The Stench of Cow Manure
I read something very cool in an old paper today. This is from Friday's Feb 3, 2006 Calgary Herald, in an article concerning the Muslim outrages against the caricatures:
In one unusual twist, Mahmoud Zahar, a Hamas leader, visited a Gaza church Thursday and promised protection to Christians after Fatah gunmen threatened to target churches as part of their protests. Zahar offered to dispatch gunmen from Hamas's military wing, the Izzedine al Qassam Brigades, to guard the church. "You are our brothers," Zahar told Father Manuel Musallam of the Holy Family Church.
Call me naiive, but I think that is insanely cool that a Muslim sect would offer protection for others in a different faith.
Last night, I had 3 hrs of sleep, as I was panicking on how today was going to turn out. A little frustrated with the discontinuity of the practicum design, my partner teacher and I don't know how I should plan for these lessons, as he himself does not know where the class will be by next week. He said he'll email me on Fridays, but he didn't this last, and I was left yet again cold and naked in the wind.
Another concern of mine is that it's a new term, and these are a new batch of kids! And they've already had 3 days of classes. And all of a sudden, this young kid is just going to start teaching them without an introduction?! I was scared.
But, yes, I prayed about it, the whole car ride there. And I got there early, waited around for my PT, and then got things started. So... the class I was to teach, was apparently, THE FIRST CLASS OF THE DAY! WHAT THE?!
Ok, ok, no time to panic, I grabbed my resources, took some advice from my PT, and slapped together a lesson plan in 12 minutes. We were on Number Systems, and in particular, Number sets, with Naturals, Wholes, etc. Awesome, I know a little history on this stuff which is pretty darn interesting, so hopefully, I thought, I could add a little twist of inquiry into this piece of crap lesson.
And it was a blast! My PT sort of walked out... never to return haha, but that was ok... The kids were nicer than I anticipated, very respectful, and very interested to know me. So I got a chance to formally introduce myself, personally, tell them about my love and interest for math, and they were hooked! And the history of mathematiques, my friends... is one of the most fascinating topics ever. Even though it has no relavence to the lesson, it added a lot to my lesson, which I think the kids appreciated. But at the end of it, I realized there was a lot I could have done better, but I was surprisingly very comfortable nevertheless.
Sometimes, I wonder if my PT is a genius, knowing that my experience would be a lot more worthwhile if I wasn't pampered, or if he's just damn lazy?
Oh yeah, one more point worth mentioning, I drive past a cow ranch every morning, and every time, I forget to turn off the ventilation, and my car stinks up to the point that my lungs hurt. Today was the first time I remembered to shut it off.
It was a good day. Thank God.
In one unusual twist, Mahmoud Zahar, a Hamas leader, visited a Gaza church Thursday and promised protection to Christians after Fatah gunmen threatened to target churches as part of their protests. Zahar offered to dispatch gunmen from Hamas's military wing, the Izzedine al Qassam Brigades, to guard the church. "You are our brothers," Zahar told Father Manuel Musallam of the Holy Family Church.
Call me naiive, but I think that is insanely cool that a Muslim sect would offer protection for others in a different faith.
Last night, I had 3 hrs of sleep, as I was panicking on how today was going to turn out. A little frustrated with the discontinuity of the practicum design, my partner teacher and I don't know how I should plan for these lessons, as he himself does not know where the class will be by next week. He said he'll email me on Fridays, but he didn't this last, and I was left yet again cold and naked in the wind.
Another concern of mine is that it's a new term, and these are a new batch of kids! And they've already had 3 days of classes. And all of a sudden, this young kid is just going to start teaching them without an introduction?! I was scared.
But, yes, I prayed about it, the whole car ride there. And I got there early, waited around for my PT, and then got things started. So... the class I was to teach, was apparently, THE FIRST CLASS OF THE DAY! WHAT THE?!
Ok, ok, no time to panic, I grabbed my resources, took some advice from my PT, and slapped together a lesson plan in 12 minutes. We were on Number Systems, and in particular, Number sets, with Naturals, Wholes, etc. Awesome, I know a little history on this stuff which is pretty darn interesting, so hopefully, I thought, I could add a little twist of inquiry into this piece of crap lesson.
And it was a blast! My PT sort of walked out... never to return haha, but that was ok... The kids were nicer than I anticipated, very respectful, and very interested to know me. So I got a chance to formally introduce myself, personally, tell them about my love and interest for math, and they were hooked! And the history of mathematiques, my friends... is one of the most fascinating topics ever. Even though it has no relavence to the lesson, it added a lot to my lesson, which I think the kids appreciated. But at the end of it, I realized there was a lot I could have done better, but I was surprisingly very comfortable nevertheless.
Sometimes, I wonder if my PT is a genius, knowing that my experience would be a lot more worthwhile if I wasn't pampered, or if he's just damn lazy?
Oh yeah, one more point worth mentioning, I drive past a cow ranch every morning, and every time, I forget to turn off the ventilation, and my car stinks up to the point that my lungs hurt. Today was the first time I remembered to shut it off.
It was a good day. Thank God.
posted by Jonny at 4:27 p.m.
12 Comments:
"manure"
hm hopefully those muslim ppl dont ask for "favours" later.. ie.. like the gangs these days offer "protection"....
"Hey Flanders, you smell like manure!" Homer J. Simpson
Wow this post was good to read. I like reading about you teaching. I imagined it in my head. In my head, you were an entertaining teacher. I agree adding math history would make it interesting.
Nothing like having a couple of good cow patties
You serious? Did you know it was only 300 hundred years ago that we started adopting the concept of Zero. Before then you were burned alive for practicing superstition and witchcraft! It took the human species 28,000 years to finally accept that Zero was a number!
In fact, the base 10 Number System we so depend on these days was developed by the Hindu-Arabs! The Roman Numeral system is pretty much in base 10, but can you imagine adding MCXII + IIV or some crap like that?
And friggin engineers like yourself take all that for granted. You people make me sick.
sorry i havent been around for a while... it's pretty crazy around report card time, as I am sure you know.
Good to hear you are having a great time teaching. =) It's always awesome to have teachers who are passionate about their subject areas. =)
If only teaching were as simple as the teaching part...
You sure you arn't an engineer?? Arn't you credited in some video out there as a software engineer?? :P
So how did you come to like math so much?
WoW. that was interesting. I think jonny spent so much time countng spare change to throw into his "guitar fund". and then he realized with all that counting, math could speed up that process incredibly. It was also the only thing he did good at in school. haha. that was a joke. i dont know.
What the?!?!
Who's making fun of engineers?? That's ok...they stink anyways.
Don't worry, even though it is base 10, we still can't do any math....at least I can't.
No worries Leo, I never said I could either.
How did I come to like math? It was Math 271 haha. The one I dreaded the most ended up being the one I loved the most. My prof was really good, but on top of that, it completely changed the way I view math.
its teachers like you that turned me to a life of math. Curses!!!
Roger
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