Nichole Oswald								Journal 12
MED300							Dates: 11/27/07 & 11/29/07

	 This week we covered graphing systems of inequalities and multiplying/dividing monomials.  The lesson on graphing systems of inequalities had a cooperative learning activity.  The students worked as one group since there were only 4 of them.  One student was the task manager, another the recorder and the other two were both reporters.  I found it easier to have to students in one group instead of having them work in pairs with just a reporter and recorder.  The students seemed to work very well together, and all students contributed to the discussion on solving the problem.  Once they completed the activity the one reporter presented the steps on how they graphed the inequalities and then the other reporter presented the actual graph.  The students really seemed to learn the material from the activity.
	Today in class we finished the lesson on multiplying monomials and started the lesson on dividing monomials.  The students had a hard time seeing the rule in general for multiplying monomials such as .  They could solve the problem but when we tried to put it in the general form of , it was very hard for them to see how to multiply  m times.  After going through another example with actual numbers it became clear to the students what to do.  We started the lesson on dividing monomials; this material seemed to come easier to the students.  All of the students participated in the discussion on how to divide, one student even volunteered to come up to the board to complete a question.  This lesson will be completed on Monday, so hopefully the student will hopefully develop an even clearer understanding.  When the students know and understand the material, they answer a lot more questions and are very proud of themselves.  It’s very encouraging to see how happy the students are when they comprehend what we are teaching them.