I was out on Friday and gave Ben an exponent review to work on. He said he didn’t know how to do any of it and couldn’t read the font. I think he could have put in more of an effort.
So we did the review together. We reviewed the vocabulary: base, power, exponent. We reviewed properties such as multiplying, dividing, and power rule. We discusssed negative exponents and zero exponents.

5-1 The Absolute Value function – We learned that the graph of an absolute value function has a vertex at the turning point, which represents either the minimum or the maximum value of the function.
Assignment: For homework complete assigned problems.

Ben began working on an activity focusing on integer exponents as a review for an upcoming quiz. Assignment collected and returned to the front to review next class.

Complete Test on Topic 4 Systems of Linear Equations and Inequalities.

Ben arrived a bit late today. He was tired at the beginning of class. I allowed him to have a few minutes to get situated and then we began. I wrote 3 review problems on the board and had Ben work through the solutions aloud as I wrote them on the board. We reviewed multiplying, dividing, and zero property. Next, I reintroduced to Ben the concept of negative exponents. I emphasized the fact that negative exponents do not indicate a negative value. (The mathematicians really should have come up with a different symbol than a minus sign). Instead, we learned that negative exponents really mean to make the value positive and move it. We practiced simplifying 5^-2 (five to the negative two power). We wrote it as 1/5^2 which is 1/25. Then I gave Ben examples with variables mixed in. He struggled at first, but with more practice he will get it!

Test on Topic 4 Systems of Linear Equations and Inequalities.

Ben was hesitant to work today. He told me he was tired and had a long weekend. I allowed him to vent and then we got started. I wrote some review exponent rules on the board: multiplying like bases (we add), dividing like bases (we subtract), and anything raised to the 0 power is 1. Then I gave him some example problems on the board and had him walk me through the solutions. He struggled, but we got through them. Then I gave him an activity to work on independently. He stared at it for a while, but then got to work on it without me asking him. He did great on it. He got few problems wrong, so we went through them together. He understood his mistakes. Next class we will discuss negative exponents and the Power Rule.

Lesson 11-4 Multiplying and Dividing Rational Expression – Hudson and I worked on multiplying and dividing rational expressions. We went through examples showing how to multiply rational expressions of all monomials. We discovered how to factor a quadratic expression before simplifying a product of rational expressions involving polynomials that are not monomials.

Discuss substance of slopes of lines

Today was Ben's birthday so we took it easy. We still did some work. First I put some review problems on the board and had him walk me through the steps. We used the exponent rules to multiply like bases by adding their powers, and divide like bases by subtracting their powers. Then I introduced to Ben the concept of negative exponents. I showed him an example and then had him practice. He did great!