The Building Blocks Of Algebra Unit Analysis

The unit that will be transformed is a unit is The Building Blocks of Algebra (eMath Instructional Inc., 2016). This unit is in need of a transformation because of the lack of differentiation. Although there is plenty of scaffolding of the new content (Van de Walle, Karp, & Bay-Williams, 2013, p. 23), the approach does not vary very much in its representation (Van de Walle et al., 2013, p. 22-24). The majority of the unit structure is to be straightforward with the content and not deviate from the concepts the students need to master. Each lesson begins with defining the vocabulary that the student’s need to know in order to build their procedural fluency. Albeit, these types of lesson designs have had success with a large number of students, they fail to account for the students that would not benefit from this type of instruction. The standards that will be addressed in the algebra lesson are:
Represent and analyze quantitative relationships between dependent and independent variables, identify and choose appropriate processes to compute fluently with multi-digit numbers, write and evaluate numerical expressions involving whole-number exponents., interpret and solve one-variable equations and inequalities. (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers, 2010).
Each lesson …show more content…
13-14) by exploring the relationships between variables and the operations. For example, the students will need to see the pattern of order when they are working through the distributive problems. The pattern is that the number outside the parentheses always has to be multiplied by each number inside the parentheses before any operation is completed. As the students complete the Distributive Property activity by shaking hands they will be able to ‘do’ mathematics rather than simply memorization what the teacher is saying (Van de Walle et al., 2013, p.