II.Rationale+and+Background

II. Rational and Background
Although we work problems in class, both with the teacher modeling problem solution, group work, and individual work, the areas of solving mixture problems and 2 variable problems are still challenging for students. Providing engaging online resources as further support could tip the balance toward student understanding. Although students often complain that "they will never need to know this," when actually given problems that could apply in their real life (like interest rate problems), they tend to shut down. Connections need to be made between algebraic principles and everyday life. Students begin to work on story problems after being introduced to basic equation solving. Ideally, the students will have grasped the previous lessons on basic number operations, including working with signed numbers, order of operations, and the properties of distribution, association, commutative, identity and inverse. The students in this class are primarily native English speakers. Four out of nineteen are ELLs at the advanced level. Because mathematics has a specialized jargon, paying close attention to the vocabulary and stressing the art of "translating from English to Math" is useful to all learners. Additionally, other countries have different approaches to teaching mathematics so it can be very confusing to students who are new to the US. Web sites that can expose students to a variety of mathematical perspectives can allow students to pick and choose what approach makes sense to them as individuals.