2.1.1.1. Organizational Gap Analysis:
   
The problem that I am working to combat goes along with the idea that one of our school district’s goals is to incorporate more technology into the mathematics curriculum.  For my part, I have been including the usage of the Texas Intruments TI-84 Plus Silver Edition graphing calculator in my instruction. However, as many parents in our district like to stay informed on how their child is doing and what they are doing, I have had many parents come to me with questions about how to use the technology and help their child out with it.  This leads me to believe that there are more parents in our district with similar concerns.  To that end, I had some parents come in to school to work with the ti-84’s and found that none of them even knew how to graph.  I asked the parents to do numerous tasks with the calculators, and none of them could.  Following this pattern, I am sure that I will find almost no parents have any knowledge about how to properly operate a TI-84 Plus Silver Edition.

2.1.1.2. Problem Statement:
   
Objective D of our school district’s goals reads, “Increase use of technology in instruction and assessment.”  To work toward this goal, I have been incorporating the use of graphing calculators in my classroom.  It is a requirement that all of my students be able to work with a TI-84 Plus Silver Edition graphing calculator (or the similar functions on a regular TI-84 or TI-83).  The problem is that when students go home and ask for help with working with their graphing calculator, their parents do not have any experience with them or knowledge as to how to use them.  This could hurt a student’s achievement when they cannot get help when a problem arises with the calculator at home.


2.1.1.3. RCA:
   
Last week we had the open house at our high school and I did a basic activity with the graphing calculator that parents were very excited about, knowing their kids had the technology to do the work, but very anxious about using the technology because they had no experience with it. Just by giving a simple calculator activity, it can be found that most parents do not know how to properly operate the technology, let alone help their child with it.

    The question is how do these same parents help their kids out when a problem arises at home?  This is technology that the school is integrating into the math curriculum, but if only the teachers can help them understand how to use the calculators, what happens when a problem comes up at home.

2.1.1.4. Needs Analysis Tools/Methods:
   
In order to close the gap between not knowing even how to turn off a graphing calculator, I would like to give a class on the basic operations and common errors of the TI-84 Plus Silver.  This could be done in a series of short classes, with possible extensions classes also provided.  These courses would be taken by parents that are interested in helping their child with the technology and also if they want to make sure their child is using it correctly.


2.1.1.5. Task Analysis

1. Turn on your TI-84
2. Press STAT button to access STAT menu
3. Press ENTER when 1:Edit… is highlighted to access lists
4. Enter first set of given values under L1
5. Enter second set of given values under L2
6. Check to make sure the lists match the order that was given, as well as that the lists have the same number of values.
7. Press Y1 to access Y= menu
8. Press CLEAR for any equation that may be listed
9. Press 2ND the STAT PLOT to access STAT PLOTS menu
10. Press ENTER when 1:Plot1… is highlighted
11. Press ENTER on first line when the word On is highlighted
12. Press the down arrow to choose Type:
13. Press ENTER when the first graph (Scatter Plot) is highlighted
14. Press down arrow to choose Xlist:
15. Press 2ND then 1 if L1 is not listed
16. Press down arrow to choose Ylist
17. Press 2ND then 2 if L2 is not listed
18. Press down arrow to choose Mark:
19. Choose any mark to plot points
20. Press ZOOM then 9 to plot the scatter plot

2.1.1.6

Prerequisites: None
Entry Level Skills: None
For most of the students in my course, they will not have worked with a TI-84 before and will thus be starting from the very beginning.  I have found that some parents cannot turn the calculator on and off.  Thus, everything from my hierarchy will be used.    
1. Turn on your TI-84 (P)
2. Press STAT button to access STAT menu (P)
3. Press ENTER when 1:Edit… is highlighted to access lists (P)
4. Enter first set of given values under L1 (P)
5. Enter second set of given values under L2 (P)
6. Check to make sure the lists match the order that was given, as well as that the lists have the same number of values (P)
7. Press Y1 to access Y= menu (P)
8. Press CLEAR for any equation that may be listed (P)
9. Press 2ND the STAT PLOT to access STAT PLOTS menu (P)
10. Press ENTER when 1:Plot1… is highlighted (P)
11. Press ENTER on first line when the word On is highlighted (P)
12. Press the down arrow to choose Type: (P)
13. Press ENTER when the first graph (Scatter Plot) is highlighted (P)
14. Press down arrow to choose Xlist: (P)
15. Press 2ND then 1 if L1 is not listed (P)
16. Press down arrow to choose Ylist (P)
17. Press 2ND then 2 if L2 is not listed (P)
18. Press down arrow to choose Mark: (P)
19. Choose any mark to plot points (P)
20. Press ZOOM then 9 to plot the scatter plot (P)

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