Mitch Hedberg quote of “every book is a children’s book if the kid can read”.
Tomorrow in class we’re uncovering the sine law, which I’m gonna give the subtitle of “every triangle is a right triangle (well, two)”, giving major Mitch Hedberg vibes
Has text that reads: Oops, I forgot: Building Sinusoids Build the equation of a sinusoid that passes through the point (90, 2) Sketch a graph of the sinusoid you build. Oops, I forgot... -The sinusoid needs to have an amplitude of 3 -The sinusoid must only have y-values that are positive -The sinusoid must also pass through the point (0, 2) -The phase shift is larger than one period length
Did a fun #OIFMath today with sinusoidal functions, tweaked from the original found at natbanting.com/oops-i-forgot
So how much money upfront is that, truly, the math teacher in me asks. Still $0, says everyone
The youth are an unstoppable force and I love every second watching them flourish
After Elizabeth Yao's valedictorian speech last Thursday - in which she discussed the children killed in the war in Gaza - her principal called and told her not to come back to school on Monday.
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
Leaving school tonight, about 25 mins after the bell, I see two grade 9 students from my classes walking around…
Me: it’s Friday after the bell! It’s the weekend, you’re allowed to go home
A: This /is/ our home
Watch your heart grow three sizes as you read the letter below 💜🩵🩷
Round 3: roll a die, place the number in a square. Goal is to get as close to 2000 as possible though multiplication without going over. Wrinkle: two throwaway boxes, so you can opt out of two rolls. 6 rolls total.
A paper handout to record numbers provided by a die to get near a desired result
The activity:
Round 1: roll a die, place the number in a square. Add the numbers. Goal is to get as close to 800 without going over. 6 rolls total.
Round 2: roll a die, place the number in a square. Subtract the numbers. Goal is to get as close to 200 without going under. 6 rolls total.
Led a warmup activity at a staff meeting tonight. Gave a handout, offered pencils to those who needed them. Went pretty well.
What will stick with me though is the negative.
“Do we have to do math? Ugh”
Thanks for this, Dan! A colleague of mine adjusted the plans slightly to cut down the creation time (took about 6 hours for our printer to make this green one). Looking forward to extending the lives of these!
Five copies of the book “how did you count?”
Cost was about the same, so do I choose one hardcover copy or five paperbacks? Easy decision. Might as well spread the math love ☺️
cc. @triangleman.bsky.social
I agree and feel like it’s by design too. This came as news to us about a month ago, and it sounded like surprising news to our admin too. Too much fine print, not enough transparency.
Ss can opt out of their e-learning requirement, but we found out that schools aren’t funded for the courses they opt out of. Schools are then allocated a number of e-learning classes the Ts at that site must pick up, leading to fewer classes offered at their schools and higher class sizes 😢
“Speaking freely” is not the same as “speaking truthfully” and that is worth noting.
Severance brings a whole new meaning to “I’m my own worst enemy”
2/2 here’s a link to some publicly available handouts I made if you’re interested in trying some out yourself: drive.google.com/drive/folder...
Image from Polypad, solving equations on a double open number line
1/2 Last Friday at our math-specific PD day I nervously offered a session on solving linear equations with a double open number line. It went better than I expected! Thanks to @pwharris.bsky.social for the inspo, @mathigon.bsky.social for the platform, and everyone who attended :)
Rather than traditional Xs and Os, bunnies and the Pokémon character Cyndaquils fill the board
Ultimate tic-tac-toe art school edition, bunnies vs cyndaquils
Screenshot from https://338canada.com/ontario/, showing the popular vote from each of the four main political parties in Ontario and their seats in provincial parliament
Yesterday's talk with my #MEL4E class about last week's Ontario election and the:
➡️ importance of being engaged citizens
➡️ probability of winners in the days leading up to the election
➡️ non-proportionality of votes vs. seats won in our current electoral system
Big thanks to @338canada.bsky.social
A pile of discarded slips of paper that students added to once finished with that question
The unusual baker strikes again. The discard pile (along with only three piles for students to get new Qs from) was a good move #MTH1W #ThinkingClassrooms
I appreciate your advocacy and am only partway through your book — looking forward to more positive change as the year goes on!
Working through the negative experiences and trying to create as many positive ones as possible is a great way to describe the complex work you speak of. Love that it fuels you to do right by them.
Student questionnaire handout that has the following questions: First and Last Name: Birthday: Pronouns: Please use these pronouns when (check all that apply): • speaking with me directly • discussing with the class as a whole • contacting home Please share any relevant medical, education, or personal information, if applicable, here How has your first week of the semester been? Three non-math related topics I know a lot about are….. One thing I'm looking forward to this semester is... Draw a mathematician in this box. I feel _____ about this class because... Someone I met this week that I didn't know before is.. A question I have for the teacher is... Write the largest mumber you can in this box.
I gave students the autobiography as well as a questionnaire (see below) at the end of the first week, after they experienced a few non-curricular tasks and got a sense of what the classroom structure was.
Build community, dig deeper about who is in your community, then start to grow together.
Photo of a student handout about their math autobiography
If you believe students don’t have math trauma, test that theory by having them write a mathematical autobiography. I learned so much about who they are and what they bring to the classroom. BTC as math therapy, merging the work of @themathguru.bsky.social and @pgliljedahl.bsky.social this semester
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If the heart of your pitch is “math sucks”, maybe you shouldn’t be in the math ed space
Definitely adds to the conversation about the similarities and differences between countries. Would be nice to find Canadian data as well!
That’s awesome — thanks! I’ve been doing that on our whiteboards lately so that’s super helpful.
