Anchor Charts-Algebra 1

With all the state testing that has been going on, I have already had to take off most of the things on my walls. I figured I would share a couple of pictures of the anchor charts I made so that I can reference them next year. They ended up in the recycling bin since we are supposed to build them with our students and some of them are ripped, not complete, and just not good.

Our district had us participate in Marco Ramirez training on making our classrooms effectively engaging. They have 3 major pieces to their program: 1. Journaling (Quick Writes and summaries)  2. Talk Moves (Partner Talk, Choral Response, Revoice, Adding on)  3. Anchor Charts 

Today's post is mostly about the anchor charts that we had (I mean got) to create with our students. I don't usually like people telling me what to do in my classroom, but we had to do this one. So I made the anchor charts, I referenced the anchor charts every time I taught, the students referred to the anchor charts daily, and I would call them an overall success. EXCEPT they couldn't use these on their STAAR test and some of them had gotten so used to referring to them, I think they might have never fully mastered the topic on their own.

So will I do anchor charts like this next year? I will probably be forced to, but I also want to in order to help build my students' vocabulary and reference skills. 

Will I change anything about them? I do not like some of them. They are unfinished and you can tell they got thrown together at the end of the unit before the walkthroughs happened. I will make the students write them down in their notes and I think they will "retire" when we are done talking about that unit/topic. 

The idea of the anchor charts according to the training we were in, are to build vocabulary. Most of these have just a list of vocabulary on the left side and a couple of strategies on the right side. We were also asked to keep it to 2 colors so that way it wasn't too busy. I will admit and warn you that some of these are not quality work, but I know this and will change this for next year.

My first one over equations.

Unit 2: Slope

Unit 3: Linear Functions (There is a lot going on with this one and it was the most referenced. I think I need to split it up next year. We ended up doing an entire unit on quadratic transformations and I have a pretty comprehensive anchor chart below) 

Unit 4: Linear Inequalities (It still surprises me every year that they struggle so much with inequalities)

Unit 5: Systems of Equations (As you can see, I didn't finish substitution. My kids didn't really like that method and found it easier to just solve for y and graph it. A few students liked elimination the best, but so many lack the proficiency in integer operations that they couldn't do this one accurately every time)

Unit 6: Linear Regression (This unit was really fast as it was squeezed in between Thanksgiving and Winter break so we had like 5 days for each block to do this AND review for finals. We did an instruction day and then they did a data collection project the other 2 days and they presented and took a quiz, and finally spent a day reviewing)

Unit 7: Exponents ( We started the new semester with exponent rules)

Unit 8: Polynomials and Factoring (We taught them both the box method and f.o.i.l. to multiply. We also used the box method to factor. Next year, I would like to figure out a way to expose all the methods to the kids {without confusing them} so they can choose the one that makes the most sense. We just don't have enough time!) 

Unit 9: Graphing Quadratics (I like this one because I actually cut up and glued pieces of our notes and activities on the anchor charts so the kids knew where to look in their notes. THIS is what I want to do more of next year!)

 Continued Unit 9: Solving Quadratics (This is the solving part of the unit. We had to teach quadratic formula, factoring, and completing the square. This was so rushed that the students could do it on the day we taught it, but I don't think they could solve them anymore or even know that they are supposed to use these methods. We have already planned an extra 3 weeks for quadratics next year so that should help!)

Unit 10: Vertex Form and Transformations (This was our first experience with vertex form in Algebra 1. The kids were pretty good at this, but when we put it in function notation like on the anchor chart they REALLY struggled to get the concept. Since it was our first time teaching this, I think next year will be much more smooth!!)



We also did an unit on Exponential functions, but I was in the process of buying a house and did not make an anchor chart.

The last unit of the year was our STAAR Review Unit from April 1- April 28. We did rotations and I will make a post about that later. Advice to all people out there: DO NOT BUY A HOUSE THE MONTH OF YOUR EOC ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU HAVE AFTER SCHOOL TUTORIALS UNTIL 6 EVERY NIGHT! You will be exhausted and stressed and feel like you don't have the energy to do anything. I promise that you will be okay and end up with your FIRST house AND kids that are feeling confident about their Algebra 1 EOC.