"because 26.3 would be crazy!"

I recently went to a conference for teaching AP calculus (which I'll be doing next year - hurray!) and learned some new tricks on factoring. I learned that I need to learn the "hand trick" for knowing trig values of the unit circle, but I haven't done that yet. Not sure what it is...

 The conference inspired some artwork out of me.

Memorial Day weekend, I went to the Bayshore marathon in Traverse City. It was beautiful... let's vacation there, please. The marathon itself finished on the college campus' track with everyone cheering you on. I had a PR of 3:38.11. Thanks to the random people that I ended up running with! And to whomever had pretzel rods at mile 20. I think I fell in love. No thanks to whomever handed me the peanut M&M: yes, it tasted absolutely fantastic... but only once. The second time: not so much.

 The course is an out-and-back up the peninsula over the East Bay. The photo below is the view from the house that I stayed in (actually, it's the view that I woke up to.) It's a little cloudy, great for a marathon, but you can see the peninsula that we run up on the left side of the photo.

 Then, the next morning, I woke up a little stiff but fantastic because of this view out the screened in porch. Watch the succession of photos - good thing the marathon was Saturday and not Sunday. This is maybe 6:00ish. (I need to learn to sleep in, I know.)

 Then at 6:30ish, the clouds started rolling over the peninsula (again, that's where the course was.) Look at that amazing storm!

 And then the clouds came over the East bay, darkened the sky, and it stormed/ down-poured/ etc. from 8 - 3. I love storms. Absolutely love them. I watched this one until I finished reading a book, then drove around to the Grand Traverse Resort, a winery, and the downtown.

I have other news... Like the fact that there's nine days of school left... I made soft pretzels with students... I went to a cottage house with the freshmen girls... I saw The Addams Family musical (and recommend it, surprisingly)... Track is over and that was fun... I want to go swimming... but I'll end with a beautiful thought. Someone asked me, about 30 minutes after I finished, what my next one was going to be. Me: "Are you crazy? I can't do another one yet." Apparently, there's a running quote out there about needing to forget the last marathon before doing the next. Like Mark Twain says,

All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence; then success is sure.

REVOLUTIONARY. also, general updates.

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?

Sent to me under the subject "Why I could never be a math teacher"

"then let me know how!"

We recently held exams for the students. Consider the following:

I added a part c, asking (as I have on every single test so far this year) what a "reasonable domain" is for the problem.
The students can demonstrate that they know which variable is the independent variable and that negative numbers are unacceptable when the variable is months (or time in general).
That's all I look for - something that says "t > 0." If I see that or anything close, they get full credit. However, I have some students that add their creativity to the problem and it makes me smile. I thought I'd share with you two of my personal favorites.

"0 < t < 50 because then she gets married."

"0 < t < 700. <- This is 58 years later, so she would probably not live this long. If she did, I'd like to meet her to know how she lived so long and to get some of her money."

The first response is from a Burmese refugee that's only been at the school for one year, I think. The second is from an intelligent freshman who, I'm convinced, needs a special test that actually challenges him. (He also got the extra credit question of defining "defenestrate" by dissecting its Latin (Greek?) origin.)
((It means to throw out a window. It's one of my favorite words.)) (((I like to use it in story problems.)))

advent is the name of that moment.

This December, it has been easy for me to align myself with the mindset of hope and expectation. Maybe it;s from the hope and persistent waiting in all the Old Testament stories that I've been reading, maybe it's the smell of my "a toast to cider" candle, maybe it's the Christmas lights and soft lamps that I see every morning on my way to work... but whatever it is, it has filled me with peace. And hope.

"You are aware of the beating of your heart... The extraordinary thing that is about to happen is matched only by the extraordinary moment just before it happens. Advent is the name of that moment." - Frederick Buechner

I held another cooking club after school, and we made reindeer cake balls (thank you, Bakerella!) My kids really enjoyed them and ever got creative. Not shown in the picture are the dog and unicorn balls.

We also made sweet-potato-apple bake and a cinnamon-raisin risotto-like rice. (Easier than risotto because it required no stirring, because we needed all hands on deck for the reindeer.)

My Spanish skills are slightly improving - I happened to understand one full sentence of my students' conversation and they now think I understand everything they say. For the most part, that's a good thing. Now they have to censor themselves in Spanish and English.

What else have I been learning? It's hard to love people sometimes. (Or some people all the time.) I have an implicit checklist of who I have more patience and love for... and that is not the kind of love that God calls us to give. I was reading a friend's blog and came across the following - it voices what I've been all-too-happy to not let myself think about.

I let go of my right...
-To be happy -To have an attractive body -To health
-To my possessions -To my time -To comfort
-To my past -To my recreation or activity -To my habits
-To wealth -To my future plans and dreams -To self-sufficiency
-To control-To have consequences follow what I've done -To my satisfaction
-To my significance -To my securities -To prosper
-To strength-To know future outcomes
-To my old ways of getting my needs met
-To getting my way -To my reputation -To success
-To notoriety-To my feelings -To my choices
-To my occupation -To be loved -To know God's will
-To demand anything from God -To life itself -To be used by God
-To escape bad circumstances -To fear -To my opinions
-To my judgments -To my timing -To judge
-To emotional security -To my expectations -To be accepted
-To pleasant circumstances -To be understood -To be married
-To my geographical location -To be thanked or appreciated
-To be acknowledged -To have relationships
-To have a child-To have a happy marriage
-To blame -To be rescued-To tell others what I know
-To rescue another -To be heard-To be needed or wanted
-To meet others' needs -To be right-To have others' approval
-To good finances -To take offense-To have justice done
-To defend -To my entitlements -To be justified

quotable quotes

Boy: "Did you have a hard day yesterday?"
Me: "Yes, actually. How can you tell? Do I look that bad?"
Boy: "Oh, it's just your hair. You have fly-aways everywhere!"
Me: "...Oh. Well that's not a result of my hard day. That's just because I didn't shower."

Things are going well. I'm still myself up here, and I can prove that with the above statement and because I am currently listening to Christmas music. There's a church in Louisville that has amazing albums and music, and I found a free sampler of their Christmas album on noisetrade.com.

Feel like learning?
Have you ever heard of Baby Can Read? Don't do it.

I've taught that at OSU - that not only is there no benefit to watching television, there may actually be negative effects. A recent position statement by the American Academy of Pediatrics confirms this belief from a compilation of studies. (See the link here.) There are no benefits to placing children younger than two in front of a television, even for background noise. It is not just that there are no effects - there are actually negative effects of television watching.
Yes, I can write this convincingly because I don't have to care for any children under two. I'm sure I will be plenty tempted to plop them down in front of the tv... so you can hold me accountable to that. Maybe, when I grow up, I can live on a farm in the 1800s and not have to worry about it?

On more serious notes, I am interested in your opinions. As a teacher at a Christian high school, to what extent do you think my focus should be content? To what extent should it be relationships? Spiritual development? I am not happy with the percentages that I currently feel like I am doing, but I don't know an ideal. What do you all think? Would it change if I were teaching a different age? Subject? Public school?

she's back. and she's wearing a viking hat.

I held an after-school cooking club where we made different types of squash, apple crisp, and used freshly grated parmesan cheese. It was a success! See the empty plates below. I plan to hold a session monthly, so let me know if you have suggestions for winter foods that are healthy-ish.

I wore my Viking hat from the Warrior Dash in class last Monday. That was fun. I made up a story problem about Viking boats (also about the number of Viking warriors before and after battles) and said "Hmm, I think we need a visual aid." Then I reached into my "props" drawer, pulled out a Viking hat, and continued teaching. The kids were a little shocked, but I suspect they enjoyed it. I actually heard someone say that it was a pretty good lesson... and I think all that was different was that I kept looking at my shadow in the overhead. And trying to poke people (or not poke people) with my Viking horns.

Squash-apple turnovers: I've been in somewhat of a squash frenzy. I love squashes - all kinds of them. To your left, you see a squash-apple turnover. Did you know you can cook apples like this? I suppose you probably did, because apples turn into applesauce. But they don't have to get mushy - you can saute them. With butternut squash. And then add some other stuffs, wrap them in crescent roll dough, and call it lunch?



Since I happened to have dough... I made some peanut-butter-smores turnovers as well.

 They were tasty too. Although marshmallow creme is a better option than marshmallows, because actual marshmallows kind of just dissolve. By kind of, I mean they really do.

Thanks for checking in. I hope to write something meaningful someday soon - it's there, inside me. I think.