Visualizing Algebra: A Pre Algebra Course

This course is for students who have completed at a pre-algebra or pre-algebra equivalent. 

This supplemental course is for students who need additional support when taking algebra. 

Students learn best when they can create mental pictures of the math they are doing. This is best achieved by seeing and working with visualizations of difficult algebra concepts. Each week will cover 1 concept in great detail at a slow pace. 

In order for students to gain the best class experience, they need to come to class ready to participate and discuss. 

I am a certified math teacher and have a Master Degree in Math Education. I know the importance of developing understanding before moving on to memorizing algorithms and steps. Students who have a firm grasp on number relationships and reasoning skills do better in higher-level math courses. This course is designed to develop those skills. 

I am not a traditional teacher so if your learner prefers a more traditional format of the teacher shows them, they practice, the teacher corrects, then this is not the class for them. My lessons are inquiry-based which can cause some discomfort if students are not used to it. 

Since this course is focused on visual representations of difficult concepts it is recommended that students have the following materials:
graph paper, 
colored pencils,
access to a printer (for the week's materials)

If there are printables needed for the course they will be posted 24 hours in advance. Most weeks students will just need paper and graph paper. 

Each week is stand-alone so students can enroll for the weeks that they need additional help in that topic area. 

It is strongly encouraged that students complete the follow-up activity after class, this will provide practice and reinforcement of skills taught. If students complete and submit the activity I will provide feedback and I am always available for questions. 

The Course will follow the following Schedule: 

Summer Schedule: 
                                                                        
Week of July 3: Working with Variables in Geometric Patterns
Week of July 10: Operations with Positive and Negative Integers                  
Week of July 17: Writing and Solving Equations with Negative Numbers      
Week of July 24: Slope and Reasoning with Slope                                             
Week of July 31: Writing and Graphing Equations                                          
Week of August 7: Functions and Linear equations                                            
Week of August 14: Squares and Square Roots