Prom 2016

Got 90 percent of one of my classes in one shot!

For Tonight's Coffeehouse

The wonder of it all is that we can wonder at it all

I'm learning to teach,
But really, I teach to learn.

On my desk - a Feynman quote:
"I, a universe of atoms - an atom in the universe."
We're big, complex, and miraculous
And yet..
small, insignificant, and pedestrian

In class, we start with mass and abstract to energy
"What is mass?"
"Well, it's really energy.."
So energy is mass and mass is energy -
What are we made of, really?

In class, we talk about space; we talk about time
"But we can't measure space without time
and there's no time without space"
So if time is space and space is time
Where and When is the Here and Now?

Light speed is the limit- nothing faster!
But the universe is so big and expanding so fast -
there are galaxies that we can never know;
Moving away from us faster than light.

Perhaps a physics teacher there is teaching to learn and learning to teach?
Miraculous and Pedestrian
All at once in the Here and Now?

Outhouse?

As our old-school gallon guzzling toilets need repair, I have been replacing them with low flush toilets. The latest toilet to be replaced is destined for the transfer station so I stuck it on the side of the house to make it easy to load into the van on my next run to the town "dump".

Later that same day, Sebastien went outside to enjoy the nice weather and was looking for a place to sit and enjoy his snack. I old him that I had just put a nice "chair" over on the side of the house that he could use. He looked and just rolled his eyes and went to sit on the steps. Wonder what the neighbors are thinking ("We heard he was from Alabama, but really...").

Hmmm.... Looking for a spot to read the Sunday paper this afternoon...

Canned Goods, Breakfast, and Imports

Isabelle: "Why can't we get any more of the fish-with-beans for the shi-fan?"

Irene: "The Chinese store doesn't seem to carry it anymore"

Me: "Is that the can that you buy that doesn't have any english on it at all?"

Irene: "No, it does have some english on it - it says "Not for sale outside of China"

Me: "Oh, and the store doesn't carry it anymore - huh..."

Hot Peppers-N-Anchovies

We were having pizza night and I was adding some anchovies to one of my slices.  The kids were fascinated/disgusted by this when I remembered we had a jar of hot peppers in the fridge.  Suddenly, I was back in Squirrel Hill, eating at that cheap pizzeria with PK where all we would ever order was hot peppers and anchovies.  Those were good times.  I told the kids about that and they asked "why did you always order that?"

I thought on it and said "Contrariness - none of our other friends liked either of those toppings so we never got to eat them on pizza unless we ordered it for ourselves so we ordered just those toppings as a statement to the world."

Don't be intimidated

Often, I will mock my own (lack of) drawing abilities by telling my students "Don't worry  - I will not expect you to be able to draw such a nice picture as I did on the test.  I understand that you all can not have the same artistic sensibilities as I!"

The other day, after making the joke for fourth or fifth time in the same class, I then interjected some of the metacognitive stuff that goes through my head when I have these moments and I admitted to the class "You know, I get a special thrill when I say these crazy things and I can identify that one student who has a doubt and is asking him- or her-self "I wonder if he actually thinks he is good at drawing?"  That moment of confusion gives me great joy.

By the way - that's a picture of  car demonstrating conservation of angular momentum as you take off from a stop.  

Lawnmowing, Studying, and Testing

A couple of years ago, I bought a push mower. I mean an old-fashioned reel mower that has no power other than that which you give it.  I love that thing even though it doesn't really do a good job (or is it me that is not doing a good job?).  Recently I had to consult the owner's manual to fix something and I wound up re-reading the "suggestions for best results" section.  Now I KNOW I read that section carefully when I first bought it (I had never even used a reel mower before then), and I even REMEMBER reading it.  However, rereading after actually using and struggling with the mower for a couple of seasons, the suggestions had a different meaning and deeper significance to me.  I was in a position to appreciate and understand what they were getting at!

As it is final exam season at school, my mind first went to studying and the undervalued experience of rereading stuff you think you already know.  As a student, I used to focus on the stuff I felt like I didn't understand at all when studying for a test.  However, it is now clear to me that reviewing and rereading (at least the chapter summaries) the stuff you think you do understand can take your understanding to the next level.  It is a different cognitive experience to read something with a pre-existing understanding than it is to read about something for the first time!

Finally, my thoughts turn to the utility of final exams themselves.  Recently I have been asked why do I give final exams at all?  Trumping all the other reasons I have, I'm thinking the forced revisiting of topics you think you understand can be the potentially most enlightening moment of the course...