Estrada Lesson Plan

Lesson Introduction: Students will walk into class, make their way to their desks and take out
last nights homework assignment. I will hand them a Journal Entry half-sheet for them to
complete while I walk around the room checking their assignment. The journal entry will ask
them to use previous notes to define key vocabulary for our new lesson and to think critically to
see if they can find a new way to simplify radicals (we have thus far discussed the factor tree
method only). Students will use prior knowledge to answer the questions in their journal entry.
This is crucial before we begin the lesson so students have a better understanding of what will
be discussed and what information they are required to know. After giving the students ample
time (about 5 minutes) to finish their journal entry, I will ask for volunteers to share their
responses to the critical-thinking question. I will also show them the answers to the previous
nights homework assignment, so they can correct any mistakes before beginning the lesson
(about 5 minutes).

Body: I will begin the lesson by passing out guided notes to my students. Students with a
504/IEP plan will receive skeleton notes, which are partially filled in for them so they dont
have to write as much and can instead pay closer attention to the topic being discussed. We will
first write an essential question to have students know what they should be able to answer by
the end of the day. We will then define two radical properties (Product Property and Quotient
Property of Radicals) that will be crucial for the second method of simplifying radicals. We will
refer to the second method as finding hidden perfect-square factors. After we write the
definitions, I will show them some examples on the whiteboard so they can write on their notes.
I will mention to them to show their steps as I do so they know what needs to be done to answer
questions when revisiting their notes. Students will then be given a few questions to try on their
own. This is will be a variant of I Do, We Do, You Do. Once the students finish their problems,
we will go over the answers to see how well they did. The lesson should take about 25 minutes.
After the lesson, there will be a practice quiz to be completed on their Chromebook using the
online quiz-creator, Socrative (about 15 minutes). The practice quiz will allow me to check for
understanding on the concept of simplifying radicals. I will receive their scores electronically via
an Excel spreadsheet after they finish their practice quiz. Students can either use a factor tree
or finding hidden perfect-square factors to answer the questions. Giving them options to answer
math exercises is beneficial for students just in case one method is too difficult for them to
comprehend. I will print out some copies of the online quiz for those students who forgot to bring
their Chromebook to class.

Closure: The lesson will end with students revisiting and completing the opposite side of the
Journal Entry half-sheet titled Journal Exit (about 5 minutes). There will be a Venn diagram
for students to complete by comparing/contrasting our two methods for simplifying radicals.
Students will decide how using a factor tree and finding hidden perfect-squares are similar and
different. This activity will help bring closure to the topic of simplifying radicals and help reinforce
the important aspects of it as well. Students will go home with a better understanding of the
material so they can more easily complete the homework assignment.