Tuesday, March 27, 2012

REVOLUTIONARY. also, general updates.

Mandelbrot Set
I have succeeded as a teacher today! We watched a video on fractals in geometry class today. (Fractals are specific patterns that repeat infinitely, like this shape.) We ordered pizza, students came in from lunch early and brought brownies/ chips/ pop, and we watched this PBS video. It's definitely a math topic, but I watched it (all the way through) and thought it was interesting.)

Heard outside my hallway: 
"Well, fractals are these shapes that look the same, no matter how zoomed in you are. It was pretty much revolutionary."
... I thought she was being sarcastic... now I don't think so. Another student commented that it was really cool and they used fractals to draw pictures and do special effects in movies. They were genuinely interested, and genuinely thought that it was revolutionary. (One thing about fractals is that they have infinite length, so it can look like something is a complete shape, like the picture, but the perimeter can't be measured.)

Other news:
- I'm training to run the Bayshore marathon over Memorial Day weekend in Traverse City. I've heard that it's beautiful up there and am excited to see the country, eat some cherries, buy some jam, and run the course. 
- I've been going to a church that I really like and it reminds me of Veritas. Yay!
- I've been baking some things (from Joy the Baker's cookbook, among others) and also making lots of soft pretzels. I made some cheese-filled soft pretzels the other day and they turned out well. Very excited.
- Track started! I'm coaching middle school track, which so far means that the high school coach works with the sprinters and I run with the distance runners. Our first meet is tomorrow, down in Kalamazoo.
- Spring break is coming up- I'm over 3/4 of the way through the school year. I'll have to sit down and think through some reflections to post for you and to help me. Over spring break, I'm a) visiting Kristi, b) heading to Columbus for three days, c) housesitting for another teacher, d) taking a bath, e) doing a speed workout, and f) baking something delicious. Not necessarily in that order.

Other other news:
A student told me that I had marker on my chin - which would be a totally normal occurrence, except that it was only first period. I realized that I have a burn mark on my chin.

Remember those deep dish chocolate chip cookie bowls that I made? I made them again, and apparently couldn't wait long enough to shovel the cookie into my mouth. I hit my chin on the ramekin and burned it. That, I think, was more embarrassing to explain than saying I had marker on my chin. Long story short: still delicious. But maybe wait more than 30 seconds to shove your face into the ramekin?