This was today’s daily note to my students and their families. Hi folks, We (CCHS) will be trying to contact students (yes – TALK TO YOU) today or tomorrow. We have a few questions that we’ll ask to help us figure out how to plan for the future. In the meantime… Here’s a word for the day: “wend”. This word means […]
Monthly Archives: March 2020
Let It Be
Tue, 24 Mar 2020, 09:12 AM (-06:00)
I now send my students and their parents/guardians a message each day. I sent this out this morning. Perhaps it applies to a wider audience, too. Hi y’all. When I was in middle school (a long time ago), I recall a running controversy. “Who do you like better, The Beatles or The Rolling Stones?” At the time I couldn’t imagine why […]
Oreos and the Folly of Sarcasm
Tue, 24 Mar 2020, 06:42 AM (-06:00)
1. Do You Remember Kevin is always the first person into the classroom. He waits outside until every single student from the previous period has left and then comes in, announcing his arrival with a loud, “Mr. Hasan!” One day, when he got to his desk, he said it again, this time as a question, […]
Finding A Mistake
Mon, 23 Mar 2020, 02:05 PM (-06:00)
The two girls sit next to each other near the front of the class. When I created a new seating chart after the holidays, they asked to stay next to each other, and I gladly complied. They always work hard. They always get the work done before the end of class. I like to think […]
Logarithms and My Old Cornet
Mon, 23 Mar 2020, 12:45 PM (-06:00)
1. Will We Ever Use This? “Mr. Hasan?” he asked from the back of the room. “Will we ever use this?” This is a frequent complaint in math classes. To my everlasting frustration, it’s a common refrain. Frustrating because, do they ask this of their English teachers? Their Theatre teacher? History? Band? Economics, for heavens sake? […]
Fun With Word Problems
Sun, 22 Mar 2020, 11:08 PM (-06:00)
1. Word problems. You remember them. I know you do. You remember hating them. I know you did. Certainly my students do. They don’t even try to disguise their groans when I assign a few. On this day, I had them write their own. That was the assignment. Not to solve a word problem. But […]
He Taught Her
Sun, 22 Mar 2020, 04:11 PM (-06:00)
We had been doing polynomial long division which spooks a lot of the kids. There’s a lot of writing involved in that procedure, and you have to be meticulously neat. They prefer synthetic division where you just write down numbers instead of all those pesky variables, and it’s easier to stay neat. It was morning […]
The Eggs Go Fast
Sat, 21 Mar 2020, 11:25 PM (-06:00)
On Friday night I told Ben that I planned to go to the farmer’s market the next morning to get eggs. He’s the market manager for the downtown market and the one in Sunset Valley, which is where we usually go. “If you want eggs,” he said, “get there before the market opens. The eggs […]
Getting More Ice
Sat, 21 Mar 2020, 04:49 PM (-06:00)
1. Leaving For Town Their ice chest is good, but it’s not a Yeti. They periodically look at them but recoil in horror every time they see the price tag. It’s just crazy. And as he’s let the fair and industrious Trudy know, thanks to his cousin Stevie’s stories when he was young, he’ll never […]
South Llano State Park
Sat, 21 Mar 2020, 03:03 PM (-06:00)
1. We Went Camping We glamped four nights at South Llano River State Park this past week in a rented vintage VW Vanagon. The weather was mostly cooperative. It rained hard two nights, but the days were great. Not hot. Not cold. No bugs. Camp fires every night. Mercifully out of reach of the nearest […]