… except for being sick for multiple days and through a long weekend. I got sick on Wednesday night, and it’s hung around me — not getting better and not getting worse — for days. I have taken two days off of school (luckily, since I teach mostly seniors and they are done with classes, I did not miss too much) and now I am in the middle of a three day weekend.
If I’m not cured by Tuesday, I’m going to freak out. Not because I don’t want to miss more school (there isn’t too much on my plate, believe it or not). It’s mainly because I can’t stand being sick. My eyes hurt so I can’t read. I am weak so I can’t do work. And I’m whiny, which is why I’m writing this blog post.
There’s another reason too. I want to let all of you out there know that there’s something I need to belatedly add to my “Singing the Praises of Kate Nowak” post. I want to add: she’s a good friend who helps you wallow in your own pity party. Yes, Kate read that I was sick on twitter. And she, from practically another state, had soup delivered to me. And it was from one of my favorite restaurants. An amazing surprise, from an amazing friend. Thank you.
I will make a list of the blog posts I want to write to help me remember these are things I should work on:
This year’s multivariable calculus projects
A post describing how I did SBG this year, along with the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Finish up the line of best fit series I haltingly start and stop
But if I don’t, it probably means I’m too tired and sick to do anything.
Today was the last day of classes for the seniors. I had a fun day planned, where we spent most of the time laughing. I love laughing with these kids. This year has been a great year with the seniors and I’m still in the pnumbra of their glow. As it was the last day of class, I gave out my senior letters. (By the way, I love that @sarcasymptote is doing it too! I love that his kids cherish his letter, which is heartfelt and heartwarming. I don’t know if any of my kids cherish their letters in the same way his kids do — no one has ever mentioned them to me again — but I write it for me, not them.)
Now that I have handed them out, I can share with you this year’s letter. The message is always the same, every year, because when I think of what’s most important I can’t come up with anything more important: knowledge is awesome.
PS. I’m always super critical and I wrote and rewrote this dang thing like 4 times. And I’m still not totally happy with it. But it’s good enough for me, for now.
This is a post with things neither here nor there. Mainly because I’m too tired to come up with something focused and comprehensive.
1. I’ve been cribbing a lot from Kate Nowak for my logarithm’s unit in Algebra II this year. I used her Log War cards again, to great success, and I cribbed one of her smartboards and converted it to a partner worksheet for kids to discover the log laws. So three cheers for Kate Nowak! I also had students read aloud @cheesemonkeySF’s translation of Napier’s introduction in class. So three cheers for @cheesemonkeySF and Napier!
2. I am feeling anxious about my senior letter this year. What am I going to say? I’ve started and deleted it twice.
3. I have had (and continue to have) a lot of social events on my calendar. This is not good considering all the work I have to get done.
4. I’m getting a little anxious about my multivariable calculus projects. I have 5 students to keep track of, and I don’t have a good sense of where a few of them are. I just sent out an email to the rest of the math department inviting them to join us for the project presentations/project share.
The Multivariable Calculus Class would like to formally invite you to hear about the work we’ve done this last quarter on our final projects. The students in this class have independently worked on:
1. Stu 1: Explaining foundational college level economics with a focus on utility functions
2. Stu 2: Building a model of a 3D hill-like function and using that model to teach some fundamental multivariable calculus topics
3. Stu 3: Building a beautiful origami sculpture (5 intersecting tetrahedra) and using multivariable calculus to figure out the optimal size of paper to use so the sculpture perfectly interlocks
4. Stu 4: Building a machine that can measure the area of any irregular (and regular!) figure — because it is enacting Green’s Theorem
5. Stu 5: Building a special instrument which does something special with sound (I am not saying more for the element of surprise) — an investigation which delves into physics, partial differential equations, and fourier series.
If you are free, we would love to have you join us as we share the projects we’ve worked on with each other.
Stu 1’s project will be presented on Monday, May 16th at the start of B band (9:30-10:20)
Stu 2’s and Stu 3’s projects will be presented on Wednesday, May 18th at the start of B band (8:35-9:25)
Stu 4’s and Stu 5’s projects will be presented on Friday, May 20th at the start of B band (8:10-9:00).
We are in the room S201.
Always our best,
Stu 1, Stu 2, Stu 3, Stu 4, Stu 5, Mr. Shah
The Multivariable Calculus Class
5. I am doing this summer program called the Klingenstein Summer Institute. Part of what we were asked to do is to videotape one of our classes. I did it, and I’m not going to watch it (they say not to). Right afterwards, I actually thought it went fairly well… although my timing was off, I felt the class was solid. Of course, we were asked to reflect upon the class. And the more I thought and parsed and analyzed, the more I came to the realization: the class wasn’t actually very good. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t very good.
They also asked me to email a headshot for a facebook they are compiling. I attached this gem from years ago.
That’s because in most of my photos, I look like:
so my selection is limited.
6. I am getting more and more excited about the second summer program I’m doing called the Park City Math Institute. I did it last year, and it was fantastic, times a million. I can’t recommend it highly enough.
7. I was told today that some kids in a senior homeroom were randomly singing my praises. Which made me melt a little. Okay, a lot.
8. I’ve been listening to this GLEE song on the way to school to wake up and get psyched for the day. I haven’t been sleeping a lot, so this is needed.
9. Today I went to a used book store that was going out of business and bought Volume 1 and Volume 2 of Polya’s Mathematics and Plausible Reasoning. Hardcover. Pristine condition. First printing. Beautiful. (I also bought a copy of Jude the Obscure and Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman. I think I own both, but I love both. And they were only a few bucks.)
Continuous Everywhere but Differentiable Nowhere 