Friday, 2/19/16: Exploring Translations

We are beginning Unit 4, which is on using transformations to establish congruence, using transformations to establish similarity, the Pythagorean theorem, angle relationships in parallel lines and triangles, and the volume of cylinders, cones, and spheres.

We're starting with transformations, of which there are four types:

• translations (slides)
• reflections (flips)
• rotations
• dilations (zooming in or out)

Students, parents / guardians, and tutors, as we move forward, there are going to be two key tools that will help students with transformations (in addition to the normal internet and textbook resources):
First, I've given each student a section of tracing paper (to be kept in the plastic sleeve with the class assignment sheet and used for the entire unit).  For many students this will be of significant help, using the tracing paper to mimic the motion.  Second, look for patterns in the ordered pairs (x and y combinations) pre-image (the before) to image (the after).  From the very beginning, I am going to be making my students record all of the ordered pairs, before-and-after.  The patterns they will discover there will really help them.

Today in class we reviewed the Lesson 9-1 homework which would have been due yesterday while I was out.  There are important patterns in the coordinates of the vertices (corner points) pre-image to image, and we explored those today.  This is critical material which cannot be rushed, if students are going to be powerful with it.  No formal homework is assigned for the weekend, but students can be studying Lessons 9-1 and 9-2, either from the textbook pages they have or online at my.hrw.com .