GEOMETRY HOUSTON ISD PLANNING GUIDE 6th SIX-WEEKS

Recommendations for Instructional Enhancements for Students with Special Needs Unit 15: Circles Content-specific Accommodations for this Unit/Part  Assist students to build a tactile-kinesthetic model of a right triangle inscribed in a circle to discover the relationship between the hypotenuse of the triangle and the diameter of the circle. o Begin with a corkboard, pushpins, and string. o Draw a circle on the corkboard and indicate the center and diameter of the circle by drawing a line with a marker and placing a dot at the midpoint of the diameter to mark the center. o Place a pushpin at different points along the circumference, at the center, and at both endpoints of the diameter. o Tie a piece of string from one endpoint of the diameter to the other before looping the string around one of the pins in the circumference and back down to the opposite endpoint. o Ask students to measure the angle formed with their protractors and they will discover it is a right triangle.  Ask students to test several points on the circumference. Once students are satisfied that the result will be a right triangle, review Theorem 10.9 from McDougal Littel, Geometry, page 674, which states, “If a right triangle is inscribed in a circle, then the hypotenuse is a diameter of the circle. Conversely, if one side of an inscribed triangle is a diameter of the circle, then the triangle is a right triangle and the angle opposite the diameter is the right angle.” Ask students to explain models using terms from the theorem.  Assist students to recall the meaning of the term secant by comparing it to the word second. Secant sounds similar to second and has a second point of intersection with a circle.  When solving problems that have complex diagrams with many types of lines like secants, chords, and tangents, teach students to use a consistent color for each type of line to assist them in making a connection between the terms and the item in the diagram represented. When a line segment can be associated with two different terms (e.g., chord and diameter), instruct them to use both colors. In addition, teach students to mark known lengths with a solid line and unknown lengths with a dashed line.  To assist students with language challenges, relate terms to word parts in other languages. For example, the word con in Spanish means with. The term concentric refers to coplanar circles with a common center. The Spanish cognate gives students a clue as to the meaning of the term.

GEOMETRY HOUSTON ISD PLANNING GUIDE 6th SIX-WEEKS General Accommodations for this Unit/Part  Ensure that students understand academic vocabulary in addition to mathematics terms. Anticipate words they may not understand while they are reading and place these words along with their definitions on a small section of the board. Introduce students to Visuwords, a free online graphical dictionary. 1  Establish a “cool down” station in the classroom for students to regain self-control when upset. Provide opportunities in this station for students to engage in work related to the TEKS that they are likely to know at the mastery level. Check every 15 minutes to see if students are ready to rejoin the class.  Encourage students to use post-it notes and/or erasable highlighters to highlight important information in the course textbook.  Utilize parents to extend instruction outside the structured school day. Ask parents to require their children to show their math notes and explain the content each day. Inform parents of class routines and procedures so they can constructively monitor their child’s participation in instruction.  Assist students to increase and refine class participation skills. Develop a rubric to guide students to a working definition of appropriate class participation.

1

Visuwords: URL-http://www.visuwords.com/

GEOMETRY HOUSTON ISD PLANNING GUIDE 6th SIX-WEEKS

Recommendations for Instructional Enhancements for Students with Special Needs Unit 16: Readiness and Supporting Standards Review Content-specific Accommodations for this Unit/Part 

    

For each area of weakness identified by diagnostic measures, require students to locate step-by-step directions from their notes and texts for the processes involved and record these on index cards to use as a reference for the review process. Observe students as they solve selected problems to see where they experience breakdowns in their problem-solving methods. If calculator use is noted in students’ IEPs, review calculator skills with students to ensure they know the crucial calculator steps needed to solve a variety of problems. Confer with students’ case managers to ensure that all routine supports used by students will be available during test administration. Design various stations organized by TEKS student expectations to review specific areas of need identified by diagnostic measures. Point out areas identified by diagnostic measures as proficient to assist students to gain confidence prior to test administration.

General Accommodations for this Unit/Part  Teach students metacognitive strategies such as organizing and planning, self-monitoring, self-management, and self-evaluation.  Teach critical thinking using a research-based model such as the Paul Elder Model of Critical Thinking 1 as a guide.  Provide reasonable work materials (e.g., paper, writing utensil) for students who forget to bring them to class. Rather than withhold work materials from the habitually unprepared students, devise other appropriate consequences for missing materials (e.g., incentives for students who come to class prepared; deductions in conduct grade for unprepared students).  Create guided notes with blanks inserted in the notes where key facts or concepts should appear. As information is given during lecture or in a reading assignment, students write missing content into blanks to complete the guided notes.  For students just acquiring a mathematical skill who are not yet proficient, provide encouragement and/or incentives for overall effort and accuracy of any work completed, rather than focusing on speed or total number of problems finished. 1

Paul Elder Model of Critical Thinking: URL-https://sites.google.com/site/qepcafe/modules/overview/paulelder

GEOMETRY HOUSTON ISD PLANNING GUIDE 6th SIX-WEEKS

Recommendations for Instructional Enhancements for Students with Special Needs Unit 17: Bridging Geometry to Algebra II Content-specific Accommodations for this Unit/Part  Assist students to remember the quadratic formula by introducing them to the following mnemonic song, sung to the tune of “Pop Goes the Weasel.” Quadratic Formula Song “X is equal to negative b Plus or minus the square root, Of b squared minus four a c All over 2 a.”  Provide practice opportunities for students using structured prompts. Place unsimplfied radical expressions on index cards. Include blank boxes that prompt students to provide answers in strategic places in the problem-solving process. Laminate the cards and use dry erase markers to allow for multiple use of the cards. The following card is an example. Simplify the expression:

24

1. Factor the radicand into a product of prime factors: 2. Re-write the radicand as the product of a square root of a perfect square in the box and a square root of a non-perfect square in the blanks. 3. Simplify (

24 =

22 

= 2 = 2





Answers: 2,3 2,3 6

 Ecstatic Quadratics” - Review the quadratic form of an equation. Ask students to work in pairs to place examples and non-examples of quadratic equations on index cards (one equation per card.) Students prepare 10 cards with examples and 10 cards with nonexamples. After they exchange their cards with another pair of students, they race to sort their cards into examples and non-examples. When a team believes they have accurately

GEOMETRY HOUSTON ISD PLANNING GUIDE 6th SIX-WEEKS sorted their cards, they shout out “Ecstatic Quadratics.” At that point, they must have all cards sorted correctly and be able to explain why an equation is or is not a quadratic equation to win the game. General Accommodations for this Unit/Part  In addition to an auditory command, use a visual stimulus (flick lights, hold up hand, etc.) to call students back together for whole group instruction.  Use a variety of positive reinforcement such as praise, pencils, homework passes, positive parent notification, extra privileges, seating choice, “student of the week” recognition, and positive attention.  Have students change seats regularly and change bulletin boards and other parts of the environment so that different locations trigger different learning episodes.  Use instructional examples that provide for the systematic progression from concrete to abstract representations.  When monitoring students’ performance during independent practice, ask them to explain their work along with the strategy they are using.  Cue important information. Identify those concepts, ideas, or other academic content likely to be evaluated on upcoming tests and quizzes. During lecture or class discussion, draw attention to important content, while on handouts, use asterisks or other visual highlighting techniques to emphasize content likely to appear as test items.