OVERVIEW
Algebra 2 is the math course that comes directly after Geometry. I am so excited to be taking this class because I am actually understanding a lot of it from taking Algebra 1. My teacher, Effi O'Neil, is a quirky and frankly hilarious math teacher who knows so much about math it makes learning from her fun. For me, math tends to be fairly easy, but tedious which makes it difficult for me to engage with it. Additionally, even though Animas is a project based school, creating projects in math is pretty hard for the teachers to do, and so the math courses have been straightforward and less interactive than other classes. However, this year math has really been a challenge for me content wise and I have found new ways to make math enjoyable and less of a "have-to" type of task.
Final Reflection
During this semester, I gained a whole new understanding of math. The way that the class was set up was a system I could excel in and I was able to focus. Additionally, I found myself engaged in the class and content more than I have ever been in any math class before. The second semester was comfortable for my. I had already gained the basic knowledge of how the class worked and I was ready to take on the last half of the year with enthusiasm and commitment. In the second semester, the notes were slowed down which helped me keep up and absorb the new knowledge. Also in the second semester, we completed a Conics project while the Juniors were at their internships. For this project we had to use the four types of conics, parabolas, hyperbolas, ellipses and circles, to create a picture. Then we had to write the equations for each conic section and we were graded based on how accurately Effi's drawing matched our own after she calculated the equations. At the end of this project, I feel like I really got a good grasp on the content that we were learning. I had originally thought I needed help, but ended up problem solving and finding a solution on my own. This hard work payed off in my final grade because the image the Effi recreated based on my equations was very similar to my original image. I think I remember this project the most because I feel like I had to persevere the most through this project and at the end, come though the other side with a product that I actually understood.
Final Exam
For this project we were assigned the task of writing 10 problems covering content that we had been learning in class. Each student did this so there was a total of 460 problems. With these problems, as a class we went through them and cut out the ones that were too complicated, to confusing, or just repetitive. After that we grouped the problems into categories of which chapter those problems were derived from. From there we sorted them into easy, medium and difficult. Each class went through this process in groups of 5-6 until after the end of two days, there were only 60 problems left in total. Those problems made up our final exam for Algebra 2. Click on the title: "Final Exam" to see my test questions.
Linear Programming
During this project we were learning about inequalities and how to graph them. However, the difference in between this project and just graphing inequalities was that we were graphing numbers derived from a word problem. Often these problems consisted of a salesperson making something and wanting to know how much of each item to make to maximize profit. In order to find an answer, we would graph the inequalities and where their shaded areas crossed was where a solution could be. Then we took the points of where the lines intersected and plugged those into an equation to find the profit. From there we could find the legitimate solution to maximize profit. To complete this project, we were given one problem to solve, a few problems to solve from the book and then the task of writing our own problems. Below you will find my work for this project.
Equations Project
For this project we were to either draw a graph of something in our lives, like our level of hunger throughout the day, or a nature scene. In each of these, we had to find six lines and then use a separate equation for each of the lines. For this project we used the equations of: standard form, slope-intercept form, point-slope form, intercept form, horizontal line and vertical line. Below are the pictures of the image that I drew and my equations.
Animas High School 3206 North Main Avenue Durango, CO 81301 (970) 247-2474
My Contact Information: [email protected]
Updated on: 5.23.13
My Contact Information: [email protected]
Updated on: 5.23.13