Clip 13/17: Rate of Change: Lesson Part 3A

Overview

Antoinette Villarin’s students continue their partner work, matching graphical representations of rates of change with each other.

In this clip, two different student pairs engage in mathematical discourse, comparing graphs to each other to discern which graph represents the top prism out of which the fluid is draining, and which represents the corresponding receptacle prism. Students offer ideas and defend their thinking to each other.

Teacher Commentary

To support students in partner work, I make sure they have access to tools to support their learning. It depends on the unit that we’re in or the content that we’re doing.

I would pull out tiles if we were doing growing patterns in middle school; or if we were doing geometry, definitely protractors. Students always have access to calculators.

As long as they ask, they know where to get it. I never offer it to them, but I tell them, "They're available here." I also think highlighters are very important, especially when you're learning about graphs. With the graphs from the lesson, I definitely think, even though it was worksheet-driven, we were strategic about which ones we wanted to photocopy so that students could see. I think allowing them to mark it up was is a really important tool that you would need when you're graphing.