I’m already counting the days until Spring Break? In the last few days before winter break ended, I’ve been inspired to start on some teaching projects… but I didn’t because I know I won’t have the time to finish them. I should have started them earlier in break. This always happens to me, where I initially want to be a complete schlump for break and then regret it in a fit of flurry at the end. Here’s what I didn’t do, that I hoped to do.

1. Create a project and rubric where calculus students video an object changing position over time (and velocity over time), and then analyze it using LoggerPro.

2. Create a topological project for my multivariable calculus students.

3. Come up with a revised, scaled back video project for my Algebra II students, like last year’s project.

4. Think about a string hanging from the ceiling of a classroom, creating a pendulum like Foucault’s Pendulum. I would give it a start and watch it trace out some crazy spirographic curves. I wonder how these curves connect up with polar coordinates/polar equations. I don’t want to look it up, but instead explore and think about it myself. (I don’t want to use it to study the motion of the earth.) Maybe expand my study to harmonographs and lissajous curves. Could be good for mathclub.

5. Think about creating a second semester class blog for my Alg II class, like this one here. I really like the idea of students having to communicate what they learned for others to refer to. It’s valuable (if done well) on so many levels.

6. Compile all the class data from this linear regression sheet to make one giant data set for us to look at together. I really dropped the ball on this — I wanted to do it but never had the time/motivation to enter all the data in an Excel sheet. I should have had students all enter it in a Google Spreadsheet. Sigh.

7. Start working on making an interesting 3 day calculus midterm review.

Yeah, it’s pretty bad that I didn’t do any of that. Sigh.