Yes, I Use Algebra Every Day

Math is a wonderful thing. Just ask Ned Schneebly, played by Jack Black, in the wonderfully delicious movie, “School of Rock”. This clip is one minute. Totally worth it.

I've had three conversations recently about math, its merits, its teachers, and after the third one last night, I just couldn't help myself. This is a blatant ad for how great math is, IF you get the right teacher.

It all started with this picture you've probably seen circulating on fb.

We got into quite a discussion on that thread about when algebra is actually used in everyday life. My contention is that you use it all the time, but it's become an innate skill, so you don't notice. Others argued that they're just using common sense and arithmetic. I say you have to be able to put that arithmetic into the problem in the correct way to find your answer and that's algebra. I even challenged one commenter that she was using calculus without knowing it, but that's for another post.

Another conversation got started on fb, with the same picture, about how it's the teacher who makes the difference. I totally agree with this, and not just because I was (and will always be inside) a math teacher, 7^th grade. It's the teacher's JOB to make sure each student understands math. This is where the magic part comes in. Math problems have one correct answer, yet there are multiple paths to that answer. Those different paths represent different learning styles, and figuring out a student's learning style will help the teacher know which type of explanation should be used for that kid. Most teachers don't bother with this though, and that breaks my heart. They've figured out that a certain method will work for 75% of the class, and that's good enough.

That is a good strategy for the lesson part of the class. It's during the walking around and checking with each student portion of the class, as they're working the new material, where the different methods come in. Some teachers just sit at their desks, though. Criminal. So many kids are turned off by math and made to feel dumb because they “don't get it.” Get a new teacher, you can be great at math! Don't give up!

The third conversation was just between me and a friend whom I was helping with her son's algebra homework. She was saying it was so great to have him past simple arithmetic because he never did well in that, but that the higher concepts of algebra really clicked with him, and with the help of his (allowed, as it should be) calculator, he was doing well for the first time.  Some kids struggle with basic math, but excel at the abstract stuff.

My final point would be that math really is cool. It's a language, it's a way of describing the world, it's a puzzle to be figured out, and it's good gymnastics for your brain. Now get out there and do some math! Or help your kid with their homework, and try to figure out how he or she thinks. It will be worth it.

What are your feelings about math? Have you used algebra today? Did you have good or bad teachers? Or if all this math is making you ill, then what subject do you get all excited about?

~Tina

P.S A friend posted this on fb just for me.  LOVE a good math joke.  If you come across one, please send it to me - I collect them.

Z ~ Zamboni

These are the continuing adventures of a Swedish immigrant during her first year as an American. She boldly went where she'd never gone before...please come along on Adventures in America.

For this last post, I thought I'd fast forward to high school. I left myself (and a few of you dear readers) rather depressed yesterday. While it is true that life changes and surprises come, I truly believe that God orders our lives for our best, no matter what happens, good or bad.

I got some really good stuff in high school. My best friend Smooshie and I were rabid hockey fans. Her dad bought her season tickets to the Washington Capitals, and we went to a LOT of the games together. I'll be forever grateful to him for giving me his ticket so many times.

I've loved hockey since I was a kid and had been to many Capitals games as one of the Volvo perks we enjoyed. Going ALONE, with your best friend, was much more liberating, though. (Sorry Dad – loved, and still do – going to hockey with you, but with Smooshie, we got to meet the players.)

One of the privileges season ticket holders can enjoy is after-game skating parties. They let us out onto the ice, right after the game, and we could skate in that giant arena, pretend we were famous figure skaters while we waited for the players to finish their locker room stuff and come out the door which we would start stalking after just a few laps.

We each had our favorite players. Smooshie loved Mike Gartner, #11. Here she is with her hero:

Here I am with one of my favorites, #27 Paul Mulvey.

My actual hero was a Swedish player, Rolf Edberg. 

I did get to meet my hero several times, though not at one of the skating parties. We were doing our “laps” during intermission – we'd walk all the way around the arena, people watching, looking for friends while the Zamboni re-finished the ice– and I passed him (he was injured and not playing) and said hello to him in Swedish. He stopped in his tracks and HAD A CONVERSATION WITH ME. Can you imagine the complete and total awe a 16 year old would experience? Yeah, it was cool.

He apparently remembered me after that, which of course thrilled me. A couple of games later, still injured, he was sitting in the press section, and I'd of course gone looking for him. I was sorta shy (yes, hard to imagine isn't it...) and was standing a couple of rows back, working up the courage to go into his row. He turned around. “Du är den Svenska tjejen?” (You're that Swedish chick?) We had another conversation. He wasn't a popular enough player in general that they sold his jersey with his name, but Smooshie had a shirt made for me instead. I still have it, in a box. Somewhere.

Good times. I had lots more finishing growing up in America. I fit in as well as a math, word, and band nerd could. After all, I was an American now.  

***

Thanks for joining me on this adventure!  I appreciate each and every comment, and now that we're done, I'll be able to come visit you.  Also, don't forget the Reflections Posts.  The list, available at the A-Z Blog, and in my tabs above starting May 3, is to be used AFTER you've already posted your piece.  Go here for a complete explanation.  

What Engineer's Do for Fun in the Morning

So guess what exciting and glamorous activity I'm doing this morning, while writing this blog? Yup, trying to help my youngest (who by the way no longer wants to be called “Yellowboy” (you can check out the nickname tab above to find out why it's his (FORMER) perfect name) with his math homework. I, a former teacher of 7th grade (his grade) know nothing, and my ways of getting the answer are WRONG, they must be obtained only by Mrs. BestTeacherI'veEverHad's method. Don't get me wrong, she is wonderful, and the reason he's taking high school algebra already. But it's a frustrating endeavor... 

Engineers on the other hand get to be heroes in the morning. He gets up, announces, “The hot water faucet won't turn off in our bathroom. I'm going to shut off the water to that sink until I can deal with it.” Ok, no problem. Well, yes there was. The thingamajig that turns off the water is no longer functioning, so he has to turn off the water to the whole house to remove the sink. Sigh. So many projects, so little time.

Here comes the hero part. The Engineer returns from his man-cave, his storage area of “this might be useful someday”. Half of our basement is this category. I'd take a picture, but he doesn't want me to. Just imagine a room 15x20, full of shelves, with boxes with labels like, “Pin-ball machine parts”, “broken appliances with good motors”, “old computer fans”...you can't really walk in there anymore. It's STUFFED. But! He returns from there with a BRAND NEW FAUCET that our former neighbor gave us. (Neighbor got rid of a lot of stuff that is now in the man-cave.) 

So The Engineer installs the new faucet, and we once again have water in the whole house and a working sink. He still leaves for work at 8:00. My hero.

I also have a bubble-wrap update. Some were wondering if it's working. Here's evidence: Note the ice making a backwards L shape where there is no bubble wrap.

I asked why he didn't cover the other part since we're not using that door. “I ran out.” This from the man who has reams of pink bubble wrap (remember how he saves all packing materials?) “Honey, we have lots of pink we could use. “I will NOT put pink bubble wrap on that door. I guess even eccentric engineers have their limits to how crazy they'll go...I just didn't know his line was pink. 

 ~Tina