Elementary Algebra

The book is by Harold Jacobs.
I am your presenter, Molly Crocker.

I have used this text since 1996. It's not often an approach to a familiar subject changes how an instructor wants to teach a course. This text won me over to a new approach, and taught me how to be a better teacher.

I have used several texts for an Algebra 1 class, including those from three different publishers in several editions during my tenure as adjunct faculty at a local community college. Hands down, this book is better, head-and-shoulders above the crowd. It is appropriate for the 6th grader who is cognitively ready, but may not be able to proceed at a pace that will accomplish the course in one year. It is appropriate for the adult who might accomplish it in 6 months.

Yes, I know it was first published in 1979, and the revised edition has only minor changes from the original edition. My work at the college introduced me to the TI graphing calculator family. I realized that the Jacobs book was prescient - that if he could, Harold Jacobs would have welcomed the use of this calculator. He built the book knowing those were coming.

The difference between this presentation and others that are out there (Dr. Callahan, and some on YouTube), is 1) my experience teaching algebra to students from 6th grade to adult, 2) the variety of settings in which I've taught, which includes 1:1 tutoring, small groups, and classrooms, and the 3) inclusion of the graphing calculator into the presentation. I'm familiar with the stumbling blocks. My experience teaching math includes pre-calculus. What blocks need to be in the foundation of algebra so students can be successful in those other classes? How has the graphing calculator changed how and what we teach?

I have always measured my success by how a student performs in the next math class, not how the student performed in the one I taught.