequationsmore
thantheactualmathematicalsteps.Whilesomestudentsweregoodatpickinguphowtoorganize
problemsafterwatchingmevisuallyrepresentit,someofmystudentsneededmoreguidance.Ithinkthis
wasparticularlyhardforstudentswhohavetroublesustainingfocusiftheymissedsomethingthatIdid
ontheboardbecausetheywerentattentivetheentiretime,theywereleftconfused.Thereweretwo
solutionsandfollowupstepsthatIhadcomeupwith.Thefirstsolutionisaddingpicturesofeachstep
intotheguidednotesinordertohelpstudentsstayorganizedeachstep.Thispicturestorywouldalsoact
asagoodvisualcuewhenstudentslookbackattheirnotes.Thesecondsolutionisonethatmycolleague
andIagreedon:dividingmysmallgroupinstructionintodifferentgroupsinordertogivemore
stepbystepinstructionsforthosewhomaystrugglewithorganizationandvisualization.WhileIinitially
thoughtthatstudentswhogenerallyhavetroubleorganizingandvisuallyrepresentingproblemsshould

havebeeninonegroup,mycolleaguesuggestedbreakingupthesestudentsbetweenthetwosmallgroups.
Hereasonedthatthisway,thestudentswouldbeinagroupwithpeerswhoarecorrectlyrepresentingthe
equations.Theywouldbeseeingmoremodelrepresentationsoforganizingtheequations,whichwould
ultimatelyhelpintheirownlearning.

IfIweretoteachthislessonagain,Iwouldconsidergroupingmystudentsasmycolleaguesuggested.
Moreover,Iwouldprintthelistofselfmonitoringquestionsforstudentstoreferto.Ihadrefrainedfrom
doingsotobeginwithbecauseIwasconcernedaboutreadinglevelsandoverwhelmingmystudentswith
largeamountsofwords.WhileIthinkthatmystudentswereoverallsuccessfulinselfmonitoringduring
theindependentpractice,IthinkifIhadcreatedasimplifiedversionoftheselfmonitoringquestions,my
studentsmayhavebeenmoresuccessfulinretentionrateandlearningspeed.Aprintedversionofthe
questionsisoneofthecognitivestrategyinstructionthatHutchinsons(1993)workdescribes,ascitedin
Montagueschapter.InHutchinsonsparticularcase,studentsweregivenpromptcardsandworksheets
thathelpedwithselfmonitoringquestions.Ithinkthatgivingstudentssimilarresourceswouldstudents
thechoicetolookatthesheetiftheywantto,orsolveproblemswithoutit.Ultimately,studentscoulduse
theselfmonitoringquestionsasachecklistforthemtouseacrossallsettingstosolveonestepequations.

Workscited
Boon,R.&Spencer,V.(2010).
Bestpracticefortheinclusiveclassroom:Scientificallybased
strategiesforsuccess.
Waco,TX.

GuidedNotes

StudentWorkSample:
S.Irizarryguidednotes

StudentWorkSample:
L.Dutaryrecentexam

StudentWorkSample:
L.Dutaryrecentexa