On the school front, my classes are much better this term. I’m no longer at all nervous before class and I have a good routine worked out. I wake up at 5am, spend exactly one hour thinking of ways to explain the material to be covered that day, jot down rough outline and leave the rest to spur of the moment creativity which is really where all my best teaching comes from. Today I was teaching logarithms and told the class that I was not going to teach them how to evaluate logs from log tables because it’s an antiquated method now that we have computers and I know that although there are some interesting ways to solve unrelated with these tables, the vast majority will miss the subtleties of this and gain nothing they can apply elsewhere. Instead I tell them I’m going to teach you how to estimate logarithms and how to use your calculator effectively. I had thought this up in my hour and wanted to tell them how calculators are programmed in base ten so any log you plug in will automatically be in that base and use this as a justification for teaching them the change of base formula. I planned on explaining all this. Instead, once I started writing how a calculator works in base ten on the blackboard, I think, ill just let them try to use their calculators and be confused by the results so they ask why it didn’t work. In the moment I thought this would get them involved and get the math off the blackboard but in hindsight I see that it was a good way to spark curiosity. So I find a student with a calculator and have him figure out what log base 10 of 1000 is. He does and reads it to the class, fine, no problem everyone is in agreement. Ok, now tell me what log base 2 of 4 is. He reads off a long steam of numbers and the students who are paying attention, quickly realize there is a problem, try it for themselves and look at me like what the fuck? We know log base 2 of 4 is 2! So I had a really nice transition into teaching the change of base formula.
That was a good day. For every day when I’m on top of my game there are a few when im struggling to come up with different ways to look at a concept and trying not to get frustrated with my students, it’s not possible that you can’t get this stuff! You are just refusing to think! Some get frustrated and go to sleep, or maybe they’re just tired and hungry I don’t know. Sleeping is certainly easier than thinking. My class is at the point where most will answer honestly if I ask them, “have you picked?” and when I clarify slowly I think most are being helped. But when I’m asked to explain my instinct is to step back and try to explain the concept that’s at work and in doing so start to use bigger words and be less concrete and algorithmic, as in, getting away from, these are the steps you blindly follow, and so sometimes confuse the hell out of them. But it is fun for me… Which brings me back to an issue I’ve had, do I spend lots of time designing a lesson plan which neatly dissects the hour and twenty minutes like I’m supposed to, or do I teach on my feet, which is more fun and rewarding for me but has a lower success rate? Maybe a well made and executed lesson plan would end up being more rewarding but I’ve found that my best ideas come spontaneously in front of the class. In any case, I think I’ve found a happy medium that leaves me feeling prepared but also gives me free time.
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