Watch Your Step
What should teacher salaries be based on?
Students will
- Estimate a rate of change (slope) from a graph and table of teacher salaries at various educational levels
- Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of paying teachers based on experience and educational attainment
- Model, using a graph, a new policy to pay teachers based on their students’ standardized test scores
- Propose and defend other functions to determine teachers’ salaries
Before you begin
Students should be able to determine a unit rate from a table or graph and be comfortable reading a multiple-line graph.Common Core Standards
Content Standards
Mathematical Practices
Downloads
Shoutouts
Key and Peele, NBC Nightly News, PBS NewsHour
Related Lessons
Domino Effect
How much is Domino’s really charging for pizza? Students use slope, y-intercept, and linear equations to explore the costs of different-sized pizzas at Domino’s and debate whether the pizza chain should be more transparent in its pricing.
Flicks
Which movie rental service should you choose? Students develop a system of linear equations to compare Redbox, AppleTV, and Netflix, and determine which is the best plan for them.
Not So Fast
How should speeding tickets be calculated? Students use linear equations to explore how police officers determine speeding fines...and whether tickets are calculated fairly.
In the Zone
How hard should you exercise? Students write and graph an equation for maximum heart rate in terms of age, and then calculate ideal heart rate zones for different types of workouts.
Let Down Your Hair
How fast does hair grow? Students analyze a scatterplot, create a line of best fit, and interpret slope as the rate of hair growth over time.
Seeking Shelter - Original
How is the homeless population changing around the country? Students write linear equations to model the homeless populations in New York City and Los Angeles and discuss what they can do to aid people experiencing homelessness in their communities.
Safely Rest
How should Arlington National Cemetery plan for its future? Students write and solve linear equations to estimate when Arlington National Cemetery will reach capacity, evaluate various proposals to prolong its lifespan, and debate the best way for Arlington to honor soldiers and their families.
You're So Fined
How do municipal fines affect people with different incomes? Students write, solve, and graph systems of linear equations to determine how long it takes to pay off a ticket and debate the fairest ways for cities to raise revenues without harming their poorest residents.
Sweet Tooth
How much Halloween candy should you eat? Students analyze graphs of linear and nonlinear piecewise functions to compare how much enjoyment people get as they eat through their candy and debate the best strategy for maximizing Halloween happiness.
Fuel Economy
Are hybrid cars worth the extra cost? Students use linear equations to compare the costs of driving a car with a standard engine versus a hybrid engine and debate whether new buyers should always go green
