Tell me again why we're here

We just hit the midterm yesterday. And I mean we ran right into it like we didn't see it coming. We were just toolin' along, singing in our atonal kind of way with the tune in our head when—BAM!—we smacked full-on into week six. Or is it week five? See? We hit midterm so hard I've lost my ability to count.

I have a classroom gem I would like to share with you. For matters of clarity, please recall that I teach mathematics. Everyone on board? Let's go...

Me: What questions are there on the homework assignment (inside my head voice: that you have had for a week and probably haven't looked at yet) that is due tomorrow?

One of Them (OoT): I'm not sure how to start number three.

FYI: #3. Find all the points on the graph of y=x^2 that are a distance of 1 unit away from the point (1,2).

Me: Hmmm...(thinking about how to nudge OoT along without sharing the answer outright) ...

Another One of Them (AOoT): There's only one.

Me: There is at least one. There are definitely more.

AOoT: Well, sure. If you want to get into the numbers.

Yes, why would we want to do that in this—of all places—a math class?

FrenchieF, this one's for you

Mathematicians are like Frenchmen: whatever you say to them they translate into their own language and forthwith it is something entirely different ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

(I wish I could hang this on your office door myself.)

Care to rephrase that?

I was able to hear Dr. Georgia Dunston, Director of the Molecular Genetics core research unit at the National Human Genome Center, speak the other day. She is passionate, brilliant, and driven. As I listened to her talk, I thought how little I would want to be someone who had to say to her, "Sorry, but I'm not done with that task yet."

Her work deals with using information gleaned from the human genome to address health issues. As she tells it, she is still looking for answers to the question she had as a little girl: What makes us different? A fair question, to be sure. What I found interesting, however, was a particular way she had of asking this question during her presentation. Couched in the framework of describing how she started on her career path and life's work, she asked instead "Who do you say I am?"

This stuck with me. Clearly this woman has worked hard to get to where she is today. She has earned degrees and titles and respect and recognition. Her work revolves around the innermost make-up of humans, the DNA and chromosomes and genes (98%+ of which is no different than that of an earthworm). Yet, even with her focus at that level of one's individuality, she phrased her question in terms of how others see her. She didn't simply ask Who am I? Nor did she ask What does this say about who I am? She asked Who do you say I am?

That is more power than I want.

And yet at other times I take the power on and use it so easily I do not recognize that I am wielding it. A different conversation happened the same day, about an hour after the presentation. Our school year has just started. We're not even 10 days into the quarter when I run into the women's assistant basketball coach and academic counselor. I have three of these young women in class. We talked for about 5-10 minutes about these players as students and how they are doing in class. I have to admit that I had little positive to say regarding their classroom performance thus far. While not incapable, I didn't think they were working very hard. I saw no evidence of interest or concern about their assignments. During class, if there is a hum or a murmur of a decidedly non-mathematic bent, it is probably coming from their corner of the room.

And it was oh-so-easy for me to categorize them as immature, and lazy or disengaged instead of simply young and possibly overwhelmed (there was also a dash a miscommunication thrown in). I lumped them in with other students who I believe/-ed were in school because they did not know what else to do and were stuck in a class they could not care less about. I have honest empathy and concern for students show an iota of responsibility for their grades. I have zilch for those who show zilch. I perceived these women to be showing zilch.

On the tail of Dr. Dunston asking Who do you say I am?, I didn't realize my students may have been asking me the same question. And where I shuddered and backed away from answering the former due to her titles and aura/presence, I raced ahead and categorized the latter without a second thought.

The quarter is still so young and I've already learned something. Go figure.


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Audio book ad - click on the picture for more detail.
Where would this ad go in a women's room?
Speaking of ad placement, someone wasn't thinking—or were they?

One small word, one huge document

Today's blog is brought to you by the letter 'A'. More specifically, I mean the word 'a' that was not lost in the transmission of the first words from the surface of the moon, spoken by Neil Armstrong. Turns out he didn't flub it and the apparent redundancy in his oft-repeated quote can be chalked up to transmission static. Hmm, I'll be blaming my next mis-step on transmission static. Is this the 1960's version of "the spam filter must've deleted your email message?"

In this same vein, I want to point you to a very cool offer regarding some other words being forgotten, ignored, mangled, warped, bent, and just all-around trod upon. As a collective, these words are known as the Constitution and the Amendments and they're good reading. I have a way cool pocket-size copy of these words, as well as the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation and it was (practically) free. For less than a latte, you two can own an ultra-portable copy.

I found my cool book while looking for a small copy of the Bill of Rights (like I couldn't just print myself one, right?) Some enterprising folks out there are selling metal, wallet size Bill of Right plaques. I love the fact that they're metal and sure to set the teeth of any TSA personnel on edge. Since I have been targeted for [ahem] random searching four out of the last five times I've flown, I think this is a great idea. I have been one of the lucky winners of the "back of my hand" special touching. Years of Sesame Street education telling me what to do if ever touched inappropriately have been cast asunder. Listen lady, you touch me with the back of your hand one more time, you're damn right I'm going to request a private room. And there is no way that the TSA's puff machine would ever be put into service if it inadvertently dropped men's pants rather than raised women's skirts as it does its thing in the hunt for explosives. Dumb machine, dumber people.

Somehow, I have digressed. Back to my cool little book. I was flipping through the book and the quotes and anecdotes about long dead men when a blurb on the back catches my eye. I must've been tired because this is what I read:

Which Supreme Court Justice said of obesity, "I know it when I see it"?

I didn't know the who but I knew I couldn't argue with him. Truly a timeless, living document.

Fashion Spectrum

OK, my inability to post pictures to blogger is really starting to get me down. London Fashion Week just happened and I really wanted to share with you the photo of what I've taken to calling the Red Tumor Suit. Can I add this to my list of why I think the species is doomed?

On the other hand, strolling across campus today I saw a bloke in a kilt. If a guy can wear that in a smallish U.S. town (read: not Scotland) today, maybe we're not so doomed. Stay tuned.

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Paris Hilton is immune to zombies.

Atari code as art - so this is what was going on inside the console while I ate fruit and slew ghosts

Enter the Fray

OK all you residents of the Buffyverse (you know who you are), run—don't walk—run to your local book peddlar and get your hands on a copy of Fray, Joss Whedon's first graphic novel. The main character is Melaka Fray and she is everything Buffy was, sans the Scoobies.

If I am not prepped for class tomorrow it is because I was once again unable to put this book down. I almost didn't get to sleep last night. The pages seemed to turn themselves. I can hardly wait to re-read it and I haven't even finished my first run yet.

I thought that Whedon's skill at writing great dialogue couldn't possibly translate well into a static medium where the speed I read at dictates the flow of the conversation. Also, in a graphic novel, the art, layout, design, and etc. all factor into the pace one moves through a page. Well, it all works in this text. I particularly liked Melaka's reaction to, uh, not ducking: You hib my face wib a girder. You can just hear that being said in our house incessantly now, can't you?

It is good to know that mankind still has a protector long after Sunnydale dropped off the map (literally).

and.... we're off!!!

OK, one day down. Does this really count for anything, besides counting?

Only one entertaining anecdote to report. In Intermediate Algebra (which differs from Elementary Algebra in that all letters in the alphabet are eligible to be a variable, not just x), two students came up to me before class started to verify that their names were on the roster. They both were and the students had two different responses.

Student A found a seat in the back row.

Student B said, "I am so going to lunch" and walked right out the door.

Better living through chemicals

I know I should be totally focused on tomorrow's first day of classes and all but I just have to get this off my chest. And I've been dying to use the words "colloidal suspension" in conversation for so long I think I just might burst.

Me and The T hit the grocery store this morning. This is a kind of pseudo-synchronized dance routine of which the cart is the moving focal point and the troupe members constantly whirl around, flitting off in search of some item and then swooping back to deposit the prize in the cage-on-wheels. When the chaos portion of the blitz was over, I found The T in the laundry aisle. The T said, "I hope you don't think this is an impulse purchase." And we both simultaneously say, "I've been looking for this for years!!"

The prize was a bottle of Mrs. Stewart's Bluing. I had chalked up the existence of bluing as another entry in The Louie's Book of Fictional or Extinct Things. My father, The Louie, always claimed that bluing was the best way to get white things white in the laundry. It sounded so bizarre that I held off on outright scoffing and began what would end up being a 20-year quest to find a container of bluing. He is otherwise a rational man so I reasoned his claim just might have something to it. While I never actually saw my father do laundry, his father was a tailor/cleaner, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt.

Turns out this stuff is a colloidal suspension of a very fine blue iron powder in water that contains such potential that the future of mankind may hinge on our species' ability to harness it fully. In a nutshell: the whitest whites are those that have a little blue in them. The added blue reflects more light than just white on its own so—voila!—adding some bluing to the laundry makes whites whiter. Works on pets too! Fluffy not white enough? Just blue the pooch. Can't see the goldfish in your pond due to algae? Just blue those pesky greens away.

As a totally unforeseen jumbo/LARGE bonus to finding this bottle of laundry bliss, the info card banded to the cap took us in a new incredibly exciting direction. It turns out this colloidal suspension is the secret ingredient in magic salt crystal gardens. I have always wanted one of those but was never courageous enough to admit it (the slight anonymity of the virtual plane has made me brave enough to fess up). I'm also a fan of sea monkeys and ant farms but these are topics for another day. I'll post pictures of my crystals when they get rolling.

T-minus weekend and counting

Monday looms on the horizon like my 14-year-old cat on the edge of the bed and my reaction to the former is very similar to my reaction to the latter: if I just roll over and act like I'm asleep, it won't poke me in the face with its paw.

Alas, there is no way I can avoid either the campus or the cat. Classes start Monday and I am oh-so-very behind in my prep. I am further behind, I think, than I was three years ago when I was new at this gig. Sheesh. It's not like the math has changed any since I taught it 12 weeks ago, especially not in Intermediate Algebra. Regardless of the time-crunch I have brought upon myself, I am looking forward to the quarter, even the part where I play the role of honest-but-brutal teacher when I tell Annie Student that, yes, even though we are all individuals, your particular method of manipulating symbols on the page won't solve the equation. Ever.

How do I convince my students that the textbook is nothing more than a collection of methods that work and it's not such a bad place to start? The techniques in the book work now, they worked yesterday and they will work tomorrow. Granted, an alternative method may not be incorrect but we need to start at a common point and I elect to use this book as the starting place. I swear sometimes I think I am the first person to ever dare say No to some students when I deny points, praise, or pleasantries. As of Monday at 8 a.m., I am going to start a counter to track how long it is before a student asks, Well, why can't I do it this way? Inside my head, the mini-math-prof will stomp her foot and scream Can we put off exploring your ideas under after you solve two consecutive problems correctly?!?

Yes, there is value in seeing the problem a different way than the text shows, perhaps, but algebra is a set of rules and there are only so many ways those rules can be interpreted. Most of my energy will be spent convincing a handful of people that we do not have the time to explore n different wrong ways of trying to find x.

The part I enjoy most is looking for new problems to assign as homework exercises. I'm going to go do that now and put off fine-tuning the syllabi for a little while longer.


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USBCell - given that we can now plug in fans, lights, and missile launchers into a USB port, what took so long for someone to come up with rechargeable AA batteries?

Hardwood floor via puzzle pieces - do you start with the corner pieces?

A new feature on Mostly Filler

I find myself emailing links to cool sites to friends who may or may not appreciate receiving the onslaught of messages from me telling them to Click Here for Fun!!! In an attempt to conserve some of the internet pipeline for traffic other than these messages, I'm going to start tacking on links of the day to the bottom of my stream of consciousness blatherings. Also the links to the right will be expanded to include both the mind-expanding and time-wasting sites I find and would like to share.

Here's a few to get the ball rolling. Be daring. Click a little.

+-+-+ Click Here Roulette +-+-+

Not a lot of time but want to read a classic? Try out DailyLit. A piece of a public domain work that can be read in about 5 minutes is emailed to you daily or every other daily. I'm currently working on the The Federalist Papers (only 207 more segments to go!)

What time is it?

State of the Union - graphs the key terms in every State of the Union address. You can see which words figured prominently. You can also see the reading level of each address.