Math(s)

 Good morning all, I woke up this morning to the news that today is a "traditional snow day" instead of a distance learning day.  I can't tell you how indescribably good that feels for me as a teacher, or how excited I am for my students to go play in the snow.  I know that it is something that only happens in cold climates, but to me, this is a rite of passage for students and a really nice break for both teachers and students.   When I was young (back when the earth was new LOL) we used to pack ourselves into my dad's subaru and go to work with him, and ski all day, with breaks for sandwiches and sometimes learning how to be a mechanic or weld from him.  He was a maintenance worker at a ski area, and I loved every second of that snow day life with him.  Some days we stayed home and snowshoed, or did cross country skiing or sledding.  But either way, we got out in the snow and played.  This is something that I believe my students need. ...

 Good morning all, I'm a philosopher, at least I'd like to think I am.  One of the things that always intrigued me was the tragedy of the commons.  It is the idea that if someone is owned by no one, it is abused by everyone.  The best example is the ocean, for example the cod fisheries outside of Boston.  No one owned the cod, and everyone fished (because when it's the commons, the best thing you can do is to use it faster than everyone else because no one owns it).  This leads to the cod fishery being depleted and the whole fishing industry grinding to a halt.   In this incarnation, I want to talk about insurance and the litigious nature of our society.  We have a culture of "something for nothing" and the idea that if  you sue someone huge (like an insurance company, a school, the government, McDonalds) you aren't hurting anyone.  You are getting something for nothing.  But no one considers that these lawsuits are the death b...

 Good morning, I hope you all had a lovely weekend.  I noticed math in a few different places, per usual . . . but I'm wondering how to bring them into my classroom.  The wind blew around my kayak a bit, so the math of that (hydrodynamics vs aerodynamics) could be interesting.  However, I'm not sure (yet - growth mindset) how to make that accessible to 7th graders, since it is calculus based physics.  I also saw several ripples (well, every time I cast my lure).  I'm still wondering how to present it, but I love that I can see it.  Maybe I can show my students first that it is there, and ask them to find it themselves and describe it.   Anyhow, I like fractals and curves - and in the context of nature they are better.  Math is too often seen in the absence of context, and what it actually is is the language of the sciences.  The language of what happens in the real world.  If my students could see this, at 7th grade or in colle...

Hi all, I'm not really a complainer.  But I need to vent for a bit.  In the past month, while trying to do my job as an educator (I won't say where), I've been swung at by a high school kid, who nearly connected.  No consequences were given by administration.  Then, today, an 8th grader shone a laser pointer at my retina, and though I did everything I was supposed to do, the student has received no consequences. I'm not an administrator.  I don't get the big bucks to have an 092 and walk around the halls, solving problems.  I just do my duty when I am asked to, teach my class as well as I am able, and would like to think that I am safe in my building.  I'm a large, imposing guy.  Kids don't generally mess with me, and if they think they can they generally think twice.  Fast.  I've never put my hands on a student, nor have I ever needed to.  They generally do what I ask them to do, the first time because they realize they should,...

Hi all, I'm going to propose a solution to the behavioral epidemic we have in the public school system in America.  We have been using suspensions, both inside and outside, to try to encourage students to behave better, since 14 years ago when I started teaching.  The problem with this solution is that students come to like inside, have days off where they are unsupervised at home when they have outside, and come back with no behavioral change.  Here's what I propose.  We need people who are trained as counselors, yoga instructors, philosophy, psychology, or some related field, one on one, to reflect and help students make behavioral goals before they can return to class.  It needs to be one on one, and it needs to be by very well qualified folks, because they are dealing with the most fragile, most difficult, and therefore most needy students we serve.  Few people want that job, so we have to pay better than a regular ed teacher.  Students would att...

Hi all, I love my second job.  My favorite thing is teaching people who want to learn.  I think that adults who are going back to college, for a specific reason, are inherently motivated because they have made the choice to be there.  This is a stark contrast to my other job teaching high school, where I convince students to learn nearly every day.  It feels like a sales job -  I have to tell them the things I am teaching are relevant, daily.  I have to be really clear about why things matter and how learning them can make their lives better.  The actual truth of this, in many cases, is that it's only for the SAT or to prove to colleges that the students are smart enough to attend.  I haven't used parallelograms lately in my life, but I've definitely had to do taxes.  We don't teach the 1040EZ form though - we teach about geometry.  This is a real problem - for many students, they will not use the math I teach again for a long time, if...

Hi all, I've just donated $90 to my own donorschoose project, so it will be matched by Samsung and my project will be funded.  I asked for a chromebook and a wacom drawing tablet, and the project has been partially funded for months.  A few people gave, but I'm frustrated with asking my friends and family for resources that ought to be given by the district I teach in, which shall remain unnamed.  I am fortunate to have the extra money to do so, but I shouldn't have to bring my own resources to bear in my classroom. So I gave to my own project . . . . which is nice I suppose, but I think it's also part of a systemic problem with our culture and our society.  We shouldn't have to beg for educational resources that our taxpayers already pay for.  But instead of giving the money to the teachers and students who deserve it, we waste the money on layers of superintendents, coaches, and downtown folk that nearly never interact with students.  Each of these po...