1 UFTeach Project Based Instruction Grant Proposal Title Page (Alachua County Public Schools Grant Application) Name:

Xavier Monroe Address: 1900 Northwest 13th Street | Gainesville, FL 32609 Phone Number: (352) 955-6707 Grant for: Gainesville High School, 9th Grade Algebra I: Whos got game? Improving my Sports Skills! Department: Mathematics Amount of Funds Needed: $427.00 Summary: The goal of the program is to educate students on aspects of quadratics in sports, particularly basketball and golf. It is critical to aid students in understanding the applications of math in the real world; by focusing on sports, a topic of great interest for these students, and quadratics students will be highly engaged and motivated. Lessons will include benchmark lessons, as well as investigative lessons. Students will apply their skills learned in the benchmark lessons to investigate how a quadratic models the relationship between distance and height for the path of a basketball when being shot at the hoop or the path of a golf ball when being driven to the hole. Students will have to generate functions for a 9 hole golf course that would result in a hole in one, as well as determine the best height of a free throw shot for a gator basketball player of their choice. Students will have the opportunity to go on a field trip to a Gator basketball practice to aid in their investigation. They will present their final conclusions to their classmates as a formal presentation. To fulfill these goals, our class needs funds to cover our field trip and purchase clip boards, a mini basketball hoop, and scientific calculators. Statement of Problem The students in this program tend to come from low income families. As a result, many of these students do not possess a solid foundation of background knowledge. However, they have a pronounced passion for learning when properly motivated. These students are vocal, energetic, fun to work with, and inspiring. Students thrive on having a positive relationship with their teacher and work well in an environment conducive to group discussions on topics that spark their interest. Whenever presented the opportunity to teach these students, it is up to the educator to provide these students with engaging tasks based in real-life situations that are of interest to the students and will result in exponential learning growth. This program will give students just that. Students will have the opportunity to broaden their academic knowledge base, as well as their life skills base while studying quadratics in the context of sports. Sports are a topic of great interest to these students and a part of their daily lives. Sports provide the program with the motivation students need to be successful. Consequently, students will be able to bridge the gap in background knowledge and be prepared to further their schooling. To successfully implement the program, our class needs funds to purchase clip boards, a mini basketball hoop, scientific calculators, as well as funds to cover a field trip. The clip boards, mini basketball hoop, and scientific calculators will all be used time and time again; including multiple times throughout a single school year and years thereafter. These three items will also be shared by the department. These items will not only enhance the learning experience of 24 students; they will enhance the learning experience of hundreds of students.

2 Goals & Vision My ultimate goal is for students recognize and understand that math is incredibly useful in the real world and in this case, sports. Students often feel disconnect between the math classroom and daily life, as well as disconnect among different subjects. As a result of completing this program, I would like for students to feel and appreciate the great overlap between math and daily life as well as experience integration among different subject areas. Letting students witness first-hand this overlap across domains and daily life will prepare them for their futures in both school and life. Students will also be working with technology throughout the majority of the program. Developing apt technology skills is a must for this day in age. Technology skills are vital to being successful in school as well as landing that dream job, or any job for that matter. Upon completing of the program, students will be able to: Solve quadratic equations by factoring and by using the quadratic formula. Find the roots of a quadratic function by identifying the related equation and then solving. Move flexibly between different models of quadratics. Describe the relationship between the independent and dependent variable in general and in real world situations. Draw conclusions from certain data by manipulating and utilizing quadratic functions. Generate quadratic functions given the roots. Solve real world problems dealing with quadratics. Explore the use of quadratics in golf and basketball. Pinpoint the value of quadratics in golf and basketball. Recognize how quadratics can help improve their game. Develop cooperative group skills. Develop formal presentation skills while creating 2 presentations (one with a team and one individually) to share their findings. Develop professional skills while constructing a project portfolio. As you can see, this program involves a wide scope of objectives. Objectives include cultivating both technical math and crucial life skills. The technical math objectives will prepare students for subsequent math courses and in turn, college math. The broader objectives involving life skills will prepare the students for their future jobs and careers, as well as being a valuable member of society. Clearly students will grow not only as students, but as individuals. These objectives will not be obtained through traditional classroom discussion (i.e. lecture) instead they will be obtained through a motivating and thought provoking program. Students will present their findings in the form of a seminar to the rest of the class as well as parents. Students will work in a team for one of the program challenges, and then they will work as an individual for the second program challenge. Thus, students will make 2 presentations. One presentation will be made as a team, revealing the findings of the team challenge. The second presentation will be made as an individual presentation, revealing the findings of the individual challenge. The potential for growth is unlimited when students spark for learning is ignited. There is no doubt that this program will ignite that spark for learning within students. As William Butler Yeats stated, Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.

3 Plan of Action The students will follow a strict timeline to meet the goals and objectives of the program within thirteen school days. The first day of the program students will watch an engaging video and begin to make predictions about the relationship between distance and height. They will also be given all rubrics and program requirements. The next two days students will be guided in lessons on factoring quadratics and solving quadratics via factoring. This is when instance where they would use the clip boards, mini basketball wall hoop, and calculators. Students need to be able to factor quadratics in order to solve for different variables, and they need to be able to solve in order to identify key pieces of information for a given situation. For the next two days, students will be completing a golf challenge by doing research in a computer lab with their team and creating a presentation; they will use the calculators for this as well. That will wrap up week one of the program. The second week (day 6) will open with a lesson on solving quadratics using the quadratic formula. Students will again use the calculators to complete this lesson. Over the next 2 days, students will participate in a Web Quest in which they will explore the best height for the basketball to reach in a free throw shot for NBA player Elton Brand. Students will use the calculators as well as the mini basketball wall hoop to explore different shots. Following the WebQuest, on Day 9, students will attend a Gator Men or Womens basketball practice session. Students will get to watch the players practice, be on the lookout for the player they chose, and their players free throw shot. Students will also get to talk with their player in order to find out their players stats. Students will use the clipboards in order to take notes and record any information they learn while on the field trip. Students will have the next day to analyze their players stats and generate a quadratic function with the maximum height for a free throw that has the best shot at going in the hoop. Beginning the next week, students will have one day to finish synthesizing all information, put together their project packets, and complete the making of their presentations. The last two days of the program will be used for presentations. The full program can be found at: http://xmonroe.weebly.com/calendar.html Staff and Facilities The main facilitator of the program will be myself. I will lead and guide students throughout the program. The main facilities used will be the classroom and computer lab. They will complete the majority of the project in the computer lab and present the project in the classroom. The University of Florida Men or Womens basketball team will also be involved in the field trip aspect of the program. The field trip will be to the Gator basketball teams practice facility in Gainesville, Fl. Students will get to see basketball in action and being played, as well as repeated free throw drills. Students will be able to see that certain free throw shots have a better chance of going in than others. Also on the field trip will be a physics professor whom will help aid student understanding regarding the science aspects of basketball and quadratics.

4 Evaluation The evaluation will be based on the project rubric (pg. 6 - 7) and formative assessments. The components of the rubric will act as the summative assessment for the program. The formative assessments will occur throughout the program and in a variety of ways. These formative assessments include questions posed by myself to the class, groups, and individuals, as well as me listening to student conversations while they are working. Students will also complete exit slips almost every day throughout the program. In addition, formative assessments from the book Mathematics Formative Assessments by Page Keeley and Cheryl Rose Tobey will be used regularly. Two of the formative assessments used from this book will be the Commit and Toss and the Learning Goals Inventory. They can be seen on the pages following the project rubric (pg. 8 and 9). Budget The school secretary and I will handle the money for the program. The program requires clip boards so students will be able to easily record information while completing rotations in the classroom and also while on the field trip. The mini basketball hoop is required so students can each partake in shooting a basketball and witness how initial vertical velocity, release height, and maximum height effects the ball going into the basket. The program requires calculators in order for students to crunch the numbers while completing their projects and use the quadratic formula. The school bus is needed to go on the field trip. The field trip will motivate students and provide students with an interesting question to answer. The field trip itself will be of no cost. 24 clipboards, 1 mini basketball hoop, and 24 calculators are needed for the program. The clipboards, mini basketball hoop, and calculators can be found at Wal-Mart for the prices below. Item Clipboards (Business Source Hardboard Clipboard, Nickel-Plated Clip, 9''x12-1/2'', Brown) Mini Basketball Hoop (SKLZ Pro Mini Hoop XL) Calculators (Texas Instruments TI-30X IIS Scientific Calculator) School Bus Total $0.99 Cost per Item $23.76 Cost for Class

$29.96 $12.97

$29.96 $311.28

$2.00 per mile, $25 per hour

$12.00 + $50.00 = $62.00 $427.00

Appendices I studied Civil Engineering & History while completing my undergraduate studies at the University of Florida. I also graduated with a minor in UFTeach (education minor program for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math majors). While in college, I gained a wealth of knowledge in theoretical math which strengthened my understanding of secondary mathematics. I also received extensive training in how to effectively plan and implement lessons in secondary mathematics classroom, as well as how to successfully lead and manage a classroom. I observed and taught lessons via practicums in the following settings: Steven Foster Elementary 5th grade o I observed 2 times and taught 3 lessons. Westwood Middle School 6th grade Advanced Math o I observed 2 times and taught 3 lessons. P.K. Yonge 12th grade Math for College Readiness o I observed 4 times and taught 3 lessons. Gainesville High School 9th grade Algebra I o Taught for ten weeks as an apprentice teacher.

Category

Criteria for Awarding Points High (3) The presentation is clear, concise and easy to follow. The presenter is clear and concise and describes the scope of their project with applicable work shown. The presentation aesthetics are graphic, eyecatching and appropriate. There are no misspellings or grammatical errors. Group members equitable contributed to the workload as seen through the presentation and a group member evaluation. Information is organized, accurate and data properly collected. Applicable or additional sources are properly cited in the project packet. Medium (2) The presentation is not clear or easy to follow. The presenters are unorganized, do not describe the scope of their project well, and lacks appropriate amount of applicable work. The presentation makes use of some aesthetic features. There are some misspellings or grammatical errors. Group members seemed to divide the workload, but not in an equitable manner as evaluated through member evaluation and the presentation. Information is not very well organized, some inaccuracies, with minimal questionable data collection methods. Applicable or additional sources are included but not properly citied. Some of the worksheets given throughout the unit are not complete, are missing, and/or not organized. Does not contain some additional or outside work/notes completed during the project. Makes uninformed or not thoughtful predictions and contributions to the class discussion. Low (0-1) The students do not have a presentation or the presentation is clearly unorganized and aesthetically confusing. The presenters are not prepared and no applicable work is shown. There are many misspellings and grammatical errors. The workload is not divided equitably among members.

Points Awarded 6

PowerPoint Presentation (2; one completed in a group for golf task and one completed individually for basketball task; 6 points possible)

Project Packet

Information is not organized, is largely inaccurate and data collection methods are unacceptable. No applicable or additional sources are included. Over half of the worksheets given throughout the unit are missing, not complete or unorganized. Does not contain any additional or outside work/notes completed during the project. Makes no predictions or contributions to the class discussion.

Completed Student Work

All worksheets given throughout the unit are complete, organized and included within the packet. Applicable notes and additional work or notes assigned during the unit are included.

Predictions/Discussion Makes rational, thoughtful and meaningful predictions and contributions to the class discussion.

7 Conclusions (2 tasks; golf and basketball; 6 points possible) The conclusions concerning the project are thoughtful, detailed and organized. Conclusions discusses whether the findings were supported the predictions and what was learned from the experiment. The relationship between, acceleration, velocity and distance and its relationship to quadratic equations are also discussed. Student participated in both class and group discussions, exhibited exemplary behavior and kept a determined and open mind while engaging in the unit. Student includes a detailed and thoughtful one-page summary of what they have learned during the field trip and how it contributed to the project and their learning experience. Applicable work completed during the field trip is also included. The conclusions concerning the project summarize what was learned during the experiment. Minimal discussion about the predictions and findings are examined. Minimal connections are made between acceleration, velocity, distance, and the relationship to quadratic equations. No conclusion was included or the report includes very little discussion or reflection.

Participation

Student occasionally participated in class and group discussions, had minor behavior issues and struggled to engage in the unit.

Field Trip Experience/Summary

Student includes a summary that is less than one-page about what they learned during the field trip and how it contributed to the project and their learning experience. Some applicable work during the field trip is included.

Student did not participate in class and group discussions, consistently exhibited behavior issues and did not engage in the unit. Student does not include a summary about the field trip experience or the work submitted does not meet the standards of medium.

Total ( possible):

8 Factor the following Quadratic Expression: 1) x2 + 7x + 12

Explain your reasoning:

Generally speaking, what do the graphs of quadratic equations look like? a) b)

c)

d)

Name: _______________________________________ Date: ____________ Period: _______ Algebra 1 2nd Day Exit Slip Directions: Please respond to the following six questions or statements concerning our explorations in quadratic equations. 1. What does it mean to solve a quadratic equation?

2. Complete the following table with an example of a fact, concept and representation about quadratic equations: Example FACT

CONCEPT

REPRESENTATION

3. These math terms come to mind when I think about solving quadratic equations:

4. Experiences that I have had (either in or outside of school) with this topic include.

5.

Solve: x2 + 2x 15 = 0

6. Solve: x2 - 3x + 18 = 0