Where Did the Skills List Come From? The Common Core Standards can be difficult to interpret. The question asked by most teachers is, what do the standard mean? Or, so what exactly am I supposed to teach? The best tools that I've created for my classroom was a skills list. The process of building the skills list took me through every standard required for Algebra 1. It was a bit overwhelming, but I am so happy with how it turned out! I went week by week and thought about what did my students need to understand and be able to do by the end of every week. I didn't complicate things with questions like can they collaborate and can they problem solve and can they etc. All those 21st-century skills we've had drilled into our heads for so long. While they are vital, this is not the place. I created a simple list of the skills I wanted my students to be able to do by the end of each week using the lessons incorporating all the critical skills within the Mathematical Practices.
How the Skills List is Used in My Classroom This skills list was modified and given to my students. At the end of each week, I gave formative assessments covering each of these skills. Every Friday the kids took a quiz. On Monday, they got those quizzes back. And there was not a grade at the top. Yes, there were panic attacks for a while.
We take a moment and discuss the results. On each problem was a number one through four. A one means they tried something. If they didn't try something they earned a zero and a four means mastered. A three was close but not perfect, and a two meant that they were on their way to understanding it, but they didn't get it yet.
This simple rubric is on my wall. It's one of the main bulletin board that we go out back to often. The students then record the results onto their skill sheet. There's a separate skill sheet for the students it's numbered one through five at the top, and every time they try the assessment for that skill they put their score into the box. You can see a sample of this process. Every Friday they get a chance to redo the needed skills and do the new skills we worked on that week.
Formative Assessments with the Skills List In the unit one weekly assessments some of the skills repeat and if you keep going into unit two, you'll see that all the skills will repeat again to give time for student mastery. This repetition is because they are formative assessments we want the students to have a chance to improve and understand what they do and do not know before the unit test. Once the students earn a four twice in a row, they no longer need to do that skill. But I refuse to keep track of that for them.
Growth Mindset They absolutely must know what they need to work on to improve. This way of thinking about the student's learning did take some training in the beginning, but boy did it pay off! When students see their growth, they begin believing that action makes a difference. It is not a once and done assessment. They begin to see that skills that were hard in the beginning are easier with time. While most teachers will tell students this, it is a different win, when students can see it on their own.
The Surprise Benefit of Communication The biggest surprise I got by using this system is that the parents loved it. Parents can look at that skill sheet and know what their child did or did not understand the content. So many parents hear Common Core and panic that they will not be able to help their child. This skills list show them exactly what their child will need to learn to be successful. I also went over where they could find some resources to help their student and how to find those resources online at the open house. (A little bit of work up front saved me hours later!) The parents and the teacher can work together with a common understanding of exactly what will be taught and how to help the student be successful.
The Lists for Teachers and Students Next are the copies of the Algebra 1 skills list. I hope you find them as useful with your students as I have found them with mine. As always, please let me know if you have any questions or comments. I love hearing from you!
Algebra 1 Skills List Student s Copy
Algebra 1 Skills List Teacher s Copy Semester 1 Skills Number Unit CCSS Skill 1 1 A.REI.3 Solve two step equations (including proportions) 2 1 Order of Operations 3 1 Create a table from a situation 4 1 A.REI.10 Create a graph from a situation 5 1 F.BF.1 Create an equation from a situation 6 1 F.IF.1 Identify a function 7 1 F.IF.2 Evaluate a function 8 1 A.REI.6 Basic Systems with a table and graph 9 1 F.LE.1 Identify linear, exponential, quadratic, and absolute value functions 10 2 F.BF.3 Translate a graph in function notation 11 2 F.IF.6 Calculate Slope 12 2 S.ID.7 Interpret meaning of the slope and intercepts 13 2 F.BF.2 Construct an arithmetic sequence 14 2 F.BF.4 Find the inverse of a function
Number Unit CCSS Skill 15 3 S.ID.6 Find the line of best fit 16 3 S.ID.6 Predict future events given data 17 3 S.ID.8 Calculate Correlation Coefficient with technology 18 3 S.ID.9 Understand the difference between Causation and Correlation 19 4 S.ID.1 Create box plots 20 4 S.ID.2 Calculate and compare measures of central tendencies 21 4 S.ID.3 Understand the effects of outliers 22 4 S.ID.5 Use two way frequency tables to make predictions 23 4 N.QA.1 Convert Units 24 4 N.QA.3 Understand Accuracy 25 5 A.REI.3 Solve advanced linear equations 26 5 A.REI.1 A.CED.4 Solve literal equations and justify the steps 27 5 A.REI.3 Solve inequalities 28 5 A.REI.12 Graph inequalities 29 6 A.REI.6 Solve a system of equations by graphing 30 6 A.REI.6 Solve a system of equations by substitution 31 6 A.REI.5 Solve a system of equations by elimination
Semester 2 Skills Number Unit CCSS Skill 32 7 F.LE.1b Distinguish between linear and exponential F.LE.1c function 33 7 F.LE.1a Prove that a function is either linear or exponential 34 7 F.BF.1a Write a function that describes a relationship between two quantities 35 7 F.IF.3 Recognize that sequences are functions, sometimes defined recursively 36 7 F.BF.2 Write arithmetic and geometric sequences both recursively and with an explicit formula 37 7 F.LE.2 Construct linear and exponential functions, including arithmetic and geometric sequences, given a graph, a description of a relationship, or two input-output pairs 38 8 A.SSE.1 Identify parts of an expression 39 8 F.IF.1 Identify a function and it s domain and range 40 8 F.IF.5 Find an appropriate domain given a context 41 8 F.IF.2 Evaluate exponential functions 42 8 N.RN.2 Change expressions using the rules of exponents 43 8 N.RN.1 Explain how the definition of the meaning of rational exponents follows from extending the properties of integer exponents to those values 44 8 F.IF.8.b Use the properties of exponents to interpret expressions for exponential functions. 45 8 F.BF.1.a Write a function that describes a relationship between two quantities. 46 8 F.IF.7.e Graph exponential functions and identify intercepts and end behavior 47 8 F.BF.3 Translate exponential functions 48 8 F.IF.4 Compare the key components of a linear function graph to an exponential function graph. 49 8 S.ID.6.a Fit a function to the data; use functions fitted to data to solve problems in the context of the data.
50 9 F.LE.1.a 51 9 F.LE.1.b F.LE.1.c 52 9 F.LE.3 Prove that linear functions grow by equal differences over equal intervals; and that exponential functions grow by equal factors over equal intervals. Identify linear and quadratic functions Observe using graphs and tables that a quantity increasing exponentially eventually exceeds a quantity increasing linearly, quadratically, or (more generally) as a polynomial function. 53 9 F.BF.1.b Combine functions using arithmetic 54 9 F.BF.1.b Understand situations using these combinations 55 9 F.LE.5 Interpret the parameters in a linear or exponential function in terms of a context. 56 10 A.SSE.1.a Understand what the parts of a quadratic mean 57 10 F.IF.1 58 10 F.IF.2 59 10 F.BF.1.a 60 10 A.REI.10, F.IF.7.a & F.IF.4 61 10 F.LE.3 62 10 F.BF.3 Understand function, domain and range in terms of a quadratic function Evaluate quadratic functions given a value of x in function notation Write an equation for a quadratic function given a relationship Graph and create tables of quadratic functions and label key features Observe using graphs and tables that a quantity increasing exponentially eventually exceeds a quantity increasing linearly, quadratically, or (more generally) as a polynomial function. Understand how to translate a quadratic function in a table, an equation or on a graph 63 10 F.IF.8.a Factor simple quadratics 64 10 F.IF.8.a Understand the concept and implications of a zero 65 10 F.IF.9 Compare two quadratic functions to make decisions 66 11 A.APR.1 Add, subtract, and multiply polynomials 67 11 A.APR.1 & N.RN.3 Identify sets that are closed under operations and those that are not.
68 12 A.SSE.3a Factor quadratic equations 69 12 A.SSE.3a Solve quadratic equations by factoring 70 12 A.SSE.3b Complete the square 71 12 F.IF.8 72 12 A.REI.4 73 12 A.REI.4 74 12 A.REI.7 Use completing the square to find maximum and minimum values Use the quadratic formula to solve quadratic equations Be able to identify which process is best to solve a quadratic equation Solve a system of equations containing one quadratic and one linear function