Today Andrew and I continued working on the new vocabulary words. We reviewed the circumcenter is the intersection of the perpendicular bisectors, the incenter is the intersection of the angle bisectors, the orthocenter is the intersection of the altitudes, and the centroid is the intersection of medians. Andrew had a tough time today differentiating the 4 types. To clarify, I had Andrew draw several triangles in various shapes. We practiced drawing the perpendicular bisectors. I asked him every 2 minutes, "What is the name of the intersection of the perpendicular bisectors?" He answered, "circumcenter". My hope is that with repetition he will be able to memorize them. We did the same thing with the incenter, orthocenter, and centroid.
Austin worked on an activity in which he had to choose the meaning of italicized words using context clues. There were twenty questions with which he was tasked. Austin worked at a good pace and only requested assistance for one example. He wrote the correct letter where indicated and underlined the clues in each sentence that helped him define the term (e.g., example; explanation; synonym; or antonym. This exercise afforded him practice reading context clues and allowed me to assess his ability to synthesize and integrate the information. We also worked on a refresher figurative language exercise before moving onto our reading of the novel. We read two chapters (16 - 18) in the novel and Austin was able to recall and summarize details very well. He understood the intended displaced projection by the author onto the protagonist's animal friends and his responses reflected good inferential and evaluative comprehension. These are examples of higher order critical thinking process which indicate Austin's ability to move beyond the text and consider/convey what he believes is the author's underlying message and purpose. I am very satisfied with the progress and capabilities Austin continues to demonstrate in each class sessionand his readiness to accept a challenge.
Today Carson took a test on solving systems of linear equations. The test covered substitution, elimination, and graphing. It had problems with no solution, infinite solutions, and one solution. Carson worked diligently the entire period. He finished just as the bell rang, so we will grade it in class together tomorrow.
Jpaul and I reviewed his last homework assignment together. He got them all right! Next we moved onto a 3rd way of solving quadratic equations, using a method called completing the square. This is a concept I introduced to him in Algebra 2 over the summer, however he only got exposed to basic problems. Today we worked with odd numbers and fractions, which make this process more difficult. We used the "I do, We do, You do" method of learning. JPaul seemed to understand the process, but he will need more practice with it again tomorrow.
Matthew and I met on Teams today. I told him how proud I was of him for continuing to do his work, meeting for class, and keeping school a priority while he is traveling. Also, our class met at 7:26am today but for him in Texas, we met at 6:26am. He was ready for class! We began class by going through his assigned homework. Matthew did fairly well on it but did run into some issues with one involving a fraction. We went through it together. Instead of moving on, I figured it would be best for us to practice more. So we worked on the rest of the homework problems together. Matthew took the lead, working out the steps out loud. I assisted when he was confused. This extra practice seemed to help solidify the process for him.
Today Andrew and I created a graphic organizer to help us understand some vobabulary. We first discussed perpendicular bisectors, angle bisectors, altitudes, and medians. Then we discussed that when these lines intersect, their point of concurrencies are called circumcenter, orthocenter, orthocenter, and centroid, respectively. We wrote their words, a description, and pictures to differentiate each vocabulary word.
