Etc.; Vignette 3
I went shopping on my own volition today, though it was largely due to a dire need of dress socks and a black belt for my cousin's wedding (which is on the fourth of July). I also blew a few hundred bucks on a (badly-needed) suit Saturday, so now I'm prepared for his wedding festivities! I'm looking forward to it -- the last wedding I've been to was ten years ago.
If you want to see a picture of them as well as his fiancee's uber-sappy rendition of their life in a nutshell, check this link out: http://weddings.theknot.com/pwp/view/co_main.aspx?coupleid=106852308885620
I caught up with a few friends this past week - Grant, Pavan, Brian, and Dunia - it felt good talking to them after so long!
Now it's time for the last vignette -- number 3:
15 June, at approximately 2:00 PM:
So I'd finished covering SAT analogies, and after an hour and a half of class, gave my kids a ten-minute break. After the break, I'd begin teaching them the basic arithmetic operations that pop up quite often on the test - averages, median, the mode, ratio boxes, percents, all of that good stuff.
In my opinion, the average section allows teachers to flex their creative muscle - the diagrams, illustrations, and just the topic itself naturally leads into some of the most bizzare and ingenous mnemonics and teaching styles.
To kick off the lesson, I first drew a diagram which helps students compute averages. Princeton Review calls the contraption an 'Average Pie', and it looks like this:
So I explained to them where everything goes - the Total goes on the top half of the pie, the Number of Terms goes on the bottom-left, and the Actual Average is written on the bottom-right. Of course, the now-politically correct TPR manual leaves the explanation that unexciting, boring, and dry, so I had to spice it up a bit:
"If you look a bit more closely, it can look like a Plumber's Butt - the Total going on the lower back side, where there's normally a tatoo, and the number going on the left buttocks, where there's hair, and the average itself going on the right buttocks - where there's more hair."
(Earlier, TPR had, in its student manuals, called the Average Pie a Plumber's Butt, but I guess it got sued bigtime for such a change to occur.)
I didn't stop there - I told them to look a bit more closely, then broke the silence by telling them it looks like a stripper's g-string. The kids loved it; I was sure that it'd be drilled in their minds. When they'd think of averages, they'd think of the butt and place everything where it needed to be, and in a flash, they'd get the right answer! Of course, life's full of strange twists and turns, so ...
16 June, 10:30 AM
I was proctoring the students' second diagnostic, and during the break, I asked Darryl, one of my students, if he found the tactics helpful.
"Yeah, they were pretty good ... I think I did better, but on the math section, you know ... I forgot about the butt. I mean, like when I see averages, you know, I start thinkin' of the butt and then I draw it, but I don't remember where everything on the butt goes, so I ended up skipping those butt questions, you know?"
I was somewhat disheartened, but not terribly surprised, at Darryl's reaction, so during the drive back to the hotel, I thought of a few good mnemonics to tell my students ...
17 June, 9:15 AM
After passing out the diagnostic score reports back, I drew the average pie again on the board, and told them that I made a good mnemonic that'll keep them from forgetting the pie.
"Total, Number of terms, and then the Average. TNA, guys."
Silence. They didn't know.
"Tits - Total. Number - And. Average - Ass. Tits and Ass, now you know."
The kids broke up in laughter, but at least I now knew that they'd get the average questions correctly.
If you want to see a picture of them as well as his fiancee's uber-sappy rendition of their life in a nutshell, check this link out: http://weddings.theknot.com/pwp/view/co_main.aspx?coupleid=106852308885620
I caught up with a few friends this past week - Grant, Pavan, Brian, and Dunia - it felt good talking to them after so long!
Now it's time for the last vignette -- number 3:
15 June, at approximately 2:00 PM:
So I'd finished covering SAT analogies, and after an hour and a half of class, gave my kids a ten-minute break. After the break, I'd begin teaching them the basic arithmetic operations that pop up quite often on the test - averages, median, the mode, ratio boxes, percents, all of that good stuff.
In my opinion, the average section allows teachers to flex their creative muscle - the diagrams, illustrations, and just the topic itself naturally leads into some of the most bizzare and ingenous mnemonics and teaching styles.
To kick off the lesson, I first drew a diagram which helps students compute averages. Princeton Review calls the contraption an 'Average Pie', and it looks like this:
So I explained to them where everything goes - the Total goes on the top half of the pie, the Number of Terms goes on the bottom-left, and the Actual Average is written on the bottom-right. Of course, the now-politically correct TPR manual leaves the explanation that unexciting, boring, and dry, so I had to spice it up a bit:
"If you look a bit more closely, it can look like a Plumber's Butt - the Total going on the lower back side, where there's normally a tatoo, and the number going on the left buttocks, where there's hair, and the average itself going on the right buttocks - where there's more hair."
(Earlier, TPR had, in its student manuals, called the Average Pie a Plumber's Butt, but I guess it got sued bigtime for such a change to occur.)
I didn't stop there - I told them to look a bit more closely, then broke the silence by telling them it looks like a stripper's g-string. The kids loved it; I was sure that it'd be drilled in their minds. When they'd think of averages, they'd think of the butt and place everything where it needed to be, and in a flash, they'd get the right answer! Of course, life's full of strange twists and turns, so ...
16 June, 10:30 AM
I was proctoring the students' second diagnostic, and during the break, I asked Darryl, one of my students, if he found the tactics helpful.
"Yeah, they were pretty good ... I think I did better, but on the math section, you know ... I forgot about the butt. I mean, like when I see averages, you know, I start thinkin' of the butt and then I draw it, but I don't remember where everything on the butt goes, so I ended up skipping those butt questions, you know?"
I was somewhat disheartened, but not terribly surprised, at Darryl's reaction, so during the drive back to the hotel, I thought of a few good mnemonics to tell my students ...
17 June, 9:15 AM
After passing out the diagnostic score reports back, I drew the average pie again on the board, and told them that I made a good mnemonic that'll keep them from forgetting the pie.
"Total, Number of terms, and then the Average. TNA, guys."
Silence. They didn't know.
"Tits - Total. Number - And. Average - Ass. Tits and Ass, now you know."
The kids broke up in laughter, but at least I now knew that they'd get the average questions correctly.