Attached below is a lesson plan for a Grade 9 advanced math class (Grade 9 students doing Grade 10 science math). This lesson took place the day after the final term test and served as an extension of their previous knowledge of quadratic functions, namely extending their knowledge of the standard form to come up with the factored form. The lesson (done on November 5th) was motivated with a clip from the film “V for Vendetta” where V, the main character, launched fireworks at 12:00 am on November 5th. This clip was followed by the question shown on slide 3 in the presentation.
Students were evidently excited by the fact that they were able to “watch a movie” in math class however their reaction to the opening question was unexpected; I was under the impression that the advanced students would be more impressed by the fact that they could define a quadratic function using only its zeros. I took their reaction, however, and said: “Well if you had to find the rule, could you do it?” From that moment on, the lesson went extremely well with students being attentive, participating in the discussion, asking questions when they were unsure, and doing the assigned work.
In retrospect, I should have expected the initial reaction of not wanting to learn something new, especially the day after a summative test. This moment truly showed me to expect the unexpected! In this lesson, though, I was proud of my ability to incorporate technology into my math class when the school had not yet integrated technology into the grade level (competency 8). I also made sure to review the content to remember the intricacies of the concept and be able to answer any questions that my students would have had while making the lesson relatable for them and allowing them to construct the knowledge themselves with classwork (competencies 1, 3, 4, 6). The classwork gave me time to help students get back on track if they were unsure about how to proceed. When I was talking to the class and to individual students, I acted professionally and used appropriate language both orally and in writing (competencies 2, 12). Additionally, the lesson was discussed with other teachers in the department to ensure that we would be moving at the same pace and that our resources were useful for our students (competencies 10, 11).
Kevin Paquette 