Factoring is one of the toughest sections in Algebra—for teachers and for students! Here’s my two cents’ on how we should do it.
Tic Tac Fac (or is it Fact?), guess-and-check, and other methods come in and out of style when it comes to teaching factoring in Algebra 1.
My preference is to teach factoring quadratics by grouping because students will be able to continue using the same method with factoring polynomials later on.
I feel like it’s less gimmicky…less to memorize about how to set it all up.
But I hear the argument that says that grouping has lots of steps to remember…yes, but they’re the same steps regardless of the type of problem.
And students are practicing GCF continuously so they improve on it faster.
That’s my opinion, at least…backed up by my students’ performance in the past.
If you’re looking for assessments with polynomials and quadratics in Algebra 1, I’ve got you covered!
Check out the links above for pictures of what my Google Forms assessments look like (if you want to make your own) or consider making a purchase if you don’t have time to DIY it!
Hope this helps you!
