Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Trigonometric Art
Megan Rice
Table of Contents
Trigonometric Art 3
School and Applicant Narrative 4
Summary of Project and Impact 5
Project Narrative 6
Sustaining The Project and Innovation 6
Budget Narrative 7
References 9
Appendix 10
TABLE 1: PROJECT NARRATIVE CALENDAR 10
TABLE 2: BUDGET TABLE 18
INQUIRY BASED LESSON PLAN 19
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Trigonometric Art
The project titled Trigonometric Art is a 10 day or longer math project for Algebra 2
students. It should be assigned right after the students have started to learn about the
trigonometric functions. The purpose of this project is to pique the students’ interest in
trigonometry and to refresh their knowledge of past algebra classes. The majority of students
despise math and find it very boring, hopefully, this project will get a lot more students interested
in the math I will be teaching. I am achieving this goal by having the students create a piece of
art via different functions encompassing every function they have learned up to this point.
I believe the knowledge that creativity and art being involved will keep the students
engaged. There is a couple of days of build-up before they can begin their artwork but I think
they will be excited enough to do the work leading up to it. Some specific activities that will
keep the students engaged are their rough draft drawings, creating their own formula cheat
sheets, and exploring the Desmos site. This project would be explained to an audience other than
my students by showing them a finished project then working backward. Showing off the
finished art then showcasing the math involved. To get to the point where they are able to create
their art pieces, the students will have to work as teams and individually to prove that they know
the math. Once they are able to prove their knowledge, the creative juices can start flowing.
I think this project is needed at Maya High School because I believe the students need to
be able to have fun with math. A lot of the time, our students are returning to school after
missing or skipping a few years. They are showing up to pass and graduate. I want to show them
a side of math that can be fun, creative, and challenging. That is what this project will do by
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challenging the students to think outside of the box on how to create a piece of art only using
graphed functions.
I graduated from Arizona State University in 2018 with a BAE in Secondary Education
Mathematics. During college worked as a tutor for high school students and worked as a
paraprofessional in a charter school called Maya High School. Currently, I have been working at
that same charter school, Maya High School as an Algebra 1 teacher for 2 years now. I work side
by side with my mentor teacher who is now my coworker. On top of that, I run the GEMS club
on campus AKA the gaming and anime club on campus. Since I am one of the younger staff
members and have some interest and experience in the topics, I was the shoe in person for the
Maya High School is an alternative charter school run by a parent company called, The
Leona Group. The Leona Group is all over Arizona and tries to educate as many students as
possible without letting any fall through the cracks each year. They run multiple charters
throughout the state. The school itself has been measured to fit the most desks they can in the
classroom due to COVID. They are offering a hybrid class type where students are in-person and
The community we teach in at Maya High School is not a rich one. We have a lot of poor
and underprivileged students that attend our school. We provide a laundry room, food services,
and hygiene supplies to our students. Over half our roster does not have English as their native
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language, our students need a little extra help in the classroom, but that is why we are here. Our
school wants to help these students and we plan on continuing to make that happen.
My project is centered around creativity, ingenuity, and critical thinking. My students will
be working independently and as a team to create pieces of art only using different math
functions and graphs. They will have to think outside of the box with this project and use their
math skills in ways they have never done before. We have a very unique student population at
Maya High School, but they are up to any challenge. Using project and inquiry-based learning is
what keeps our students engaged. During this project, the students will be creating a function list
as a sort of cheat for themselves, making pizzas with unit circles, and collaborating on quiz-like
activities. There are many roles to be had in a classroom especially during long projects.
Teachers, students, and the community all impact the classroom in different ways.
The teacher is a dedicated mentor who pushes critical thinking in the classroom. They
care for their students and are the one responsible for guiding them through growing up socially.
The student is hard-working, attentive, and committed to class. They are responsible for being a
team player and following their teacher. While in class they are to be respectful and present at all
times. As for the community, they are playing a huge supporting role. There is a reason we have
a saying, “It takes a village to raise a child.” The community lies in wait until they are called
upon and when they are, they are supportive of all students and will help wherever they can.
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Project Narrative
The project is laid out into a ten-day plan. During the first week, the students will
experience a mix between direct instruction and differentiated instruction. Before I set them
loose on creating art pieces, I need to know that they understand the math behind it. Depending
on the prior knowledge of the students, the art part of the project might appear as soon as day
four or as late as day 6. The full project calendar is listed below at the bottom of this document in
the Appendix section. In that same Appendix section, there is an Inquiry-based lesson plan. This
lesson plan is not for this specific project but more so a mini-lesson about statistics. I am
including the lesson plan to give you an idea of what the day to day lesson plan should look like
Technology
During the final week of the project, I hope to request Chromebook carts so that my
classes will have access to the website Desmos. Desmos will be the bread and butter of their
project but is not required. The students will be able to use their required TI-83 calculators to
graph or they graph the equations by hand. During this project, the students will have the option
of graphing it online using Desmos or to graph by hand. If they choose the online option, they
will have to print it out to label it. I think I over a fair amount of technology to be used during
this project, but I also realize that everyone might not want to so I leave them a by hand option as
well.
After the first run of this project, I would want to conduct a survey of the class to see what they
have to say. They went through it, and thus would have opinions on how it went. They would
have valuable information I could use to improve. I could contact the art teacher at the school to
get their input on the project as well. They might have some input on how to improve as well.
Innovation
This project is having the student express their knowledge of the subject by using it to
create a drawing. It transforms their learning because they have to utilize their knowledge of
math to create something. Normally students have to simply solve problems over and over but
here they get to create something. They get to decide how detailed and complicated they want to
get, driving their own learning. During this process, they might realize that some buildings or
Budget Narrative
My budget is listed at the bottom of this document in the Appendix. It can be found in
table 2, inside the budget, I list all the materials I will be needing for this project. The paragraph
following this text is my explanation and rationale behind the materials listed.
To create their trigonometric piece of art the students need at the bare minimum rulers,
protractors, #2 pencils, erasers, and graphing paper. The rulers and protractors are necessary to
accurately draw the graphs of the functions the students create. #2 pencils, erasers, and graphing
paper are required so that the students will have a surface and utensil to draw their art piece with.
I believe that without those supplies, the students would not be able to complete the bare
minimum required of this project. The colored pencils and markers are also very much needed
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because it allows the students to be able to bring their creation to life with color. The
Chromebooks and graphing calculators are a quality of life improvement for the students. The
Chromebooks would be a shared class tool that the students can take turns using demos on.
Desmos is a huge tool used in this project since it is a free resource and can graph multiple
functions at a time with ease. The graphing calculators on the other hand would be given to each
individual student to use at home and in class. These calculators would not only be used for this
project but year-round in my class. In an algebra II class, a graphing calculator should be a given
resource, not something that is a privilege. Nothing is done by hand in this day in age but with a
graphing calculator, these students would be doing long complicated calculations by hand.
Quality of life improvements are essential but so are basic supplies such as pencils. There are
many more miscellaneous items I could ask for but they are not needed, thus I think everything
we need for this project and to achieve our goal is listed on this list. Overall, I believe that all my
supplies listed on my list are not outrageous and are reasonable to request for a classroom.
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References
Beautiful, Free Math. (n.d.). Retrieved December 04, 2020, from https://www.desmos.com/
The Leona Group AZ. (n.d.). Retrieved December 04, 2020, from
https://www.leonagroupaz.com/
MAYA HIGH SCHOOL. (n.d.). Retrieved December 04, 2020, from http://www.mayahs.com/
Standards: Mathematics. (2020, November 03). Retrieved December 04, 2020, from
https://www.azed.gov/standards-practices/k-12standards/mathematics-standards
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Appendix
1 Content Standards This is the very I will use the The technology
first day of the formative that will be used
No specific standard I project, it will begin assessment of during this lesson
could find for this with us learning exit and entrance will be a site called
lesson. This is mostly the trigonometry exits to gauge the desmos. Desmos
background functions and class’s is an online
knowledge to lay a graphs. I will guide understanding. graphing calculator
foundation. the class through The entrance that is free to use.
notes and then ticket will gauge It can graph every
This standard could they will split into their prior function and is a
be applied, groups to do a knowledge while great tool for any
matching and the exit ticket will math classroom.
A2.F-TF.B.5
graphing activity. gauge their This site will allow
understanding of students to see
the lesson today. and understand
Learning what every trig
I would be using function looks like,
Objective(s)
direct instruction and overall is
The student will be and cooperative something I want
able to match each learning. students to get
trigonometry used to using.
functions to their
corresponding graph
by utilizing desmos
without error
Essential Question
for Student
direction
In this lesson
direct instruction
and cooperative
learning and
differentiation
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4 Content Standards This day will have The formative Desmos will be
a small mini test assessment today allowed on the
A2.F-TF.B.5 where I will test the will be the test test. I am grading
class to see if they they are taking on work and not
A2.F-TF.A.2 have a general the correct answer
understanding of which is why I am
A2.F-TF.A.1
the trig functions, allowing them to
RFR.ETT.5 graphs and the use it.
radians system. If
Learning the class can
Objective(s) score an average
of 80 or higher
No objective due to then they can
test day move forward onto
starting the project.
If they do not have
that average then I
Essential Question
can not let them
for Student
move forward and
direction
we will have to
take more class
N/A
time to go over
where they
struggled.
Direct instruction is
used.
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N/A
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Essential Question
for Student
direction This lesson
contains
How do you think differentiation and
functions are used in direct instruction
the world today?
(Can last longer than 10 days depending on how the test went or if the class needs more time
on their drawings)
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$3,437.78
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Misleading Statistics
Engage
To engage students at the beginning of a lesson, insert video,
image, quote, or another inspirational hook in this box.
The Goal: Reveal Pre-existing ideas, Beliefs, Preconceptions.
Pose questions that students will begin to answer in “Explore”
Explore
Curate a collection of resources (articles, videos, infographics,
text excerpts, etc.) for students to explore the topic.
The Goal: Students may be gathering data, sharing ideas,
looking for patterns, making conjectures, and developing
further questions and problem solving considerations with the
use of the information/activity provided
Explain
Use this section to allow students to explain their thinking and
move towards demonstrating mastery of the lesson’s objective.
The Goal: Provide opportunity for students to compare ideas,
construct explanations, justify in terms of observations and/or
data collected in a collaborative large group environment.
Please watch this video about misleading stats and graphs.
When you were researching for your 3 data sets, did you find
any misleading graphs? I want you to review your table group’s
data that each member collected and decide if it is being
honest or not. Explain your thinking on each set of data. Once
done, reply to the google classroom stream with how many sets
were dishonest out of the amount collected.
Apply/Elaborate
Use this section for students to apply information from the
previous sections to new circumstances or elaborate on a
particular aspect at a deeper level usually coming in the form
of “What if” questions.
The Goal: Allowing students the opportunity to discuss how
their thinking has changed or been solidified.
I want you to create your own graphs using the data set I will
provide. Use whatever part of the data you want. Make a
dishonest graph and an honest graph. What did you do to
make the graph dishonest, and how did you make it honest.
After all, graphs have been made, you are going to share them
with your table group and see how the graphs compare. Did
you all use the same idea to make the graph dishonest, or is
there variety in your graphs?
500 people were involved in a blind taste test. There were 134
girls and 366 boys tested. Percentages of people who picked
the soda they liked best in a blind taste test:
Yummy Soda 23% - 6% female 17% male
Excellent Soda 25% - 20% female 5%male
Extreme Soda 25% - 15% female 10% male
Radical Soda 27% - 8% female 19% male
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Reflect/Evaluate
Include an opportunity for face-to-face or digital reflection to
guide students along their learning progression, evaluating
progress and setting new goals for continued exploration.
The Goal: Refine initial answer to the “driving question” and
reflect on ideas, goals and beliefs concerning their progress.
Look back and reflect on your answers to What do you think
about Mark Twain’s quote, “There are three kinds of lies: lies,
damned lies, and statistics.”? Has your answer changed
through this lesson? Have you learned to be more cautious
when dealing with statistics?
Please write a 1 paragraph minimum reflection on what you
have learned about statistics and how your views may or may
not have changed throughout this lesson. Do you agree to
disagree with Mark Twain’s quote now that you have more
experience with statistics? Turn in this reflection to the google
classroom assignment titled Reflection Week 3.