Monday, February 28, 2005

Late-Night News

  1. Got the comments hack working! If you want to post a comment, click the "time" link at the bottom of the post, then scroll down to where there's a box for you to enter your comment. You can enter your name where it says "Name" and the comment post will display that name, without you logging into Blogger. So don't worry about registering. Email and URL are optional. Now working on setting up the main page so the "# Comments" link goes straight to the new post-comment section. (Yet another computer situation where I know exactly what needs to be done, but not exactly how to do it.)
  2. Got an email from my History of Ed. professor. Glowing feedback regarding my final exam ... feeling very warm and fuzzy now. She even strongly recommended that I submit the answer for one of the questions (a short essay) to a particular publication -- either their e-zine or quarterly publication. It's so nice feeling appreciated, validated, affirmated (I might be making that word up, time to go to bed)
  3. Mike (the Brother) tells me it was very nice in Utah today, almost spring-like. Definitely still winter here. Lots of fun driving back home in the snow this evening. Still need to work on inventing a quick, effective, hassle-free way of clearing snow off the car. I can't remember the last time (in Utah) I had to do it more than once in a single day; now that's a regular thing.

Quick Notes

  • Hmm... Like many other bloggers, I'm finding the "commenting" process annoying. Found some hacks that should improve it. Play with it later.
  • It's official! An A in History of American Educational Thought & Practices means a 4.0 for my 20 credits this quarter (and almost a 3.9 cumulative thanks to that one B last quarter ... my own fault, though).
  • The TV series Numb3rs is having a bad/good effect on me (the value judgment depends on your perspective). I'm getting the urge to get back into some higher mathematics. Teaching helped deepen a lot of my math foundations, so maybe I'm more ready to tackle the heavy stuff now. I should snag my Abstract Algebra textbook next time I go home for a visit.
  • The boys downstairs are being noisy again. Amazing how their voices carry. We never hear any of the upstairs neighbors.
  • Now I have to head off to the Dougherty's. It's snowing, and I haven't been there before. Hopefully the roads will be okay.

The Beginning

Since this is accessible to pretty much anyone, I'll start off by trying to make sense to anyone who stumbles across it.

My display name -- mathpro411 ... I really don't consider myself entirely "pro" at math. There are plenty of people out there who know a lot more than I do. Except maybe first-year algebra... after 3 years teaching that at a junior high, maybe I'm starting to be a little pro at that. My former students are the main people who would consider me a "pro" or a "guru".

My bachelor's degree is in Mathematics Education, and now I'm working on a Master's in secondary education of deaf students with a focus on math. One week from today, I start student teaching at a school for the deaf. How strange will that be, being a student teacher after being an actual teacher for three years? I didn't even student teach my first time around; instead, I interned a full year on my own with a mentor and supervisor that came to observe once a week. Plus, I'll be teaching six classes, ranging from 5th to 9th grade, using ASL. It's going to be different, but I'm excited.

Speaking of exciting, it looks like I'll be doing some interesting work as a research assistant this summer, with projects focusing on "best practices" of teaching math and science to deaf students. There's going to be a wide variety of projects, and the professor I'll be assisting is amazing, so this is definitely something to look forward to.

Along the way, hopefully I'll learn a little more about web design and development. I'd like to rework the design template for this thing, but it's a little beyond my current skills. My sister, brother, and sister-in-law are the ones that know all sorts of things on that topic -- I just ramble about math pedagogy and deaf issues. I'll just need to sit down and fiddle with it in Dreamweaver sometime.

No time for that right now, though. Now it's time to whip up that field experience portfolio so I can turn it in before Thursday. What educational issue should I write my phony "letter to the editor" about?

Sunday, February 27, 2005

Hello out there!

As if I didn't have enough distractions, I've decided to go ahead and start a blog. (Yes, I've actually given in to a trend!) It should be a good way to keep in touch with mathematical friends, deaf-ed friends, other friends, and family alike.

Right now, though, I've got to get some sleep. Haven't quite recovered from the lack thereof Friday night. (Still think I did okay on the certification exams, though...)

So, I'll get this rolling tomorrow...