I was going through a review of slope that I made a couple of years ago. I love this resource! It was created for the 8th grade STAAR, but I feel like all Algebra teachers would love this. Students are supposed to come into Algebra with a concept of slope already! Why do students have such a hard time with it? Slope is a fun and interesting concept and of course ties to so many real-life situations. Let me tell you what this review contains:
Now remember that it is a review of slope! The first page gives the students a picture of a line with four points on the line. The students are asked to find the slope of two different segments along the same line, two different ways. The picture also has two right triangles drawn that were created from using the endpoints of the segments. Students that already have a concept of slope should be able to think of several ways to find slope. I love this so much. On top of that, shouldn’t the slopes be the same and the two triangles created are similar. Hopefully students will have that Ah-ha moment!
The next two pages have the students interpret the meaning of slope by matching a situation to a graph. The students are thinking of slope as a rate of change and having a proportional relationship. I love the different graphs. Teachers could ask the students to find the slopes of all of the graphs first before trying to match them to the situation. Students are asked to explain why the graphs they did not choose are incorrect. Having students explain their reasoning is always important in math.
The next four pages are a set of 24 matching cards. 12 of the cards have either a graph or a table. The other 12 cards display a slope, y-intercept or another way of identifying that it matches one of the graph or table cards. This activity is engaging and students have to know what they are doing!
Finally, the last page in this resource is something that I have consistently placed in every 8th grade STAAR resource. I call it Smath’s Problem. It is an activity that reviews several of the topics in the resource. It is interesting and students enjoy working through the situation. It can be used as an assessment or a group activity.
I think you’ll enjoy this resource. All of the answer keys are included. Take a look if this sounds interesting!
Time Flies Edu 