Return of the Math Heros

Last year I had the students draw their favorite math super hero. Well, I did it again this year. You can check out last year's results here, here, here, here, and here if you want to. Below is this year's.


49 was designed by a girl who is in love with a football/basketball player, #49.

Shape Man looks like he should be one of Mega Man's enemies.


Decimal Boi is just kinda unique.

This guy is too smart. Wierd Math Brain follows order of operations!

Not Just a Covered Porch

Well, I do believe a pirate ship will be in order for our future backyard. From SceneWorks Inc.

Additional Stipend?

Yesterday I recieved a letter from the grad department in the mail. "What do you think it is?" "I don't know." So I opened it up, and ripped the top of the letter in the process. What was it? It was a letter explaining an additional stipend I was to recieve. Cool. It is a scholarship, the Timothy R. Donoghue Graduate Scholarship for $3000. Cool, huh? If I stay smart enough (3.40 GPA) I have a chance to keep it for next year! :)

P:BSE

So deadly it's killing me! This recieved mucho comments. Earns me 300 points. The design is by a student of mine. She was very pleased to see me in in on Thursday.

This one earns me 300 too. People said it was cute. aw. People being adults.

White Room

The sadest looking part of leaving teaching is the empty classroom. I was going to take a picture to post, but I'd rather not have that as the image that ends my career teaching at JCMS.

Instead here are some pictures (and captions) from yesterday's festivities and todays.


At the rec, the best thing to do was to play basketball (lame, I know). Well, if you didn't notice, notice now. The two groups playing were the white friends (front left) and the black friends (back right). Sad.

A short time after this picture was taken, the two groups of students decided to slam each other based completely on race. They wouldn't stop either. Three teachers trying to get them to quit and no luck. I am so disappointed in the majority of the students. They are so much more racist than I've ever believed/seen/thought. Creates such as sad environment.

We spent the last week+ on fractals. For one of the activities, everyone made a piece of Sierpinski's triangle. This is as far as we got.

These are some of the fun kids. Or as they prefer, the Rockers. And me (check the tee).

Why does Vegan food taste bad?

Good question. I don't know. Maybe because it doesn't have meat (or tasty) products. Yesterday I started to make Vegan Bean Taco Filling. Burnt it. And started again. The result? (Look in the bowl.)
No, it isn't crap, it's a half-eaten vegan taco. Or a grossco. I don't know why vegan food tastes bad? But it does. And it does resemble poo.

Night of the (Shooting) Stars

Friday was a long day, if you recall. But here is the picture I meant to post. These are two of my students, two of the smart ones.

That is what I'm going to miss.

Pack

Since we only have 24 of our 79 students here today, we put them all in one class and only see them once. So I didn't get any students until 1:55 and I'll have them the rest of the day, till 3:15. It was a nice long morning. Donna, Pam, and I ordered lunch from the new Mexican restaurant in JC, El Tapatio. Pretty good.

So, only 55 minutes left to watch the kids with the computers and I can go home! Sweet.

Happy Birthday PBSE!

Project: Best Summer Ever is back and better than ever (er, last year?). Shannon has set up a wiki for it. If it sounds fun and you haven't already joined, check out the page and drop Shannon a note. It started yesterday and ends August 21st. Fun times ahead.

7 to 11

No, not four hours. 16 hours. I had a sixteen hour long day. wow. But it was good. I'll post a great pic on Monday. Right now, I'm hunting for food.

I only have 5 days of school left. I am so glad it is almost over. I need to sleep more and have more fun.

Guess who loves meat!

24

Using the following four numbers and any of the operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division) in any order, compute the number 24.

5 5 5 1

This is trivia from one of my students.

Finally Done...or is he??

Yesterday was Shannon's graduation from graduate school. He now has a Statistics Masters degree. Good job, hon! :)That grad-gear cost almost 90$ to rent! Too bad he doesn't get to keep the hood. It's nice. They even named a building after him!

Origami and Bubble Sheets

That's on the agenda for today in class. We are doing basically nothing. I am so ready for the year to end! I still have to teach for about 4 or 5 days (not counting today). But that's okay, it should be easy from now until the 26th. And I don't have to go tomorrow because of Shannon's graduation! Congrats hubby!
On another happy note, check out Jayme's baby! She has pictured up on her blog and sent us about 40 too!

Getting Bigger

A few of my students have been growing their hair and picking it into a small fro. They just keep the pic in their hair, kinda like a hair clip. Well, one of them was chillin' pickin' his hair during the warm-up* and I said, "It's gettin' pretty big." He didn't really say anything, a slight acknowledgement was all, but I could tell he was pleased, he smiled and just seemed to be glad that I had noticed and said it was big. In reality, it's still pretty small, but compared to a week ago it's a lot bigger.

*Some teachers hate that students do their hair in class. I see it like this. Boys tend to need something else to do, doodle, beat on the desk/wall/floor, play with pencil, etc. So if a kid witha pic in his hair can focus better on a test or an assignment, more power to him. Brushing your hair is different, that is much more distracting. The longer it gets the more distracting it is.

What Actually Happened

Plan for the week: nope
Teach 4 classes: yes (That was gonna happen no matter what basically, that way I have at least one yes)
Work on class portfolio: I thought about it.
Do PM Academy: actually no, I came home at normal time.
Go to eye doctor: Done.
Get weaker contacts: Contact, yes. Ha ha. Victory! I will not puke tonight!
Help Maria with calc: Nope.
Eat dinner: In a series of mini-meals, yes.
Play Necromunda: Yep.

Plus: I worked on a craft project! Bonus!

So I did 5 of my 9 things, plus one bonus thing, that is pretty crappy. Even with the +1 xtra, I only got 6 of 9, that's a 67%, D. crappy. I'll go watch Family guy and think about things more.

Only 14 days left!

The Plans

Today I'm going to try and do the following: plan for the week, teach 4 classes, work on class portfolio, do PM Academy, go to eye doctor, get weaker contacts, help Maria with calc??, eat dinner, play Necromunda.

We'll see how much I get done.

This weekend we saw Pickle! That was fun. He was in the area for a job and came to Lawrence with Jeff (his old roommate). He, Jeff, Newgen, Shannon, Jenette, and I played disc golf and ate at 75th Street Brewery. Good times.
PS: I am wearing my contacts today. Last time I did, I got so sick by the end of the day I wanted to puke. Better luck today hopefully.

Truth Crusade

Shannon and I are about to play some more Necromunda, but before that, we updated the Truth Crusade blog. It has a new map you can check out.

Pop Quiz

Go to Chipotle this weekend. Why?

Akward Nap

Yesterday I went on a grant to the Junction City Sheriff's Office with one of my students. It was a rather interesting trip. Some highlights...We pulled over 2 people and gave one a ticket, we went 130 mph!! I learned that a woman once fit a fully loaded 9mm gun inside of a ziploc bag inside of her. She didn't even seem to notice, said the officer.

When the officer would pull people over, he would walk up to the car and touch the back of it. When he asked us why he did this, the student said to make sure the car is off. The officer added two more reasons, to make sure the hatch door is shut, and to put his fingerprints on the car. That way if someone claims they didn't get pulled over, they can find the cops prints on the car. Interesting.

It was pretty fun. I had to sit in the back because there isn't enough room up front for 3. That was an experience I hope to never have again. I don't want to be put back there, that would mean I did something wrong. It was really small back there, but the seats were comfy. And my wonderful ability to sleep in all cars kicked in and I feel asleep, only for about 5 minutes, but I fell asleep.


Only 15 days!

Class

Last night was my last class this semester. I still have a project due, but no class. I usually note intersting things on the bottom of my class notes during the 2.5 hours. Here is some of what I wrote.

• CAH girls?? 1/31/06
  
• womyn studies...oh my. 2/7/06
  
• political correctness v. respect 2/7/06
• If you don't smoke should you get a smoke break? 3/14/06
  
• bowler or a craps shooter? (effort or luck) 3/14/06
  
• Maria--> reorganize it so it makes sense to you 3/28/06
• Terence Newman - Dallas Capitals linebacker??? 4/4/06
  
• I'm different. I don't memorize and just plug into formulas. I understand why and then apply. (a thought while listening to others discuss their difficulties in college) 5/2/06
  
• "horribly abstract" 5/2/06
  
• "Pace seperates out students, not intellectual ability." 5/2 06

It was a fun class, Gender Issues in Science and Mathematics Teaching. But, I'm still glad I'm not an Education student anymore.

Only 18 Days!

I have 18 days left to go to school but actually, less. Two days are work days therefore no students, one day I'm taking off because of Shannon's graduation (From masters school on 5/12!), one day is the farewell (so no classes), and one day is the RC Auction (so no classes). So I only have to have classes 13 more times. And actually 6 of those I have to give post-tests, so I have to plan for 7! Woo hoo. I am so glad I'm not teaching next year.