Comments on: My favorite book title

By: samjshah

samjshah — Sat, 02 May 2009 11:55:44 +0000

@Will: All my students have TI-83/84s. I use them, but not often. I really am trying to use this calculus class as a way for my students to have one last “algebra boot camp” before college. However, what’s clear is that it’s not working as designed. So I’m going to mix it up. And I’m going to have them use the calculator more to “get” concepts.

I’m not exactly sure, but I think you are thinking about going into teaching now. If you don’t have your credentials, you can go the route of a private/independent school (that’s where I am, even though I have credentials). And if you’re looking for a math teacher position, a lot of independent schools are generally desperate for people who know the subject matter and can teach it

As if you would be crazy to become a math teacher, yes. I think craziness is a necessity to be good at the job!

By: Will Farris

Will Farris — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 15:12:52 +0000

Based on you grant email, you must not use graphing calculators or CAS software in your classes now. That’s a pretty interesting state of affairs, but not entirely surprising. It takes time to get to them properly intertwined in the curriculum. How would you go about implementing CAS calculators – perhaps the TI nSpire – into your plan, if such can be answered?

Meanwhile everything on you blog is so inspiring to me, a former teacher who became to entralled with computers that I had to go into electrical engineering. Now, I can’t even think about how to begin, since I did not have any teacher credentials back then – I just had the hardcore subjects but could just naturally teach and was very successful. Problem is, around here, there are 5 applicants for every openning. Like most jobs, there simply is an oversupply of hot bodies willing to undergo applicant abuse to obtain poverty level wages and 8-0 hour work weeks. Am I crazy??

By: samjshah

samjshah — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 10:26:49 +0000

First point of order: I just stumbled across this book this week and fell in love with it. I hadn’t actually seen it before. I read the first… um… I don’t know… fourth of the book and decided it was great. Especially for me to get a different perspective on calculus, instead of the traditional textbook. It seriously works on building understanding, instead of algebraic manipulation of symbols. I might use parts of this book coupled with Rogawski next year.

@Matt: I actually have read LL, and I had the exact same reaction as you. But I haven’t read it in a long while. I’ll put it on my to-do list — review the essay. What is crazy is I think he teaches at a school about 2 minutes from my school. I told my new dept. chair that we should invite him to a department meeting for a discussion.

@Henry: I think I might try to find a few copies and have the dept buy them to give to students who win math awards as presents. In addition to D’Arcy Thompsons’s beautifully written _On Growth and Form_, that is.

By: Free: Calculus Student’s Best Friend « Let’s Play Math!

Free: Calculus Student’s Best Friend « Let’s Play Math! — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 17:43:29 +0000

[...] tip to Sam and Michael for finding the Scribd version, which set me off searching for a clearer [...]

By: Henry Quinn

Henry Quinn — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 12:24:51 +0000

my dad bought me calculus made easy when i was in high school and i’ve re-purchased it a dozen times since then as i give them away to students and friends. the chapter where he moves up the ladder through position, velocity, acceleration is good, and the treatment of the chain rule is also pretty good.

By: jd2718

jd2718 — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 12:06:49 +0000

He’s making a point, but the “sum” and “little bit” parts are quite useful and genuinely help student understanding. A lot.

Jonathan

By: Matt E

Matt E — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 11:16:13 +0000

Have I recommended “Lockhart’s Lament” to you yet? He says a lot of stuff that jives with what you’re saying here… particularly about math education not needing to be reformed so much as “scrapped”.

http://www.maa.org/devlin/LockhartsLament.pdf

It’s a little over-the-top, but too much of it is awesome to disregard it altogether. I loved it. He just turned it into a small paperback as well, titled “A Mathematician’s Lament”. Anyway, I’d be very curious as to your “review” of the essay.