Algebra Lesson Plans and Curriculum for the 7th Grade Classroom

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) provides a comprehensive set of principles and standards for developing curriculum for grades K. through 12th. Chapter two of their text Principles and Standards for School Mathematics specifies the six principles considered vital for the development of a coherent math plan. The principles are general enough to apply across a wide variety of disciplines as they are "not unique to school mathematics." (p. 16). However, chapter three dealing with the ten standards, themselves, makes quite clear (and rightly so) that math, unlike other disciplines, can benefit from a truly integrated approach: "Because mathematics as a discipline is highly interconnected the areas described by the Standards overlap and are integrated." (p. 30). In other words, the standards cannot be easily divided into particular grade levels (i.e. numbers/operations in K-2, geometry in 3-5, algebra...
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