My First Class Alone

Yesterday morning I taught at Marquette Senior High School. I developed my own lesson plan and used the text for supplemental materials. I got the students thinking as soon as my introduction was over. The students were asked to look at the 5 graphs on the overhead and determine which ones they thought were linear functions.
We started off by discussing the definition of a function -- the graphed equation passes the vertical line test. Next, we had to tackle the linear part of it. I wrote the word on the board which helped the visual learners to see the word "line" within linear. We did a few examples of T charts and I had the students help me find the y values by plugging in various values for x.
The students were put in groups and worked on some problems. I left some of the important concepts on the board for the students to refer to. They helped one another and I circulated the room to provide additional support.
With 15 minutes remaining, I pulled the class together again to do a few of the problems that a majority of the students struggled through. Some of the classes had enough time to get started on their homework assignment while others did not.
I found myself tweaking my lesson with each new class - I taught 3 periods of Algebra One. If I were to do it over again, I'd do a story problem on the board with the class. My observing teacher had some great suggestions to check for student understanding. My favorite one was: Draw a line that is not a function. Answer: Vertical line. Why? It doesn't pass the vertical line test!
My first class was a great experience!