First Day, Again

First day of classes. I was not as excited as usual. But I had my prep done, and once I got in the classroom, I loved it like always.

25 people in beginning algebra. I tell them how math is not about memorizing but about making sense. I get them talking in groups about the first time math didn’t make sense and got past them.

I ask them to estimate the percentage of the population that’s uncomfortable with math. First one says 100%. I almost laugh, but manage not to. Percentages all over, 32% up to another at 95%. I tell them I don’t know either but I guess 70 to 80%. So that means most elementary teachers are nervous when they teach fractions, and then they pass it on. I think I see a few nods.

I ask how to make meaning of 3 -5. Someone says you go past 0. I say “You’re talking about a number line, right?” And I draw it. I say I like that, but how can we give some real world meaning to this problem. Someone else says “Debt”, but I hear “Death” at first. I shake my head at my bad hearing. (I hope it doesn’t interfere with my teaching.) And I flesh it out. “Yeah, you’ve got $3 in your pocket. And you want to buy a $5 something. What does the 3 -5 tell you?” A student says, “How much you need to borrow.” I add in the temperature model, which I tell them might have worked better for my students back in Michigan who had experienced 3 degrees, and going down 5 degrees from there.

Then I give them 31 – 52. They discuss in their groups. It’s easier than I meant it to be.

We discuss the syllabus in between other things. I give them a sheet full of magic squares that use negative numbers. Some use fractions. I’ll need to check in tomorrow to see how they did with those.

I think the class went well. If they really feel good about it, they’ll end up thinking I’m their best teacher ever. That only happens about a third of the time with this course. I can hope…

Then I had to run to my next class. Statistics. I had them average the ages of 5 other students, and type their average onto my computer. I averaged their averages. Which is not the same as just averaging everyone. But it often comes close. Then I put a number line up, and we each put a dot at our age. That’s a dot plot. I showed how it’s skewed right. And talked about how median is a better way to show the center than mean (which is the average they had done).

I had an hour to eat lunch and chill.

Then I taught calculus. I love that class! Every time. Draw y = x squared. Draw a tangent line at x=3. Estimate the slope of the tangent line. What makes this different from algebra is that we need the idea of infinity here. Ahh… Happy me.