Spotted on YikYak under the hashtag #ReclaimtheMirror2015. It reminds me of our IB Math Studies logic unit (which I won’t get to teach next year unless we can somehow swing one cohort of IB Math Studies and one cohort of IB Math SL for the Class of 2015). Questions 1) Translate the two sentences into logical symbols. 2) Find the converse, inverse, and contrapositive of each sentence. 3) Are the two sentences logically equivalent? Create a truth table to check.
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#youngandreckless
Sometimes it pays to get out of one’s comfort zone to find some lovely math problems. I watched an episode of Rob Dyrdek’s Fantasy Factory with my husband today. Cooking competitions and rom-coms are usually more my speed than their antics and adventures, but I do like their joyful attitudes about trying ludicrous things. This episode included a subplot in which Rob filmed Drama doing reckless activities to prove that he was “certified reckless.” Activity 1: Ride his Harley up a ramp and into a pit filled with foam blocks Activity 2: Get inside a wooden coffin which was then blown up Activity 3: Get inside a cannon and get shot into…
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gratitude list
I have not yet figured out how to let down my guard about sharing the trials and tribulations of my school days. I’m going to try putting up lists of three things I’m grateful for on a given day instead and elaborating on those as I see fit. 1) I have been off Facebook and Instagram for two weeks. I miss sharing things like the funny signs on the Sav-Mor liquor store and looking at cute fat babies, but I am gradually freeing myself of the mentally poisonous cycle of looking at these sites on my downtime. I told my students this. One commented “but you’re missing so much!” What…
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Patriots Football Triangle
My husband knows I love finding math in everyday life. Last night we hung out with some of his college friends and their wives, which ended up becoming two gender-segregated gatherings in front of the playoff games on the tv and in the kitchen. When we were heading home from a friend’s house last night, he shared with me that the guys’ conversation ended up bringing right triangles into football. I want to give this problem to my students. The guys were reminiscing about a 2005 AFC divisional game when Champ Bailey intercepted Tom Brady in the end zone and began running the ball back down the sideline. The announcer excitedly counts…
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game of 49
We found out about the Game of 49 from some fellow runner/board game aficionados. After playing a few rounds with our friends, I immediately wanted to buy it for my students to play in class. It has elements of poker and bingo–you draw from a pile of number cards (1 – 48) plus wild cards (rings of numbers and 49), and bid for the cards. The highest bidder puts one of their tokens on the board. To win the game, you must get four in a row (horizontally, vertically, or diagonally). I also envisioned using the game for a probability unit after Because the game wasn’t available to purchase at…
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house of cards
Zoe to Frank: “If you had a daughter, she’d be younger than me. In 20 years I’ll still be younger than you are now.” How old are they?
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52 week saving challenge
Spotted on my Facebook newsfeed: New Year’s resolution to save, based on this blog post, which shows a money challenge that results in an extra $1378 at the end of the year. Source: http://www.lifeasyouliveit.blogspot.ro/2013/07/52-week-money-challenge-update.html Source: http://www.goodshomedesign.com/52-week-money-saving-challenge/ The original blog post comments have become a flame war of sorts. Folks call $1378 practically nothing and others pipe up to defend saving at all. There are arguments about luxuries versus necessities. Some say that putting money in bank accounts is stupid. However, there are some comments that could spark a discussion related to arithmetic sequences and series and the feasibility of doing these savings challenges in real life: 1) “I’d think it…
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if you give a math student a comic strip
When pondering logic projects, I found a lot of elementary school “create your own math books” based on If You Give a Mouse a Cookie plus some comic strip projects that incorporated other aspects of logical propositions (antecedent, consequent, inverse, converse, and contrapositive). I added a rubric for design, captions, and presentation. Comic Strip Project I used my coworker’s copy of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie to introduce the project to my 12th grade classes (many of whom remembered it fondly from childhood). Oddly enough, the students liked being read to! I also started a comic to explain how events could be linked in a logical chain. I…
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speed dating – two versions
A few months ago, I started using f(t)’s speed dating as a review activity in both 11th and 12th grade classes. Even now, many students seem to crave the passivity of copying down notes from lectures. I’m trying to make class as active as possible for them as I can–if I’m solving problems, then they’re not experiencing the work. Take 1 My first attempt was with function transformation in 11th grade, using the cards from Cheesemonkey SF. My classroom is crammed full of mismatched tables rather than desks, so I asked my 12th advisory to create a long table setup at the end of their class. I made these directions…
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happy 2015
In the past, I’ve made tons of New Year’s resolutions. These resolutions often include blogging more, and I haven’t been able to get the habit to stick. My habits often fizzle out because I make too many goals and set myself up to fail by making the standards for success unreasonable (much like a resolution exerciser who claims she’ll go to the gym every day for two hours, convert to a Paleo diet, and quit coffee cold-turkey). I admire Relearning to Teach for sharing daily reflections on his teaching and putting it all out there–not just the lessons that go well. I share snapshots of my lesson ideas on Instagram…