Sharing Teaching Ideas: A Novel Way to Practice Slope

My students enjoy using a tic-tac-toe format to practice finding the slope and identifying parallel and perpendicular lines from various equation formats. After students learn different definitions and methods for identifying slope, I use this approach in a homework sheet or as a timed quiz. The tic-tac-toe format seems to make the drill more palatable; in a timed quiz, it quickly identifies students who have mastered rapid-identification techniques. I have also used this format successfully as a review in both precalculus and calculus classes before students work with applications of analytic geometry.