Aritz Cardenas

Professor Dennis Parker

MIAA 350
Spring 2014

Reflection #3 (3-24-2014)
I interviewed my friend, Ms. Hoff, to see what she was teaching in her Algebra 1
class at Sierra Middle School. She told me that she was currently introducing Quadratic
equations and functions with her students (specifically focus on graphing them). She
mentioned to me that the standard quadratic equation with two variables is written in the
following form: y= ax
2
+ bx + c. A function represented by a quadratic equation is known as
a quadratic function.
I asked Ms. Hoff what lessons do you use in assessing this concept. She went over
with me what she was teaching her students on this particular day. She first mentioned that
she modeled with students on determining whether a coordinate point is on a given
quadratic equation. For example, the quadratic equation that was given in the class
example was y= -3x
2
4. Ms. Hoff gave the class coordinate points [(2,1) and (-1, -7)] and
had students practiced to see which point was found on the quadratic equation. By
substituting the coordinate into the equation. The coordinate of (2, 1) was not a solution of
the quadraditc equation, but (-1, -7) was. I asked Ms. Hoff how she taught this to her class;
she mentioned that she did a practice problem with her students on the ELMO projector
and then gave her students the example problems.
I asked Ms. Hoff how she thought her students did on this particular lesson. She
thought students did pretty well, as it was the first lesson of this particular unit. She told
me that her biggest challenge in this unit is when she needs to go over completing the
square with her students. She was explaining what that was and what she was having her
students solve (when given only x
2
+ bx). Students need to solve for the perfect square
trinomial. As she was showing me how she solves it though algebra, I thought how one can
use algebraic manipulatives to help solve the issue. She told me that she has used
manipulatives in the past and does plan on using in her class this year.