Automathical

Now starting Week 3 of the Automotive Math class at the college. They are so eager and bright learners, they make my job easy... Sort of.

Last week we got into a bit of a discussion about class times and suddenly an explosion of male testosterone filled the air! It was horrible. At least no one left.

I just need to remember my roles: Direct, Try not to preach, Avoid giving too many choices.

Lessons learned:
1) Teachers who give too many choices will eventually lose respect from the students.
2) Teachers who don't give enough choices will eventually lose interest from the students.

I'm a Space Cadet!

Not really. But I feel like one with all the crazy choices and changes going on.

My practicum finished with a little "poof!" as I handed back their tests and report cards and they chatted about university for the rest of class. They're so naive about the amount of work coming their way.

And suddenly I found myself back in classes myself this week, at OISE, on a very different schedule. Wah wah wah, I know, I get Wednesdays off. But not today, there's a day-long conference on Building Futures and apparently you have to stay all 6 hours to get the resource package at the end.

I've been wanting to volunteer somewhere for years. Last week I spoke to another teacher about becoming a civilian instructor for the cadets. This Monday I found a nearby squadron, and Tuesday night I found myself walking to their training night at a local school. Eventually I was introduced to the officers and we all chatted about what the cadet program is about.

Sadly it's in the bag, if I decide I want it: this particular group is desperate for a female supervisor.

Sometimes I feel like I get jobs not just because of my adequate abilities but because I'm a girl. I wish it wasn't that way... but not enough to turn down the jobs.

Let's face it, everyone needs something up their sleeve if they want to do what they want to do.

Now comes some decisions to make.

Physics Phun

Started my first classes today for a Physics practicum.

The kids are great, though I had a couple sleepers. Apparently I was going slowly so that's something to pick up tomorrow and really get some problems going.

I guess I'm teaching what I find interesting. Take Newton, for example. Here's an interesting guy: he writes a book in Latin (probably a little tongue-in-cheek since Descartes had just written a book about 40 years before with a similar-sounding title), and the stuff he's writing about carries on to be true for the following 500 years. That's like Shakespeare stuff.

Well, if you believe in Shakespeare. I'll save the Edward de Vere theory for a different post though.

Today and this month is all about Newton's Laws of Motion and Gravity. Can be good stuff, if you're into Dynamics. These kids just want to work on problems all the time though, don't want to know the history behind it... There's so much to learn later, I guess it makes sense.