Math(s)

 Good morning, I watched a video this morning about issues affecting boys in the US.   https://youtu.be/Qi1oN1icAYc I realized, as one of the relatively rare male teachers in my schools, I might have been an asset to the boys in my classrooms.  However, there are many real reasons I chose to leave that profession, at least in its current incarnation in public schools.   Male teachers are encouraged to develop rapport, in the same way as female teachers.  However, when students try to give them a hug they have to back away and put their hands up, try to go for a handshake instead.  When we chaperone things, we have to clearly identify ourselves as such to keep people from trying to protect their children from us.  As a society, I think we've become so scared of pedophiles that we've stopped men from being able to interact in a positive way with youth, at least comfortably.  Every interaction is first measured by a, "could this be taken th...

 I think nature may have been my best teacher.   To be fair to all my human teachers, I have had some excellent ones, as well as mentors in the teaching profession and in life.  However, none of them is quite as extraordinary as the natural world around us.  If one pays attention, like Davinci, there's not much it cannot teach us or inspire us to do.  If one examines root structures, for instance, while weeding the garden, we might start to notice similarities between those and our lung brachii.  Fish and bugs have curves that are adapted to their survival, but also turn out to be great for hydrodynamics and all sorts of other things.   When I learn things from nature, the challenge is to describe these things to others, or use them for something that makes sense in my life.  But if we watch, and listen, we can learn.  

 Good morning, I've been a Math Teacher for the last 18 years.  I liken that to selling a product that no one seems to want to people that can't afford NOT to have it.  We live in a society where not having math knowledge just gets you taken advantage of.  If you don't understand compound interest, credit card companies will be all too willing to give you a free card in college at 0% and then change the interest rate to 22% after a few months.  This works for cell phone companies, mortgages, bank accounts, investments, financial advisors, car loans and a host of other things I didn't think to mention.  Knowing the math can keep you out of those scenarios, and allow you to argue with the "final boss" of a car dealership, the finance guy.   In addition, we are bombarded with information and graphics that can easily lie to us with statistics if we don't do our fact checking.  But how can you determine if they are making valid claims if you don't...

 Good morning all, I've been working in schools but not as a typical educator this year.  We generally are told in education to prioritize standards, retention and knowledge, and hope for rapport and that by modeling how much we love our subject, students might see it and start to love it too.   Lately, I've been working with Gear Up and Upward Bound as a math tutor and teacher.  They seem to start with rapport, and once the students start to believe that you care about them and their future, they start to listen to what you have to say about your discipline and how it can help them achieve it.  They start with they why they should care, and then work backwards to the how.  I've been really impressed by how hard students will work once they believe you are on their side, helping them overcome whatever subject they are struggling with.  In short, start with their dreams and aspirations, and help them figure out what they have to do to get there....

 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...

Hi all, Here are some tools I use with my students to help them understand math better: WabbitEMU - an android app that simulates the ti-84 calculator.  Makes your android into a perfectly functioning graphing calculator, and more importantly, helps students learn the graphing calculator so they can use that tool during tests, even if they don't have a graphing calculator of their own. Khan Academy - For anybody, at any age range, the SAT study guide is perfect.  It will track what you know and adjust, and show you what you still need to know.  I plan to use it to take the graduate tests I need to take in the near future, because it will diagnose if I need to re-remember anything and then give me the things I need to know. Desmos.com - a great graphing calculator for any browser, any operating system.  It graphs in color and makes graphing easy.  One warning - students become a bit dependent upon it, so make sure you help them with graphing calculators t...

Hi all, Hope you're having a good day.  I'm planning my lessons for today, and I realize that what made me fall in love with math - as a subject, a discipline, and finally as a subject to teach - was how it was used in real life.  I wonder if I can present my content in such a way that students can fall in love with problem solving and math.  I try - but usually the "word problems" don't get rave reviews.  Instead, students want the easy, sequential steps to get the answer. However, life problems are almost never that easy.  That's what makes life interesting.  We have to make decisions based upon partial data, uncertainty, and sometimes nearly no information.  These decisions have large consequences - like financial issues, how the class will go (for teachers), what life looks like in 5 to 10 years, when we can retire, etc. I wonder what it would look like if problem solving were as highly prized as reading.  No one would ever admit to not ...

Hi all, I need us to strive for something.  Maybe then we would have something to work for again.  The stars, the deep, Mars - we need something to work for and someone to beat, like Russia in the 60s.  I want students to love my subject, or at the very least need it, to accomplish larger goals.  I wish I could foster in them the love of learning of discovery, that the space race in the 60s did.  Humans are built to discover, to learn, to love and to build.  Instead of learning math because they have to, I want my students to learn to love it and use it for finding greater purpose.  Abstraction, the thing that makes algebra difficult, can also make life better and easier.  Students can empathize with others, hold on to the truths in their lives, and find commonality.  Commonality with others leads to peace, knowledge, and absolute truth. I know I'm waxing philosophical.  I suppose I can attribute that to my philosophy minor at Bates....

Hi all, I gave a test yesterday.  I wish my students would take this as an opportunity to show growth, but instead they usually take it as an opportunity to gripe at me about how little they know, how little I've taught them, or (in rare, honest moments, how unfair it is that they haven't studied).  Why are my students so helpless?  Or, maybe they could do it with the right motivation, but they don't think they will need the math I'm teaching. At any rate, I suppose teacher musings are common this time of year.  It's almost the holidays, and inevitably I find my feelings bruised by students, parents, or colleagues.  I'm trying to stay thankful for the things I do have, instead of whining about the things I don't. 

Hi all, On this chilly September morning, I am reminded about the qualities of persistence and resilience, and the tendency of those who would rather not work to blame those who they want to do their work for them.  This is starting to sound very republican, but I assure you it's not.  I've been teaching in a low income, very diverse magnet school for my whole teaching career (13 years).  Every student who has ever come into my classroom has had some degree of this.  Mostly, I hear things like, "Mister, why can't you just show the steps?" or, "why don't you just teach us?!?"  This is the basic issue.  People want other people to do their work for them.  This is a universal, human characteristic.  However, we cowtow to it whenever we allow students to push us into giving them the answer.  It's easier.  But the problem is, when we do that and let them push us into didactic, step by step instruction, we rob them of the chance to discover ...

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Hi all, We have a problem, in our society, about delay of gratification.  We want the answer now, the money now (just think of that commercial - it's MY MONEY AND I Want it NOW!), the degree now, the new job now, the new relationship . . . the list is endless.  The unfortunate side effect of this culture is that it creates people who want to just be rich and skip all the steps in between.  So we sue one another, we screw one another, we do anything we can to get ahead.  One of my friends is this way.  Let's call him Peter.  Peter has a construction business, a recording business, and he makes sure everyone sees him spending lots of cash on his workers.  People work for him, and he'll tell anyone who will listen how much money he has.  He wouldn't care too much about a degree because he's learned he doesn't need one.  Peter is just an example of a more systemic problem.  Our students, especially in math and science, have stopped bei...

Hi all, I think we live in a generation of Now.  Everybody wants what they want, and they want it right away.  They don't understand the consequences of having things before they can afford them.  I'm in this category.  I see a great deal, a must have item, and I get sold by the consumerism.  I really need this fast computer.  I don't just want it.  I need it with the burning passion of several suns.  It will save me time, money and make me happier.  Of course it will. Few people stop to do the math however - if you buy something awesome but have to buy it on credit at 17%, you end up paying far more for the privilege of NOW.  Here's a quick example: I want a computer that costs $1399.  It has to be the fancy mac one.  You know, because it's shiny and everybody else has one.  I can't afford to pay for it now, so I put down the 399 I have and have to finance 1000 at 17%.  I'll do a quick breakdown of how much it w...

Hi all, Today I'm at the Riverton Fair all day trying to convince families to send their kids to Classical Magnet.  I'm not sure why it's hard, but it shouldn't be.  People want their kids to get to ivy league schools, and we do that.  We also have nearly 100% college acceptance. I'm seeking ideas - who knows how to do this well?