Castillero Middle Weekly Review 1/25/24

STEM for Others Update at Castillero Middle

Hi Cobras! It has been another successful week. I have learned more and more faces. Shout out to Oliver and Lance Morrison. The library was bustling with activity and many students were working on their Thursday homework.
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       For 6th graders, they worked on solving equations with multiple variables. Essentially, they were given an equation with unknown values that they had to plug in using given numbers. While this may seem easy enough, they have moved onto exponents, and many students struggled to understand what "x to the power of 2" means. Some thought it meant 2 times x, others thought it was x + 2. The easy way to teach this is to remind them that when a number is at the top, or the "power", you are multiplying the base, or bottom number by itself 2 times. So, it would be x times x since there are 2 x's being multiplied.
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     For 7th graders, they were starting on geometry. I was nostalgic seeing their worksheets. The PTSD from Geometry still hits hard. They were mostly working on applying definitions like supplementary angles, vertical angles, etc., but some of the problems consisted of solving for x. For many people, it was difficult enough understanding vertical angles so adding the variable seemed to make students more confused. My only worry is that if the foundations of this content aren't taught strongly to every student, many will fall behind. Over the weeks, I will try my best to help these students as much as possible.
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     Overall, it was a good visit and I was able to help many students. GO COBRAS!

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