Problem Solving Skill: Over this semester a problem solving skill that I have become experienced in is generating ideas. This skill includes things like formulating plans, generating multiple ways of approaching problems, and identifying and applying mathematical tools. I think that I use this skill the most because we have worked with a lot of things that require us to think about which mathematical skills we need to apply to the problem we are working on, as well as formulating plans. At the beginning of the semester something that was really new to me was collecting information from a problem and then solving from there. I have been used to fairly simple math where I was able to solve the problem without really having to do much beforehand. This year we have worked with long word problems where we are required to pick out bits of information that will be helpful for solving the problem.
Content Skill: A content skill that I have gotten sufficient in is graphing equations. Although we didn't really do very many 'interactive' activities with this topic I feel that it is something that I am very experienced and comfortable with. I came into algebra 1 completely unexperienced in graphing and I am coming out of this semester surprised by how much I have grown and developed in this and most other things.
Overall this semester has included a huge amount of growth for me and I feel strong and confident is most of the subjects that we have covered. We have gone through many different subjects and terms that I now feel sufficient in.