In my Algebra 1 class, the unit topic that I chose for my unit analysis project was

systems of equations and inequalities, which is chapter 7 I their textbook. There are
a total of six sections that we covered within this unit, and it is broken down into the
following sections: 1) solving systems by graphing, 2) solving systems using
substitution, 3) solving systems using elimination, 4) applications of linear systems,
5) linear inequalities, and 6) systems of linear inequalities. Since Rocky has 90
minutes classes, all of the lesson were covered in one day, with the exception of
section 7.2. Although we were able to cover solving system using substitution in
one day, I decided to spend another day on it to help students grasp the concept
before moving forward.
Section 7.1 Solving systems by graphing
In this section, students first learned what exactly a system of equations were and
what it meant to have a solution, no solution, or infinitely many solutions. The first
step for students solving a system by graphing was to first graph each linear
function that was given (the ability to graph linear functions was covered in the
previous unit, so we had a quick warm-up on that before starting this lesson). The
second step were for students to find the point of intersection between the two
lines. Students learned that this intersection was our solution to our system of
equations. Students also learned and discovered that if two lines have the same
slope, they will never intersect, therefore there will be no solutions to that system.
They also learned that if two lines have the same slope and same y-intercept, they
will have infinitely many solutions as they are the same line and intersect at every
point on that line.
Section 7.2 Solving systems using substitution
In this section, students learned how to solve a system of equations algebraically by
using the substitution method. This method involved the following process: Step
1. Identify the equation that is already solved for a certain variable. If both
equations have yet to be solved, choose an equation that will allow you to solve for
a variable with the least amount of complications. Step 2. After completing step
1, substitute that equation into the other equation for the variable that was solved
for. Step 3. Now that the equation contains only one variable, we can solve for
that variable and find an actual value. Step 4. After solving for one of the
variables, plug that value into the original equation (from step 1) and solve for the
remaining variable. These two variables (typically x and y), are the solutions to the
system, and represents a point on the graph where the two linear functions
intersect.
Section 7.3 Solving systems using elimination
In this section, students learned how to solve a system of equations algebraically by
using the elimination method. This method involved the following process. Step
1. Align the variables together, and alter one of the equations if needed. Step 2.
Add down, ensuring that one of the variables would be eliminated. Step 3. Solve
for the remaining variable. Step 4. Now plug that value for the variable that was
solved for into either of the original equations, and solve for the remaining variable.

The value of these two variables are the solutions to the system, and as previously
stated, represents the point on the graph where the two linear functions intersect.
Section 7.4 Applications of linear systems
In this section, students are able to see the relevance and the different types of
situations in the real world where they would use a system of equations. This
section allows the students to take what they learned in section 7.1-7.3, and put it
to use in the form of word problems. The biggest thing with this section is teaching
students how to create a system of equations given the information in the word
problem. Up to this point, the equations were already given and all they needed to
do was solve using one of the previously stated methods. Now they were given a
real-world situation, and they had to dissect and determine what their two linear
equations would be for their system of equations. Once they were able to create
their system, they would solve using either of the three methods they learned.
They chose which method they would use based on which method would allow them
to solve the system most efficiently.
Section 7.5 Linear Inequalities
In this section, students learned to identify the difference between graphing linear
inequalities and graphing linear equations. The biggest difference being that, with
inequalities, they needed to not only graph the line, but also shade the part of the
graph that represented all of the solutions to the linear inequality. Students learned
what the different inequality symbols represented, and whether they needed to
shade above or below the line, and what the shaded region meant in context of the
problem. While we started with all linear inequalities in slope-intercept form, we
progress to standard form, and students re-learned how to convert any
equation/inequality from standard form into slope-intercept form.
Section 7.6 Systems of Linear Inequalities
The last section of the unit combined their knowledge of section 7.1 (solving
systems by graphing) and 7.5 (linear inequalities) to solve systems of linear
inequalities. As oppose to systems of equations where they had three different
methods they could use to solve the system, in this section they only solved by
graphing. They were also given several word problems to work through where they
had to create a system of linear inequalities given the information from the
problem, then solve by graphing those linear inequalities and shading accordingly.
The shaded region of the graph represented all of the solutions to the system they
had created from the word problem.

For this unit, the three main math standards that were used throughout this chapter
were:

ccss.math.practice.mp1: Make sense of problem and persevere in solving

them.
ccss.math.practice.mp2: Reason abstractly and quantitatively.

ccss.math.practice.mp4: Model with mathematics.

These standards fit with this unit perfectly as students had to try and make
sense of what exactly was going on, understand the process of solving systems,
use logic when determining the answer to any given problem, and also create a
system given a real-world situation. Section 7.2, 7.3 and 7.4 were by far the
toughest for the students, and they really needed to work hard and try their best
to push through and persevere in attempting to solve these types of problems.
This entire unit, especially section 7.4 and 7.6, are incredibly critical to a
students understanding of how the real-world can be modeled through
mathematics. A lot of students enter a math class with very little knowledge of
how math is a part of their everyday life, or potentially a part of their future. By
first giving them the skill to solve systems of equations, and then showing them
the relevance with word problems, really helps students see when they would be
able to use this in their daily lives. Every day I would tie in what we were
learning about with a situation where they might use this knowledge. I
eventually would have students give me examples in either their life, or in the
life of someone they know, where they could use this skill to efficiently and
effectively solve a problem. I would routinely give business examples, or even
comparison examples by using different cell phone planes as examples. Every
kid in my class has a cell phone, so I knew that an example like that would be
great because they could all relate and make sense of how this skill could be
used by them in their current lives.