To demonstrate an accessible social presence, pretend again that you are a middle school student. We are to work through the calculation of SLOPE, given 2 points on a line. Please make sure that the CC option is turned on. Enjoy!
Transcript follows:
Here we go, good morning, Chapter 7, Lesson 4. We are going to be talking about slope today.
We know that in this lesson we find out
what the slope was. The slope was the rise over the run.
The rise is the same as the change in the
y-direction just like a loaf of bread
and the run is like when you run
around the track on PE (physical education).
It's the changes in the x's (direction).
So in our equation, we have the slope, m, and it's
always called "m" and m is equal to the
changes in the y,
the y's on the top,
the x's on the bottom.
The 2's (subscript) and the 1's (subscript) just tell us to separate which ones are
the ordered pairs.
The first ordered pair,the second ordered pair.
It doesn't matter which way you go as
far as calculating the slope.
So we have the first ordered pair (4, 0)
and the second one (5, 7)
remember x is 4 and y is 0,
x is five and y is seven.
---
Problem #11, let's get started. It says
calculate that slope.
So we're going to go with (4, 0)
(5, 7)
and like OOPS, (small mistake here) … and like we did in class
we are going to draw some arrows, put the y's on the top
we'll put the x's on the bottom. So the
x's go on the bottom,
the y's go on the top.
Let me see if I can do that and get myself some more room. (I am fiddling with the chart).
Oops … there we go.
So we have um... i make going to make a little change
here just like we do in class.
Let's put the y on the top.
The y goes on the top and the x goes on the bottom.
We are going to use our formula over here.
Again it doesn't matter which way we go,
so we're going to start with slope...
We're going to put the y's on the top and the
x's on the bottom. So here we go
BOTH arrows have to go in the same
direction. So we're going to start with
the second y, which is seven
minus, (and we always put our minus signs in there). So seven minus zero (7 - 0).
Down on the bottom, we are going to put our x's. We got our minus signs already in place. so we're going to
go with five minus four (5 - 4)
So we're going to do this math and end up
with the slope as (7/1).
So there's our slope, 7!
---
Let's try this for problem number #29.
The order pairs are (4, 3) and (x, 7). They gave us a slope this
time and they said solve for x. So here
we go let's do the same thing. So we're
going to do (4, 3),
we are going to do (x, 7).
We're going to go y's on the top,
x's on the bottom.
So the y's on the top
x's on the bottom. So let's figure out
the slope
which they already gave us as 2. So let's see if that gives us some information.
Let's put our minus signs and minus signs, so
we have (7 - 3)
and we have (x - 4).
So our equation looks like 2 = (7 - 3)/(X - 4) [remember --PEMDAS!]
I'm going to put this in parenthesis just for funsies.
So this looks like 2 = 4/(x - 4) [I simplified!]
We can do it a couple of different ways
but I bet if you just think about this
for a second we're looking for something
that if we have a uh...
4 in the numerator and something in the bottom and we're going to end up with a 2.
Well, this looks like x - 4 = 2
because 4/2 ought to give me the 2. So x turns out to be = 6.
So there's our solution
x = 6 and for problem #11
the slope was, m = 7.
---
That's it for now we'll see y'all tomorrow!
Reflection 5.2: Establishing an Accessible Social Presence
Section 508 and ADA requirements has opened my eyes into the world of educational material accessibility. After reading though this module, I came to realize that my (I thought) creativity was really a frustration and hindrance to three of my Algebra students. They never complained, and I now feel frustrated and embarrassed.
Spencer and Trevor have vision disabilities, the same Spencer and Jonathan have auditory problems. I read through their IEPs, sat in their SSTs, met with the parents and guidance counselors and thought that I was "hot stuff". I thought that these 3 students had all they needed online (during and after school) with the resources available to them, some of them generated by me. No where in my materials or resources, are there large print and transcripted information for visual and auditory challenged students. I feel that I let their education slip just a little.
Current Instructional Materials
My Algebra classrooms have access to two paid tutoring sites and video homework helper material that I have generated. Not only is my stuff not closed-captioned or transcripted, but the two websites I send students to, http://hotmath.com and http://purplemath.com don't do a really great job in supporting the visually/auditory impaired either. Now, I know better and know what questions to ask.
My current homework helper resources need to be closed captioned and a transcript generated. At first glance, given that there is an audio track embedded, I thought it a simple thing to just extract the audio and convert it to text. Given, the subject matter, I don't think this is a good option. My research is beginning, but I think the better approach will be to regenerate the audio and transcript it outside of the video with a tool like http://captiontube.com. I have work to do to make my materials ADA and Section 508 compliant! Now I know better!
Resources
In my research, I came across the following site to allow teachers to generate accessible content and for students to have tools to assist them in the consumption of that content:
iOS Apps
Word Lens, (translation software)
Sign 4 Me, (sign language translator)
Algebra Touch, (large print Algebra help)
Web in general