Math

In calculus on Monday, we were going over limits and one was Lim X->2 (X² -4)/(X-2), which is indeterminate. but when you graph it it just seems like a straight line, but its not because a point is missing at (2,4). Well some one forgot that zero in the denominator means it is undefined, so I just magically came up with "if zero is UNDEr (the line) it is UNDEfined." So today we moved on to graphing continuous and discontinuous functions. We also worked with pairs of functions that had not just "X"s in them but also "a"s. So that was it for that math class. Not much happened in the other one. At my tables we just went over the hw that was due and tried to give answers without actually having to yell at the professor. She can't hear us very well, so sometimes it gets frustrating.

Gender Differences

Why are there differences in boys and girls performances in math? According to Peggy Orenstein, author of Schoolgirls, the differences arise from the hidden agenda in middle schools. At one middle school she observed the ways math teachers taught and attended to the different students in the class. Boys who were out going and shouted out the answers got more attention, good and bad, than girls. Even if girls were attempting to gain attention at the beginning of the school year, by the end they would stop trying and would not want to give answers or be noticed in their math classes. Some teachers would try to call equally on boys and girls, to give them equal amount of attention, but boys "will be boys" in that they will try to gain attention no matter what. Boys will call out answers even if not called on, they will distract the teacher from the girls, and make fun of the girls if they get the answer wrong. As the girls get picked on, they become more self conscious, and will only give answers to questions that they positively know the answers to, and sometimes not even then.
I will post more on this book later in the week.

short story

Rain hits the ground around me, it beats on the umbrella that barely keeps me dry. I walk home in the greyness of the sky. Just a few blocks, but it takes longer because I love to watch rain fall. Tease the clouds by exposing myself from under the umbrella. We play a game of tag where I am always chased. once inside, the rain beast harder; the window shakes from the drumming. It is trying to come in, trying to tag me. I could open the window and let rain in, but that would end the chase, end the fun. Thunder claps and flashes of light are seen in the distance. it wants to get closer to me, but I keep it at a distance, opening the window slightly letting it think a few drops will hit me. I move away as the drops hit the sill, watch them slowly glide down the wall and hit the floor. The rain slows, trying to lull me into a false sense of security, getting me to move towards the window. I want to feel the soft rain hit my skin, I move away from the window, turn towards the door. As it swings open, the wind blows it out of my hand, banging against the wall. I step out into rain's waiting arms; I let it embrace me as if it never wanted to let me go, we were one. The rain started to fade, the lightening stopped, the earth grew quite. we said our goodbyes, hope we would see each other soon, hope to hold each other in this embrace, make it last longer, be sweeter. We would never let anything wash our love away.

Living in an RV

So last night I was hanging out in an RV in a RV park. The couple we visited is from Texas, and they like to travel in their RV for half the year. I went because my dads computer friend was coming over and bringing his children and I have a project on concrete operational thinking so I was testing his daughter. After they left the 4 of us, me, my dad, and the couple had dinner. It would have been better if we had eaten it a few hours earlier; I couldn't tell if we were eating chicken or beef. After dinner, which was at 9:30pm, I started on my math homework and they started on a conversation about starting wages of government employees in California and Texas. This ended up erupting into a huge argument, and so we finally left after 11pm. my dad is back over there right now because they need more work on the computer, but he is still upset with the wife.
Later on in the week I will discuss my results of the tasks for concrete operational thinking.

End of week 2

I am currently enjoying honey nut cheerios (actually the knock-off). I haven't had cheerios for a while, but they taste just as good as I remember. Oh so to update my math class, we have gone down to 3 people, one did not want the added work load of a 4-unit class. I am going to be doing work with little children again this semester. A few times I will have to do some of Piaget's tests to see the level of which some children area at in terms of preoperational or concrete operational thinking.