Resources for final exam review

Can you believe it?  The semester is almost over.  As the semester ends, I wanted to share our plan to review for the final exam.

What will be covered on the final exam?
The final will cover all of the objectives that we've explored this semester.  We've organized these objectives into three thematic units:

1. Single-variable equations
2. Systems of equations
3. Patterns, predictions, and functions

Students should have three "self-assessment" guides, one for each unit, that list all of the objectives associated with these units.  The guides are taped in the front of their notebooks.

Our review plan
We probably won't be able to devote class time to reviewing for the final exam.  Instead, students will have review homework assignments, and then I'll conduct after-school review sessions to address the topics covered on the review assignments.  The review assignments can be found in the "daily activities, notes, and HW" link in the "class links" box on the right, and the calendar below gives the overall plan:

Homework for the long weekend

This week, students have been exploring patterns, making predictions, and writing general statements and rules.

Each night, students have engaged in these activities on their own, for homework.  Often, they had to invent strategies to solve the homework problems.

In class, we have used the previous night's homework to discuss strategies that students have used.

In other words, we have been solving problems and developing strategies at the same time.  This means that students' strategies should get progressively more sophisticated, and that students should get progressively more comfortable solving the homework problems.

For homework this weekend, I would like students to go back through each of the past three homework assignments (see list below), and reflect on their strategies. They might have a more sophisticated strategy now, or they might be able to solve a problem that they couldn't before.  Although there is no way to "check off" that students have done this assignment, I think it is very valuable for students to reflect on their own work.  Thus, I expect that students should spend at least 20 minutes reflecting.  Please help your son or daughter organize 20 minutes to reflect on their strategies, and to re-solve old problems in new ways.


The three HW assignments are:

1. Snowfall!
2. Patterns and predictions I 
3. Patterns and predictions II.

As always, all of the HW, class activities, and class notes can be found by clicking the "daily activities, notes, and homework" link in the "Class Links" box on the right side of this page.

Review sessions for the weeks of 11/7-11/11, and 11/14-11/18

We have scheduled the following review sessions specifically to work one-on-one with students who did not demonstrate mastery on the Unit 2 Summative Assessment.

• Monday, 11/7, from 3:00 - 4:00
• Tuesday, 11/8, from 3:00 - 4:00
• Wednesday, 11/9, from 2:00 - 3:00 (during tutor time)
• Thursday, 11/10, from 3:00 - 4:00
• Monday, 11/14, from 3:00 - 4:00
• Wednesday, 11/16, from 2:00 - 3:00 (during tutor time)

If students did not demonstrate mastery on the last summative assessment, they should sign up to attend two review sessions to get one-on-one help. 

Reflection on the unit 2 summative assessment

As you know, we took a summative assessment over the Unit 2 objectives last week.  For the most part, students demonstrated considerable mastery of these objectives, and they also demonstrated great flexibility in their use of problem-solving strategies.  For example, on one of the test problems, I counted four different strategies, and all lead to the correct answer!

For students who are not there yet, we have set up six review sessions over the next two weeks.  I would like any student who scored below 70% to attend at least two of these review sessions.  This way, we can continue to work towards mastery on a one-on-one basis, even as the class continues to solve new problems.

Parent and students: please check you grades in IC, and if you scored less than 70% on the Unit 2 Summative Assessment, please sign up for at least two review sessions.

Once you have mastered the material, you can retake the test.

It's been a long time!

I'm terribly sorry that i haven't posted any blog updates in a while.  This is a very busy time at school for everyone, and the website fell through the cracks.  Even though I haven't been posting blog updates, I have been posting all of our daily activities and class notes.  As always, you can access these resources via the "Class Links" box on the right side of this site.

In any case, please see the post below about our summative assessment this week.

Unit 2 summative assessment

Our summative assessment for Unit 2 scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 2 (for period 6), or Thursday, Nov. 3 (for period 7)

What will the test cover?
The test will cover all of the objectives from our second unit on solving systems of equations.  Students have green "self-assessment" sheets taped into the inside cover of their notebooks that list all of these objectives.

Some suggestions on how to prepare
We've spent the last two class days self-assessing, reviewing, and discussing study strategies.  Here are some resources that other students have found useful to prepare:

1. Students' notebooks have a complete record of all of our class activities.  Students can look back thorough all of these activities to assess mastery and find questions to ask.
2. The "daily activities" link in the "Class Links" box on the right side of this website takes students to a website containing all of our daily activities and class notes for the year.
3. Students have feedback from the check-in assessments that they have taken throughout the unit.  They should look back at these assessments to assess mastery.
4. Students have a green "self-assessment" sheet taped in the beginning of their notebooks that lists all of the objectives that the test will cover.  Students should thoughtfully self-assess themselves on these objectives and use the results to focus their study.