Demo Lesson

This was a demo lesson that I co-taught fully remotely about graphing functions with technology at Queens College, Spring 2021.

You will find the overview, lesson plan, Turtle Crossing activity on Desmos (Do Now, groupwork, exit ticket, etc), and homework assignment.

Overview of Graphing Functions with Technology

In this lesson, students will explore what a functional relationship between two quantities is and how to identify if a graph is a function or not. The New York Common Core standards that the lesson addresses include CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.8.F.A.1, CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.8.F.B.5, and CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.HSA.CED.A.2.

The prior knowledge that students have include identifying coordinates on a plane, the x-axis and y-axis on a coordinate plane, the x-coordinate and y-coordinate of a point, the dependent and independent variable, and using variables to represent two quantities in a real-world problem. For this lesson, we will have students log into Desmos (https://student.desmos.com/join/vjd59u).

They will work independently to draw a graph as a warm-up. Once a graph is drawn, a video will be played where the turtle will move with their graphs. We will then ask students to look at the graph and describe what they believe is happening with the graph. Students will play the video to reveal what the turtle did in the next slide. After the video, students will work independently on answering questions analyzing what they see on the graph. We will then put students into groups, where they will be comparing differences between two different graphs. We will come together as a whole group to discuss our findings.

Definitions will be provided once the work is completed. Students will then do an activity in their groups, where they will watch a video of a turtle crossing to the land and draw a graph representing the turtle’s journey. Students will also be asked whether the graph they drew is a function, along with an explanation.

Summary questions and an exit slip will be asked after the activity to assess what students have learned, along with a check-in on how students felt about the lesson.

Turtle Crossing activity on Desmos: https://student.desmos.com/join/vjd59u

Lesson Plan

Homework Assignment