Finding Rate of Change from a Graph Hole Punch Activity

I created this hole punch activity to give my Algebra 1 students practice finding rate of change from a graph. When I teach Algebra 1, I intentionally avoid using the word “slope” for as long as possible.

I printed off a bunch of practice questions for students to complete inside our dry erase pockets.

MATH = LOVE RECOMMENDS…

I cannot imagine teaching math without my dry erase pockets! They instantly make any activity more engaging and save me countless hours at the copy machine since I can use the same class sets of copies year after year.

Here are my current go-to recommendations:

• 8.5 x 11 Inch Dry Erase Pockets from Puroma
• 11 x 17 Inch Dry Erase Pockets from C-Line Products
• Expo Dry Erase Markers

If you don’t have a classroom set of dry erase pockets, you could also use heavy duty sheet protectors. But, I highly recommend investing in a classroom set of the pockets since they are so much more durable.

During first period, students had trouble remembering which of the 8 problems they had already completed. So, I made a hole punch accountability card for the rest of my Algebra 1 classes.

I simply typed up the name of the 8 scenarios we were finding the rate of change for in a small table.

Groups earned a hole punch after getting each answer verified.

My students treated this as a game even though it wasn’t meant as one.

I designed the dry erase template to walk students through the different steps of finding the rate of change from a graph.

First, identify the independent and dependent variables. Then, identify two points from the graph to add to your table. Now, you can easily find the change in the dependent variable and the change in the independent variable to plug into the formula for rate of change.

If I were to do this again, I would add one more step to the template – write a complete sentence describing the rate of change in context.