Uniform Movement Problems

Workday - 8:00am-2:30pm

Well, I found another way to sneak something dirty into a math lesson. Today's chapter topic was "Uniform Movement Problems". For a bunch of 14 year olds (many of whom are not native English speakers), I figured this was a mouthful and wanted to make sure they understood what it meant.

And so I say to them, "uniform movement problems, what does this mean? Am I talking about the students at the catholic school across the street? When those girls' kilts start riding a little high... is that a uniform movement problem?"

Of course, then all the guys in the class start cheering and yelling "nooo! That's not a problem at all!"

I made this joke in both of my math classes, and got the exact same reaction, too. After the guys finished their wolf whistling, then the girls chimed in with "yes! That is a problem!"

Cute.

After they settled down, I found about a handful in each class had known that "uniform" meant something that is the same. Then, simply for having that poll, the rest of the students were enlightened.

---

At the end of my last class, one of my students told me a joke. I think the funniest part of the joke was that I knew the punchline (because I had overheard this girl telling the same joke to her friend earlier in the period), and yet I walked right into it anyway! That was probably for the best, because it made her and her friends very amused.

"Knock knock!"

"Oh. Uhm. Who's there?"

"I'm a pile-up"

"I'm a pile-up??"

"Yes. Now you're supposed to say..."

"Oh, right! I'm a pile-up who? Oh. Hahah, very cute"

"Hahaha! Bye, Miss!"

If you didn't get it, you'll have to say it out loud.

So Very Tired

Workday - 8:30am-6:00pm

Well, I survived today. I was severely tired after last night. I also stayed late this afternoon planning for tomorrow and Friday. Now the rest of my week is set.

I realized that, as tired as I am today after Tuesday's concert, I'll probably twice as tired on Friday after Thursday's concert. And so I have decided to take Friday off. I'm still getting over a cold I got last week (right on time, too. I always get one as soon as things get rough. My immune system weakens, and I'm susceptible to anything). I think Friday will be a nice day to rest and kick the last of this bug.

I planned a simple day on Friday anyway, so it's the perfect day to have someone else come in and do it for me!

Spring Concert #1

Workday - 7:45am-10:30pm

Oh boy. More extra-long workdays. Ok, one spring concert down and one to go. The junior ensemble concert went very well. I'm impressed. I'm also, however, very tired. Until the next one!

Today's Lesson Was Brought To You By The Letter P

Workday - 8:30am-6:00pm

More dirty math. Sort of. You gotta love using p as a variable. That one also catches the students' attention.

"So now all we have left is 2p" ... *snicker*

"What is the value of p?" ... *snicker*

"We can simplify now by adding these like terms, so let's collect the p's" ... *snicker*

Ah, children.

Dirty Math

Workday - 8:20am-2:00pm

I love these short days. I got a cold this week, so I really needed an afternoon to go home early and nap. I didn't even have the option of taking a day off this week (see previous entry).

Today's story, boys and girls, is about dirty, naughty little math. In my last period class, I found myself saying to them, "see? All I have to do is relate math to something dirty and you'll all pay attention!". To which a student in the front row replied, "hahah, it's so true!". She's funny.

Now, you're probably wondering, how did I bring something dirty into my math lesson? I didn't even plan it, but I should certainly look into using more of this in the future. Today we started a unit on solving algebraic equations and I taught them how they need to isolate the variable on one side of the equal sign in order to solve.

As I was working through the example question, I said, "now you need to isolate x over here. That's right. I dunno what sort of dirty plans you have tonight for that x, but the point is you want it by itself. You want to get x alone but this pesky + 5 has come between you! So now you need to get rid of it!"

I saw the kids perk up, then. At this point, they were all laughing (most of them wide-eyed with disbelief). Now I just need to figure out how to relate everything to teenaged sexual antics. It's a sure-fire way to get any teen to pay attention in math class.

If I'm successful, I should write a book.

Midterms - Semester II

Well, the last couple of weeks have been rough. The next one will also be rough, but then I'll settle into something regular. Last week I did indeed have my 15-hour day on Monday. The music ensembles recorded some pieces for our CD (released on Tuesday at our first of two spring concerts). Anyone who has recorded music before will know that takes a long time, and can be very stressful. I expected a far more heinous evening, but things actually went rather smoothly. Of course, even with things being smooth, that meant I was there until 11:30pm. Oh, and as per usual Tuesdays, the next morning I had to be in at 7:30am. I don't know why I even left the school!

This week began with the end of term 1 (that being the halfway point in the semester). My careers class ended, and I got a new batch of students. Midterm report cards were also due on Thursday. Last weekend (good thing it was a long weekend!) I had 30 career final portfolios to mark and 65 math quizzes. When I got back on Tuesday, I had 65 math tests to mark. After all that marking, I was finally able to calculate the midterm marks so that on Wednesday I could do my 95 report cards. It was swell. Plus, all of this chaos occurred while I was starting a new class for careers (teachers know about that "start of the year/semester" insanity. You're rushing to get all of the initial tasks done, but also bringing your "A-game" to each class in order to lock the students in. It's this week that you win 'em or lose 'em. And if you expect any of them to take you seriously, you had better set strict rules straight away and not waver).

I'm so glad all of it is behind me, now. This is the first weekend I haven't had any marking in ages.

Next week will see our double spring concerts: junior ensembles on Tuesday night and senior ensembles on Thursday night. Once these are over, most of my extra-curricular commitments are finished and I'll be freer than I have been all year! I'm going to love May and June.