Planning GuideGrade 8
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Solving Equations

Strand: Patterns and Relations (Variables and Equations)
Outcome: 2

Step 5: Follow-up on Assessment

Guiding Questions

  • What conclusions can be made from assessment information?
  • How effective have instructional approaches been?
  • What are the next steps in instruction?

A. Addressing Gaps in Learning

Consider the following strategies to assist students who are having difficulty:

  • Work one-on-one with a student as he/she completes a balance problem. Listen carefully to the language the student uses in order to determine where his/her misunderstanding is.
  • Encourage the student to use algebra tiles and/or draw pictures in order to visually represent the problem.
  • If a student has difficulty following an algebraic solution, work first to have the student verbally and/or visually represent the solution process. Then move to translating the process into the algebraic representation.

B. Reinforcing and Extending Learning

Students who have achieved or exceeded the outcomes will benefit from ongoing opportunities to apply and extend their learning. These activities should support students in developing a deeper understanding of the concept and should not progress to the outcomes in subsequent grades.

Activity 1: Go to: http://illuminations.nctm.org/LessonDetail.aspx?id=L263 for a lesson on magic squares.

Note to Teacher: In this activity, students will:

  • represent, analyze and generalize a variety of patterns with tables, graphs, words and, when possible, symbolic rules
  • develop meaning for integers and represent and compare quantities with them
  • develop and use strategies to estimate the results of rational-number computations and judge the reasonableness of the results.