“Don’t Tell Her THAT!”

Two of our high school girls had this conversation recently:

MOLLIE:  I [stink] at factoring.

LEIGH:  Don’t tell her THAT!  She’ll just make you work on it MORE.

Sometimes my students make me laugh so hard my stomach hurts.  I think it’s hilarious that Leigh said this as if I weren’t in the room let alone that I was standing right next to her.  It’s also funny that she would suggest that another student take the easy road because Leigh has raised her grade 10 percentage points since she started one month ago on March 16.  Her progress was evident only after she started practicing harder. more »

Teaching Calculus to A “D” Math Student

The circumstances that lead me to teaching the tenacious Michelle are completely unexpected.  If Don Cohen the Mathman had not invited me to join Facebook, I still would not be a member.  But I did join and I find that it’s a good tool for encouraging my students even after they no longer need me for math.  So Facebook isn’t so bad and maybe I SHOULD check out this Twitter thing because, ya know, your business won’t go anywhere with out a blog of some kind.  So I joined that, too.  It took me a while to figure out the whole thing.  As it turns out the Twitterverse (all the Twitter people) is very helpful and I was following and being followed in no time.

Michelle declares that she has always been a “D” math student.

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Why would anyone want to teach calculus to a 7-year-old!?!?!

The professor yelled when he asked this question.  I’m used to people being boggled at the thought of young people learning calculus.  I’m used to the blank stares, buggy eyes and puzzled looks, but this was a first.

I was at a math technology conference in Fall 2008, attended by professors, teachers, school administrators and tech coordinators.  Everyone was interested in what new software and hardware could be useful in their classrooms.  I was in a small slice of math geek paradise! more »