SO WHAT SHOULD I DO EVERY DAY?

1.      (approx 10 min) Do some review problems.   Choose 2 or 3 problems from the past sections, like one of from yesterday, one from or 3 days ago, one from a week or more ago. Choose things that were hard for you or that were to forget, so your brain can be reminded about them, and then there will be a better chance you’ll learn them really well and get them right if you see them on a test. 

2.      (approx 10 to 30 min) Go through the lesson...teach it to yourself by reading carefully the explanations before examples and following the logic of the steps shown in the examples.  Also use internet resources.  Focus on the concept being taught.  Pay really close to each example, what is being asked to get, how it’s worked out step-by-step, why each step happens (this is vital!), what the new steps are that are new to you because of this lesson….and why that new step or steps are being done. Also focus on the formatting of the final answer. Is it supposed to be x =   , or just a number, or is there a measurement with it?  NOTE: many people have found online resources really helpful in learning this math, especially videos from the Khan Academy website and the publisher videos (see teacher's Useful Math Links webpage to find these videos). 

3.      (approx 5 to 10 min) Take notes on the instruction. This can be done during instruction time. You can add things to your notes while you are doing the practice problems that come next. Details about the notes: Notes should be about the concepts and procedures you are learning, including things that must be memorized or things that are easy to overlook or little things that are often overlooked and thus cause errors. These notes may be in any format…narrative, chart, examples with explanations, Cornell-style…whatever works best for you. These notes are probably best written at the time of instruction, although of course you may add more things to the pages of notes while practicing after instruction.  Do not copy things from the textbook word-for-word...rewrite in your own words. 

4.      (approx 15 to 45 min) Do the practice problems. Do every problem for the day’s section as listed in part 3 on the first page of the monthly cover sheet.   Make sure you (1) write out the problem, (2) write out each step in the problem, (3) circle or box your answers. 

5.      (combined with doing the problems) Check your answers and the correct steps. 

a. After you do even just a few problems, check your answers using the answers provided in the back of the textbook.
NOTE 1: It might be helpful for you to put a couple of bookmarks or post-it-notes at the answer sections in the textbook.
NOTE 2: For Unifying students and 9th graders in Algebra, the answers for the CA Standards Check problems that follow each example are in a different section in the back of the textbook from the answers for Standards Practice problems.

b. If you cannot figure out why you are wrong on a problem, then go to the solution manual (for Advanced Geometry, Regular and Advanced Intermediate Algebra) or hotmath.com (for Unifying and 9th graders in Algebra) to see the exact correct steps.   These are some of the best things to help you learn the little details about how to do the problems correctly. You can add things you learn here to your notes.  NOTE: for Unifying and Algebra, hotmath.com only includes the Standards Practice sections--but that can still be really helpful to you.  .