2016-2017 Geometry Scope & Sequence

I started sharing the scope and sequences and its changes for my Geometry course because I remember how difficult it was to find one when I first started teaching Geometry.  Now it has become a nice way to reflect and see how my course has evolved over the years.  (See the progression here:  July 2013(1), July 2013(2), Aug 2013, June 2014, Nov 2014, July 2015, Aug 2015)

Here is a run down of this year's changes:

• I eliminated my review unit.  It was a great way to ease students back into school, to get to know them, and for them to get used to me.  However, it leads students into a false sense of ease.  They expect Geometry to be easy, no matter how much I tell them it can become challenging.  This has created a problem for many students that decided to stay in the course based on the first week, although the course will be too challenging for them.  By the time they realize they've made a mistake it is too late for them to switch out.  Also, we will have to review simplifying radicals and completing the square during the school year again anyway, so why waste the time at the beginning?  This year I'm starting the year off with solving for angles in triangles and polygons so we can learn Geometry, and review solving equations.  I'm excited to get these two topics out of the way because they have a way of coming up before they are taught anyway, and it will allow me more options when we get to proofs.
• There seem to be some topics that are not included in Common Core (yet; just going by what has been on the tests), but I am afraid to abandon them in case they do come up.  (Plus, they are topics that I enjoy teaching.)  I've moved these topics (Midsegment of Triangles and Triangle Inequality Theorem) to the first unit (Introduction to Geometry). 
• Constructions has it's own unit.  After moving some of the topics to the beginning of the year unit 1 was pretty full, and constructions was the natural place to divide the unit into two.
• Dilations of a line has been added to my Coordinate Geometry unit.  I was not sure where to place it last year.  It's about dilations and similarity and should be in that unit, but students have not yet learned about slope of parallel lines.  So this just seemed like the logical placement for this topic.

  Overall, I feel like the changes are minimal, but should hopefully help the course run more smoothly in the beginning.