Geometry:
Monday 10/4 - Sections 2.1 through 2.3 It will include Valid vs Invalid, the Law of Detachment and the Law of Syllogism.
Algebra:
Friday 10/1 - Sections 3.1 through 3.3. Focus on your old homework.
Also, the word of the day for Algebra is "Networked".
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Sticks and Stones
The following is my personal opinion, and shared here out of concern for our students. It is not
necessarily that of WL Central HS, or Walled Lake Schools.
"Sticks and stones
May break my bones
But names
Will never hurt me."
We teach this to our children to help them cope with bullies at school when they are little. It seems that all of us were made fun of at one time or another on the playground, and perhaps this little saying was enough to remind us that they were just words.
But, did our parents ever envision a day when these words would be heard throughout the world? A day when with a single mouse click that teasing would be heard not by the four or five nearby kids, but by every visitor to Twitter, or Facebook? Facebook boasts 500 million active users, which is staggering when you consider that the population of the US is 300 million, give or take a few.
The news is now reporting on a young man at Rutgers who took his life after his roommate alegedly videotaped him sharing an intimate moment, and aired the tape on the internet. To the roommate this was a fantastic prank, a great chance to tease the man he shared a dorm room with. I doubt that Ravi, the roommate who alegedly placed the camera, envisioned such an end to this story.
Cyber-bullying is not new. On occassion we even glorify it in film. It is not often this tragic. But when it is, it reminds us that it is something we cannot ignore. These actions have real consequences, and our students and children have access to the world in ways we could not even imagine five years ago, let alone twenty. We are trying to stop it. California has passed a law that will make it illegal to impersonate someone online for malicious reasons. But there are doubts that this law will survive a challenge due to considerations of Freedom of Speech.
This is an age of the viral video, where we are all looking for the chance to make the next big splash, to push the envelope, to get our names known. Instead of competing with a few others in a class, we are competing with the world. How much were these two motivated by vitriol and how much of it was a naive pursuit of fame at being the ones to post this video?
I have no answers, only more and more questions. I am left watching my 2 year old play with his dinosaurs and wonder what the world will be like for him.
necessarily that of WL Central HS, or Walled Lake Schools.
"Sticks and stones
May break my bones
But names
Will never hurt me."
We teach this to our children to help them cope with bullies at school when they are little. It seems that all of us were made fun of at one time or another on the playground, and perhaps this little saying was enough to remind us that they were just words.
But, did our parents ever envision a day when these words would be heard throughout the world? A day when with a single mouse click that teasing would be heard not by the four or five nearby kids, but by every visitor to Twitter, or Facebook? Facebook boasts 500 million active users, which is staggering when you consider that the population of the US is 300 million, give or take a few.
The news is now reporting on a young man at Rutgers who took his life after his roommate alegedly videotaped him sharing an intimate moment, and aired the tape on the internet. To the roommate this was a fantastic prank, a great chance to tease the man he shared a dorm room with. I doubt that Ravi, the roommate who alegedly placed the camera, envisioned such an end to this story.
Cyber-bullying is not new. On occassion we even glorify it in film. It is not often this tragic. But when it is, it reminds us that it is something we cannot ignore. These actions have real consequences, and our students and children have access to the world in ways we could not even imagine five years ago, let alone twenty. We are trying to stop it. California has passed a law that will make it illegal to impersonate someone online for malicious reasons. But there are doubts that this law will survive a challenge due to considerations of Freedom of Speech.
This is an age of the viral video, where we are all looking for the chance to make the next big splash, to push the envelope, to get our names known. Instead of competing with a few others in a class, we are competing with the world. How much were these two motivated by vitriol and how much of it was a naive pursuit of fame at being the ones to post this video?
I have no answers, only more and more questions. I am left watching my 2 year old play with his dinosaurs and wonder what the world will be like for him.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
BA Grades Posted
Geometry's Chapter 1 and Algebra's Chap 2 BA's are posted to Skyward (mostly). If you have questions about the two grades, I have a page posted here explaining how they are figured.
Talk About Algebra: Facebook
According to the Austin News, Facebook made around $800,000,000 in advertising revenue. Personally I hate Facebook Ads. With the passion of 100 burning stars. So here's a question we kicked around in class:
Facebook makes $800,000,000 in advertising. Suppose they offer to have Facebook free of ads for $100 per user. How many people would have to sign up for the Ad-free version to make this a good business offering? Write an inequality, solve and graph.
Remember an Inequality is a case of "x < 10" or "300 + y > 600".
A great way to engage your student would be to bring this problem and not only talk about the actual math, but also why the idea of a good business offering requires it to be one value "Greater than" the other.
Facebook makes $800,000,000 in advertising. Suppose they offer to have Facebook free of ads for $100 per user. How many people would have to sign up for the Ad-free version to make this a good business offering? Write an inequality, solve and graph.
Remember an Inequality is a case of "x < 10" or "300 + y > 600".
A great way to engage your student would be to bring this problem and not only talk about the actual math, but also why the idea of a good business offering requires it to be one value "Greater than" the other.
Week's Schedule
This week is a unique week in that we have all 6 classes every day because of student count day today. Here's our plan:
Geometry:
From Monday through Friday we'll be covering Sections 2.1-2.4 in our text. These introduce basic logic, valid arguments and biconditionals. There will be a quiz on Friday covering sections 1, 2 and 3 so students should be working to stay on top of these new concepts.
Algebra:
This week we're going to tackle sections 3.1 through 3.4 which seems like a lot, but in essense is a review of what we were doing in chapter 2. For students who had a hard time with solving multi-step equations in chapter 2, this is a chance to show off that they are starting to get the hang of it now in Chapter 3. Like Geometry, there will be a quiz on Friday covering the week's content.
Upcoming Tests:
Geometry: Tuesday (block A) 10/11
Algebra: Monday (6/61) 10/10
These dates are tentative but I feel confident we can hit them.
Geometry:
From Monday through Friday we'll be covering Sections 2.1-2.4 in our text. These introduce basic logic, valid arguments and biconditionals. There will be a quiz on Friday covering sections 1, 2 and 3 so students should be working to stay on top of these new concepts.
Algebra:
This week we're going to tackle sections 3.1 through 3.4 which seems like a lot, but in essense is a review of what we were doing in chapter 2. For students who had a hard time with solving multi-step equations in chapter 2, this is a chance to show off that they are starting to get the hang of it now in Chapter 3. Like Geometry, there will be a quiz on Friday covering the week's content.
Upcoming Tests:
Geometry: Tuesday (block A) 10/11
Algebra: Monday (6/61) 10/10
These dates are tentative but I feel confident we can hit them.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Off Topic: Friday Fun
As a teacher lots of Fun stuff comes across my desk, stuff that has nothing to do with the course, nothing to do with Mathematics, but I find too fun not to share. Since this is generally class related blog I don't want to clog it up with lots of that off topic fun. So I'll be saving these gems for Fridays.
Today's Friday Fun is a video for the song "Let it Go" by OKGo in honor of Homecoming and our Viking Marching Band.
Today's Friday Fun is a video for the song "Let it Go" by OKGo in honor of Homecoming and our Viking Marching Band.
WIN Policy Posted
To clarify our school WIN policies and how I use them in my classroom I wrote a page discussing it. This is my policy unless something should change on a building level.
Read about it here.
Read about it here.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Inductive vs Deductive Reasoning
This is a killer concept to keep straight.
In logic there are two ways we teach to reach a conclusion: Inductively and Deductively.
Let me try an example to make the case between them.
Two people are debating about who the murderer is in a mystery novel. The first one says, "I think the butler did it because the murder was done by someone left handed and he was the only left handed character." He used logical principles to make an argument and reached a conclusion. The second person reading the novel says, "I think the butler did it because it's always the butler." He's reaching a conclusion by applying his knowledge of basic trends and patterns.
Realistically we tend mix these, using our past experiences (inductive) as the basis for a logical argument (deductive).
This is the kind of thing that can create lot of good dialogue at home about something very fundamental to our second BA test in Geometry.
Also posting similar examples in the comments here can earn students Brownie Points, if those examples do indeed illustrate cases of Inductive vs Deductive reasoning.
In logic there are two ways we teach to reach a conclusion: Inductively and Deductively.
Let me try an example to make the case between them.
Two people are debating about who the murderer is in a mystery novel. The first one says, "I think the butler did it because the murder was done by someone left handed and he was the only left handed character." He used logical principles to make an argument and reached a conclusion. The second person reading the novel says, "I think the butler did it because it's always the butler." He's reaching a conclusion by applying his knowledge of basic trends and patterns.
Realistically we tend mix these, using our past experiences (inductive) as the basis for a logical argument (deductive).
This is the kind of thing that can create lot of good dialogue at home about something very fundamental to our second BA test in Geometry.
Also posting similar examples in the comments here can earn students Brownie Points, if those examples do indeed illustrate cases of Inductive vs Deductive reasoning.
Notebooks are Due
As a reminder I am checking notebooks during our BA tests this week. Students should have clearly marked notes, examples worked out, and have them well organized for easy review. I will be scoring several areas out of 5 points to help provide feedback. The notebook overall will be graded out of 10 points.
Students are advised that handing in a blank notebook will not earn them points.
Students are advised that handing in a blank notebook will not earn them points.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Brownie Points Explained
I have added another page explaining Brownie Points which are my semi-extra credit. Read about them Here.
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