As Trudy tossed and turned in the pre-dawn hours of the morning, as Charlie wandered around the house dazed and confused, as Miss Izzy tried unsuccessfully to sneak outside to bark at the night creatures, as BBC played on the radio, I was repeatedly falling back asleep. Because… well my wheels are weary. After the […]
Yearly Archives: 2018
It Shows
Thu, 20 Sep 2018, 08:45 PM (-06:00)
The 24 minute alarm had just sounded. Lunch time was over. The other math teachers packed up their stuff and got ready to head to their classrooms. The door to the workroom opened, and all of the sudden, there was a smiling face looking straight at me. It took me a while to get my […]
It’s Alive (A Frankenstein Reprise)
Sun, 16 Sep 2018, 10:57 AM (-06:00)
1. Scientists and Mathematicians I write ‘x’ and ‘y’ on the board in blue. “Scientists,” I say, “care about these x’s and y’s. They care about what they mean. Given the current time (x), how fast is the rocket going (y)? Given the distance downstream from the dam (x), how many fish are in the […]
Frankenstein Shoes
Sun, 9 Sep 2018, 09:41 PM (-06:00)
Did I tell you how much my feet hurt those first few days? Yes, I did. Each night I would go to bed thinking, “It’s not possible these feet will recover by morning.” Yet, each morning they were better, only to be beat to a pulp that day with the cycle starting over again. Finally, I […]
A Third Day of Absolute Values
Sun, 9 Sep 2018, 10:34 AM (-06:00)
The median score on the first test was not good. It revealed the extent to which many of my students just weren’t getting what I was trying to teach. I was convinced that I was doing something fundamentally wrong, despite reassurances from all the other math teachers that this is a common reality we are […]
This Is Helping Me
Sun, 9 Sep 2018, 09:45 AM (-06:00)
The day was done. School was over. We sat in the classroom for a while going over the algebra. When we were finished, she gathered her things and began to walk out of the room. I started to think about the next day. She stopped at the door and looked back. “This is really […]
Modern Art
Sat, 25 Aug 2018, 10:14 PM (-06:00)
It’s late at night. I had a cold brewed coffee in the late afternoon as I graded papers. It was after 3:00. Caffeine after 3:00: not a good idea, he says, with nary a wink of sleep coming over him. It’s an hour before midnight. The full moon is rising and marching with Mars across the […]
Sometimes it Works, Sometimes Not
Mon, 20 Aug 2018, 10:54 PM (-06:00)
I tried to get them talking to each other about math today. Just some light conversation about what kinds of gotchas they thought might trip them up. I had talked about some of the gotchas… dropped negative signs, missed terms, that sort of thing. “Talk to your shoulder partner,” I said. “Share what gotchas you […]
First Week Retrospective
Sun, 19 Aug 2018, 02:36 PM (-06:00)
So the first week of school was pretty good. Sure, there were a few heads down on the desks. And I did collect some phones and ear buds and a book that a student had in their lap. But there was nothing that pushed the limits. Push-the-limits events — belligerence, aggression, cursing… — have been […]
The Joy of Bamboo Wind Chimes
Fri, 17 Aug 2018, 11:04 PM (-06:00)
It was Friday afternoon. The students were working on a foldable. They were alternatively picking up and setting down colored pencils, shading in x-related and y-related things on their papers. The room was dark so that the screen projection of what I was doing was easy to see and follow. The only sound was the clinking […]