RFranklin

Rachael Franklin March 10th, 2011 Diverse Text Set for 12th Grade Math Class on Trigonometry ** Context for using this text set: ** This text set is intended for use within a 12th grade Pre-Calculus classroom. The unit on trigonometry would be completed fairly early in the semester to form important base knowledge students will need to apply one calculus concepts come into play. While Pre-Calculus is in itself a high level math course for high school, it is not unreasonable that many student within the class will have varying abilities and comfort levels with this topic, especially depending on how well individuals did with geometry since there is such a strong correlation. I have provided various “friendlier” written texts and multimedia to support students attempts to tackle the more difficult texts included. This variety will also hopefully account somewhat for students having different dominant learning styles. **Text #1:** **Text#2:** **Text#3:** **Text#4:** **Text#5:**
 * 1) ** Print Resources: **
 * **Citation:** Barnes-Svarney, P., & Svarney, T. (2006). //The handy math answer book: Your smart reference// (pp. 200-204). Canton, MI: Visible Ink Press.
 * **Text Summary:** This book has an excellent section which summarizes most of the important ideas within the topic of trigonometry. First it defines trigonometry itself, then goes on to explain how angles are measured specifically within this topic, what the six trigonometric functions are and how they’re used, and some of the important trigonometric identities.
 * **Rationale:** I chose this text because it covers much of the crucial instruction within trigonometry in a clear and concise manner. It also gives specific examples and visual depictions to apply the concepts explained.
 * **Use of text:** I would ideally distribute copies of these four specific pages of text at the beginning of instruction on trigonometry. The definitions nicely introduce the topic so the students understand what this new concept is all about. I also would have the students store it somewhere safe and easily accessible to act as a reference guide in helping them memorize the six trigonometric functions and their related identities.
 * **Attachment:** See attachment #1 for a copy of this text
 * **Citation:** Lial, M., Hornsby, J., & Schneider, D. (2009). //Trigonometry// (9th ed., pp. 102-103). Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.
 * **Text Summary:** Section 3.1 of this textbook introduces the concept of measuring angles using radians rather than degrees. It explains what 1 radian is equal to first. Next it shows how to convert between degrees and radians, giving specific examples to try.
 * **Rationale:** I chose this text because understanding how to measure in radians is crucial to what students will go on to learn about trigonometric functions and their graphs, identities, and applications. I found this text to be easy to understand because of the inclusion of graphics, the bolding of important information, and because there is a box around the definition of **radian** which shows its importance to students.
 * **Use of text:** I would use this text to introduce the idea of radian measures to my students before teaching them about trigonometric functions. This way, when they learned the six trigonometric functions using degrees, they would have enough understanding of radians to apply the concept to these functions.
 * **Attachment:** See attachment #2 for a copy of this text
 * **Citation:** Blatner, D. (1997). // The joy of //// π // . United States of America: Walker Publishing Company.
 * **Text Summary:** This is a great little book about all things π, including why we use it, the history of its use, famous stories and unsolved problems related to it, and even some ways in which people go about memorizing as many digits of it as possible.
 * **Rationale:** I chose this text because it's very approachable with a creative layout and entertaining graphics.  π is arguably the most famous number in the world, and this book goes into just why it is so important.
 * **Use of text:** When teaching the students about radians, I would bring in this book to get them thinking about where this whole // π // thing came from since they will be using it so much in trigonometry. I would offer for them to skim through and look at it as they please whenever they have free time. I also would hand out copies of the comic shown on page 53 to add a little fun to what they're learning.
 * **Attachment:** See attachment #3 for a copy of the comic
 * **Citation:** Kenyon, A.m., & Ingold, L. (1919). // Elements of plane trigonometry // . New York: The Macmillan Company.
 * **Text Summary:** The body of this texts describes all of the basic information related to trigonometric functions and their uses. At the end of the text, there is what is referred to as “Brief Tables: Principally to Four Places” which include values for all of the trigonometric functions given specific angle measurement in both degrees and radians.
 * **Rationale:** I chose this more as a piece of interest than as an instructional tool. While there are many helpful explanations and examples within the text, I found the tables at the end to be particularly interesting.
 * **Use of text:** I would bring this book into class on a day that students would be working on solving trigonometric functions and use the table to show them how, although they can easily solve for the necessary values using their calculators, people used to have to take the time to look them up in a table such as the one in this book.
 * **Attachment:** This is a 117 page book so it has not been attached.
 * **Citation:** Wilson, R. (1981, October 8). // Trigonometry // . Retrieved March 1, 2011 from Poem Hunter at __[]__
 * **Text Summary:** This is a short poem written by someone about trigonometry, specifically in relation to sides and angles.
 * **Rationale:** I chose this text because it is a less than typical, and certainly artistic, portrayal of information related to the topic of study. To keep lessons from getting boring I would try to mix in texts like this so students are being exposed to written material other than just the course textbook.
 * **Use of text:** This poem, since it's short, would most likely be written on the board at the beginning of the first class in which trigonometry is being introduced. I would read the poem aloud, or ask a student to do so, and ask all the students to then write a short journal entry about what they think the author is trying to say and/or how the poem may relate to what we're about to learn.
 * **Attachment:** See attachment #5 for a copy of the poem

**Text#6:** **Text#7:**
 * 1) **Media Resources:**
 * **Citation:** Gibson, J. (2011, February 22). //Converting between degrees and radians// [Video file]. Retrieved March 7, 2011 from You Tube at __[|http://www.youtube.com/user/mathtutordvd#p/a/u/0/o48IaoTgx94]__
 * **Text Summary:** This video is one of many informational math clips by the same instructor, but this focuses specifically on the concept of radians and how to convert between degrees and radians.
 * **Rationale:** I chose this text to supplement text #2 because they are about relatively the same thing. This just presents it in a different format that may be easier for certain students to approach.
 * **Use of text:** Rather than using this video explicitly for in-class class instruction, I would most likely use text #2 to introduce the concept then offer up the link to this video as an option for students to use as a refresher when completing that night's homework assignment. I would also explain that the author's YouTube page has many other videos relevant to the class and encourage students to explore them independently.
 * **Attachment:** This text is not attached. The link will be sent to the students using their school email accounts.
 * **Citation:** Songs for teaching. (2002-2011). //A constant ratio//. Retrieved March 8, 2011 from the website Songs for Teaching at __[]__
 * **Text Summary:** This is a song about finding unknown distances using the law of sines. Various real world scenarios are given in the different verses, each of them requiring application of the law of sines to solve a problem for a given fictional character. The chorus is an explanation of the literal definition of the law of sines.
 * **Rationale:** I chose this text to get my students thinking about the concepts they are learning in a practical way. It shows how this particular trigonometric identity can be used in real life, providing meaning to what the students are learning. I also think it would be fun to get my students up and singing rather than sitting and taking notes all class.
 * **Use of text:** I would hand a copy of the lyrics out to each student after introducing the concept addressed within the text and ideally they would be willing to sing it together along with me. Before asking them to sing it, I would play the actual song from a CD so they would know the basic tune, and afterword, I would have them work in groups to break apart each scenario introduced to understand the math behind it.
 * **Attachment:** See attachment #7 for a copy of the webpage with the song lyrics.

**Text#8:** **Text#9:** **D. Instructional Resources:** **Text#10:** ** Using these texts together in the classroom: ** Some of the texts given here overlap on the information they cover, and so I would not require all students to read every single piece of writing, but all would be presented to all of them in some format. For instance, the video given in text #6 is a great support for text #2, but I don't like it as a frontloading activity. Therefore I would use text #2 to introduce the concept of radians to my students and, as I briefly stated within the annotation for text #6, offer the video as extra help for students to use if they weren't quite grasping this very foreign concept. On the other hand, I found both the interactive webpage on graphing trigonometric functions, and the one about pi to be very useful and appropriate. They require slightly different input form students and are on very different concepts so I would not feel at all guilty about using both of these activities within the classroom when I addressed each concept. Overall I found all of these texts to be useful in some way and I they all fit together well. ** Learning Objectives: ** ** Content: ** Given text #2 students and time for discussion, student will be able to write a roughly one paragraph journal entry about why 360 degrees is equal to 2 π radians. The journal must also explain how they would go about converting degrees into radians.  From GLE M(CCR)–HS–1 which states that:  “Students will communicate their understanding of mathematics and be able to:  • Explain and justify their thinking and develop increasingly sophisticated questions for given problem-situations.  • Critique and follow the logic of arguments presented within mathematics and across disciplines.” **Reading:** Students will be able to connect geometry concepts related to triangles with the information presented in text #1 to accurately solve for missing values in given diagrams. From Core Standard for Reading 16. which states that students will:  “Draw upon relevant knowledge and concepts gained through reading to build a more coherent understanding of a subject, inform reading of additional texts, and solve problems.”
 * 1) **Online Interactive Resources:**
 * **Citation:** Bourne, M. (2011, January 14). // Graphs of the trigonometric functions // . Retrieved March 9, 2011 from Interactive Mathematics at __[]__
 * **Text Summary:** This webpage includes a summary of why learning how to graph trigonometric functions is important. It also lays out for the reader what will be addressed within this interactive lesson, namely the graphs of specific trigonometric functions and applications.
 * **Rationale:** I chose this resource because it has a wide range of information on all math topics. So students can explore other areas that catch their attention or relate to what we've previously learned. I also liked that while it is informational, there are also interactive pieces for students to work with. It's a nice balance of these two approaches.
 * **Use of text:** I would use this webpage during class to get the students actively learning something new related to what I've already taught about trigonometric functions. They can read the information and watch the video on the main page, and then go on to explore the various related tabs on the left-hand side of the screen.
 * **Attachment:** This is available online, and the link is given within the citation.
 * **Citation:** Pierce, R. (2010, November 18). // Pi // . Retrieved March 6, 2011 from Math is Fun at __[]__
 * **Text Summary:** This web page is a brief description of pi and how it is approximated. There is then a link on the bottom of the page, which brings the reader to step-by-step instructions for an activity on how to approximate pi themselves.
 * **Rationale:** I chose this text because I had already located text #3 and thought it was an interesting way to get the students actually doing something with the concept of pi and making a whole lesson out of it rather than simply discussing text #3 for a few minutes before moving on.
 * **Use of text:** I would direct students to this web page after introducing the lesson using text #3. I would also provide all the materials necessary for the students, in groups, to complete the hands-on activity explained within the text.
 * **Attachment:** This is available online, and the link is given within the citation.
 * **Citation:** N.a. (2008, December 15). // Need help with class: You Tube videos await // . Retrieved March 7, 2011 from e School News at __[]__
 * **Text Summary:** This article explains how one student from the University of Central Florida used You Tube videos to help herself understand what she was learning in her trigonometry class. Then it further addresses the idea by stating how such videos can be beneficial to students in general and even gives statistics on the surprisingly high number of views various math related videos have obtained.
 * **Rationale:** I chose this text because I feel the practices discussed within this article could help me to become better teacher and cater to the technological interests and natural skills of my students.
 * **Use of text:** In this hypothetical situation, reading this text is what inspired me introduce source #6 to my students and encourage them to watch other videos on the same page. I would also make copies of this article to give to my colleagues in the math department so that they could maybe implement similar teaching strategies in their own classes.
 * **Attachment:** See attachment #10 for a copy of the article.

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