1. MELT Grades 6-8 Algebra Sheila S. Brookshire
4/18/2018 8:35 PM
MELT Grades 6-8 Algebra
Sheila S. Brookshire
Middle School Mathematics Coach
Buncombe County Schools
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2. Norms Be on time Silence cell phones
Limit sidebar conversations to activities
Be respectful
Be actively engaged
Have Fun!

3. What number can you put in the box to make the statement true?
Number Talks
What number can you put in the box to make the statement true?

4. Building Bridges to Algebraic Thinking
Every Saturday you play basketball in the local community youth club. At the end of the season after a club tournament, the players in the club meet at a fast-food restaurant for a party. If hamburgers cost $0.59, what is the total cost for 15 players to have a hamburger each? 4

5. Building Bridges to Algebraic Thinking
Every Saturday you play basketball in the local community youth club. At the end of the season after a club tournament, the players in the club meet at a fast-food restaurant for a party. If hamburgers cost $0.59, find a way to determine the total cost of the hamburgers when various numbers of players in the club each have a hamburger.

6. Equality
The equals sign can indicate that two expressions are equivalent
The equals sign can be used in defining or giving a name to an expression or function rule
It is often important to find the value(s) of a variable for which two expressions represent the same quantity
Finding the value(s) of a variable for which two expressions represent the same quantity is known as solving an equation
An inequality is another way to describe a relationship between expressions; instead of showing that the values of two expressions are equal, inequalities indicate that the value of one expression is greater than (or greater than or equal to) the value of the other expression
In solving an inequality, multiplying or dividing both expressions by a negative number reverses the sign (<, >, ≤, ≥) that indicates the relationship between the two expressions

7. Postage Stamp
Suppose that you have an unlimited supply of 5-cent stamps and 11-cent stamps. You can make exact postage of 21-cents by using two 5-cent stamps and one 11-cent stamp. However, you cannot make exact postage of 23-cents by using only 5-cent stamps and 11 cent stamps. What is the greatest amount of exact postage you cannot make by using these stamps?

8. Postage Stamp Discussion
What Algebraic Habits of Mind were used in the solutions of you and your colleagues?
Doing/Undoing
Abstracting from Computation
Building Rules to Represent Functions

9. Get it Together Patterns
Each person gets a clue
Only the person with the clue can read the clue
You must work together to answer the question
If manipulatives are used, only one person can touch the manipulatives

10. Developing Mathematical Fluency

11. Tic Tac Toe

12. Transition to Algebra
solveme.edc.org

13. Postage Stamp Video
Listen to what the students are saying to each other and to themselves
Do not worry about whether they are getting the correct answer
Focus on the students’ thought process, how it evolves, and how the written answers compare to the ideas seen in their discussions.
Use the Listening for a Thought Process worksheet as you watch the video

14. Break

15. Selecting the Task
Use the Task Analysis Guide to SORT the student tasks
Will the task make students stretch their thinking?
Will the task branch off to other topics?
Is there more than one way to solve the task?
Will the task help students understanding of the idea?
Will the task cause disequilibrium?

17. Reflect on a unit that you have recently facilitated.
Self-Reflection
Reflect on a unit that you have recently facilitated.
To what extent did you provide your students with the opportunity to engage in high-level tasks?
Were the task you provided in this unit more on the right side of the task analysis guide or on the left side?
What are some strategies that you could use to adapt your unit?

18. Task Implementation
TASKS
as they appear in curricular/ instructional materials
as set up by the teachers as
implemented
by students
Student Learning