Teaching · Special Education

Points, lines and shapes
on the plane, in words

Enter the axis ranges and grid spacing, then each point in order and whether the points are joined, form a closed shape or lie on a line. The page names each point’s quadrant, works out slopes, lengths, a line’s equation or a shape’s area, and writes a short text alternative and a long description.

Describe a graphWhat you get
$12one-time · every device you sign in on
Buy · $12

Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Or get it in the Special Education toolkit, $99 for 143 items.

Graphs

The worked example is made up: rectangle ABCD with an area of 24 square units, three points on the line y = 2x + 1, and a set of map points where G lies outside the axes shown.

Loading the graph form. If nothing appears, turn on JavaScript.

What you get

Teaching · Special Education$12 · included with Classroom and Whole-school licenses

What you finish with
A saved record per graph: axis ranges, grid spacing, points in order, how they are joined, the task and six checks. The page writes a short text alternative and a long description by fixed rules: each point’s coordinates and quadrant, each segment’s slope (as a fraction) and length, a closed shape’s area by the shoelace formula or a line’s slope and equation; it flags points outside the axes, points off the line and anything the task may ask the student to find. Prints the description on its own.
Who it is for
Math teachers, special education teachers, teachers of students with visual impairments and accessibility staff preparing graphs on the coordinate plane.
Format
Browser tool with a saved record per graph. Prints the short text and long description together, the full record, every graph in a table or a blank form; downloads a spreadsheet (.csv); exports and imports a file.
Access
$12 one-time, yours on every device you sign in on; the tool opens once you are signed in with it. Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Also in the Special Education toolkit ($99) and the Teaching Suite pass ($199), and 1 more bundle. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The Special Education space in Caveat Teaching.
Support
Questions about access, an order or a correction: team@caveatacademic.com.

How to use it

  1. Enter the axis ranges and grid spacing.
  2. Add each point in order.
  3. Say how the points are joined.
  4. Write the task, then remove anything it asks for from the student copy.
  5. Place the description next to the graph, with a tactile graph if needed.

Describe a graph

The plane, read aloud

Reading a coordinate plane aloud1AxesThe range of x and y and thegrid spacing2PointsEach label, its coordinatesand its quadrant3ConnectionsWhich points are joined, andin what order4SegmentsHorizontal, vertical or aslope, with length5Shape or lineA closed shape’s area, or aline’s equation6Answer checkLeave out anything the taskasks forReading a coordinate plane aloud1AxesThe range of x and y and the gridspacing2PointsEach label, its coordinates and itsquadrant3ConnectionsWhich points are joined, and in whatorder4SegmentsHorizontal, vertical or a slope, withlength5Shape or lineA closed shape’s area, or a line’sequation6Answer checkLeave out anything the task asks for
The page works out slopes, equations and areas so you can check the graph, and reminds you to leave out any of them that the task asks the student to find.

What the page works out

Each point’s quadrant: I where x and y are both positive, then II, III and IV counterclockwise, with points on an axis or at the origin named as such. Slope as rise over run, reduced to a fraction. Segment length by the distance formula. A line’s equation in slope-intercept form, y = mx + b. A closed shape’s area by the shoelace formula, which works for any simple polygon with vertices in order.

Do not give the answer away

These figures help you check the graph and write a teacher copy. When the task asks the student to find the slope, the equation or the area, leave that sentence out of the student’s description, just as the printed graph leaves it out.

Sources

  1. DIAGRAM Center. Image Description Guidelines: graphs and math images (diagramcenter.org).
  2. Braille Authority of North America. Guidelines and Standards for Tactile Graphics: graphs (brailleauthority.org).
  3. Common Core State Standards for Mathematics, 6.NS.C.8, 8.EE.B.6 and 8.F.A.3 (the coordinate plane, slope and linear functions) (thecorestandards.org).
  4. W3C Web Accessibility Initiative. Images Tutorial: Complex Images (w3.org/WAI/tutorials/images/complex).

The worked example is made up. Slopes, equations and areas are computed from the points you enter; read the description over against the printed graph before use. Nothing you type is sent to Caveat. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.