First Two Weeks 09-10

This semester, Ms. Tran and I decided that it would be best if I come into four classes one day a week, and I chose Tuesdays to fit my schedule best. She has Geometry classes 3rd and 4th periods and Accelerated Geometry classes 2nd and 6th periods, so I come in for 2nd through 6th.

My first day was last Tuesday, and I came into all four classes with a quick presentation to introduce myself and explain to them what I am doing in their classroom. I began by introducing myself, and then I showed four video clips to start it off. I asked them to think about what these things have in common - they were of a rollercoaster (Millenium Force at Cedar Point), a crash test between two cars, windmills in a field, and a land mine explosion in Iraq. Much of the responses were something like "they're all fast", but I think in one class someone said "technology". Anyway, I told the classes that they are all things that I'm interested in and that I might be talking with them about throughout the semester. I then continued by introducing to them where I am from, what I do as a graduate student (many of them were shocked when I told them that I'm starting my seventh year of post-high school school, but when I told them that I got paid to go to school, that quelled many of their fears), and why I am here. I told them that I am here because I use math frequently, I want to help them understand math and problem solving, and I want to share some interesting application of geometry with them. I then introduced the field of engineering, and showed some pictures of some technological devices that I think of as fine examples of engineering. For most of the classes, I quickly introduced my research area. When I finished, I opened the floor for questions about me or about anything I talked about. Most of the questions were irrelevant to engineering and math, but I responded to all of them so to build some comfort and a free atmosphere.

I ended a little differently this time, taking a tip from a previous TF who had asked the students to write down what they want to be when they grow up and pass them up. So I told the classes: "Now I want to learn something about you," and I passed out index cards and asked them to answer the following:

1. Class period
2. Name (what you want to be called)
3. How do you feel about math?
4. What technologies interest you?
5. What do you want to be when you "grow up"?

The responses varied, and I think many of them were quite honest, which was my goal. Regarding question number three, many of them said "I hate math", but even more said "I love math", and I categorized them all and was surprised with the results: there are 22 students who dislike math, 36 students who are iffy or indifferent about math, and 41 students who like math. I always expected that most people don't like math, but I really do think they were honest, and this indicates that most of the students are here with the right intentions, which is quite encouraging. There is a wide range of professional dreams, including tattoo artists, rappers, and athletes, but also many doctors, engineers, and lawyers. I'm not quite sure how I'll use this information, but I think it can help me to make more applicable presentations and have more meaningful conversations with the students.

This week, Ms. Tran emailed me to tell me that there would be a sub, and she was just going to assign a worksheet for them to do, and I would be able to walk around and help students do the problems. I decided to forgo a powerpoint talk in order to have more time to work with the students on problems, and I will give the talk I was planning next week. So, I came into class, and the substitute actually spent about 35-40 minutes doing practice problems from the worksheet on the whiteboard. Unfortunately, that only left me with 10-15 minutes at the end of class to walk around and help students, and by that point, many of them were done or were copying others' work. In the latter case, I asked the copier which problems he/she was having problems with, and they would usually tell me and we'd walk through them together. There were a few students in each class still working on the worksheet by the end of Mr. R's (the sub) whiteboarding, and I think I was able to give those students some valuable help. However, fourth hour (non-accelerated) just completely stopped working on it, put the worksheet away, and began socializing as soon as the formal discussion ended. I don't feel like it's my place to tell the students that they need to get their homework back out and do it in front of me, nor will that facilitate the type of relationship that I want with the students, so I didn't do anything after it came to that point (I did do a lap around the class to help the few students who still had it out for an extra 5 minutes, but for the last 15 minutes of class, it was a social melee). Anyway, this day wasn't as constructive as I hoped, but I think I did what I could with the situation.