Welcome to my interactive, FULLY DIFFERENTIATED Geometry curriculum.

There are access points throughout this course for students in the 1st Grade level all the way up to the 12th grade level and beyond. This is a tried and tested course used in an extremely diverse urban classroom where students are truly at all levels.

The 5th Lesson covers Line Segments & Rays. It includes defining and naming Line Segments and Rays as well as challenges at ALL LEVELS related to the length of Line Segments.

The 6th Lesson revolves around the concept of a Midpoint. First we define congruence and Midpoints and look at real-life architectural, artistic, and technological examples of congruence and Midpoints. Then students learn to apply the concept of a Midpoint to floating Line Segments, Number Lines, and the Coordinate Plane.

The 7th Lesson introduces the concept of the Angle. Beginning with the ray-based definition of an angle, we move on to categorizing acute, right, obtuse, and straight angles. We then learn how to measure angles using a protractor. Note: protractors needed for this lesson.

The 8th Lesson starts off by explaining how congruent angles are angles which have the same angle measure. Then, we learn the definition of an Angle Bisector and are given the opportunity to work on a plethora of challenges for all levels of learners that might be found within a diverse high school geometry classroom.

I start the participation off each day on the Title Slide, asking the students who the character on the Title Page is. I try to switch it up to use characters throughout the year that appeal to all interests. This is an easy way to ease into participation with no pressure involved. I encourage participation constantly, and use Grid Grades to quickly notate all participation during class. I save my detailed notes, and can look back and say "Johnny participated 12 times on 9/4/2021, etc"

I don't give tests. Instead, I give a test grade each day called "CLASSROOM PERSEVERANCE." This gets broken down into the following:

1.) Attendance - 20% - arriving on time and remaining in class throughout the period (bathroom breaks excepted of course, as long as they return in a reasonable amount of time)

2.) Attempting the Warmup - 20% - students must attempt the Warmup within 4 minutes of arriving. Depending on the order in which I check students, some on a given day may get 5-6 minutes before I check theirs, but if I catch a student with nothing started 4 minutes in they do not get this 20%. The Warmups are fully differentiated to allow ease of access, and of course I still give the 20% if the student has wrong answers, as long as it is an honest attempt

3.) Notes - 20% - as we go through the notes section together, students are expected to fill in the notes. I make sure there is limited writing in the notes so that students can focus on the concepts. There are lots of digital manipulatives. For students with IEP's, I let some of the more writing-heavy pieces be left blank (i.e. a student with a 1st-grade writing level will be expected to move our digital manipulatives around and fill in vocab words, but will be exempt from writing down a solution to an equation)

4.) Activity - 20% - After the notes are complete, there are 3 Modules: Easy, Medium, & Difficult. Module 1 ranges from a 1st-6th Grade Level. Module 2 ranges from a 4th Grade-9th Grade Level. Module 3 ranges from a 9th Grade-12th Grade Level. Students should complete a Module that stimulates their growth but does not frustrate them. Modules are geared towards specific skills. Module 1 focuses on solving 1-step equations within our geometric space. Module 2 contains more complex logical challenges and focuses on multi-step equations. Module 3 contains the most complex logical challenges and brings in exponential equations, quadratic equations, and radical equations. Often, hardworking students will conquer one level and move to the next. As with the Warmup, to receive this 20% students just have to be working diligently. If they are struggling to answer questions correctly, they may need some help or may benefit from moving down to an easier Module.

5.) Participation - 20% - I am HUGE on participation. From the beginning of class until the end of the notes, I encourage, AND REWARD, constant participation. All students must participation twice (10% each) to get this 20%. Any additional participation is a 1% bonus. It is important to allow students to complete each slide of the Notes independently before going over them. The Notes are designed carefully with hints and scaffolding to allow students to teach themselves, with the teacher as a guide only. Even the slides with vocabulary in them have word banks and hidden clues. Every time you get to a new slide in the notes, give students a reasonable amount of time (30 s - 2 minutes depending on the exercise) to try on their own, and then share out answers together.

Too often in classrooms filled with struggling learners do students walk into class on the first day already discouraged. A grading system where tests are replaced with everyday willingness to succeed has strong positive results. On one hand, students feel empowered in that if they show up on time and try they cannot be unsuccessful. And I believe in my differentiation techniques to the extent that I know if they do the 5 things listed above, they will learn. On the other hand, students watch their excuses taken away by this system. ("Mom math is hard for me you know that and the teacher is confusing" - "Well ma'am i give 20% each day for showing up on time and your child chose to be late 3 times this week. Furthermore, twice this week did not take Notes, which consists of filling in the blanks on slides. That's also 20%. ) - You get the idea! I promise you your students of all types (advanced, Learning-Disabled, English Language Learners, etc.) will find success and appropriate challenges if they show up and try on these slides.

You will discover that the Notes are at a lower level. When we are working together we construct the basics. You might say, "Well my advanced students may be bored while we are going over these notes." They might be, unless you have them teach the class. Once the students get accustomed to our Participation-based curriculum and approach, I offer to exempt the advanced kids from taking the notes (they can figure them out on their own) if they stand up, go through the Slides, and lead the discussion just as I would. Less work for you, and you can roam the classroom and provide support.