Monthly Archives: November 2013

A Year of Nights of Wondering IV: The Long and Sour of It All

I was attempting to “sell” the method of completing the square for solving quadratic equations.  I first square rooted both sides of an equation and solved.  Next I multiplied everything out and solved the same equation by factoring.  I labeled … Continue reading

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It’s All Formulas

No, it’s not.  It is not all formulas.  Using ununderstood formulas is dangerous.  Using a formula is often unnecessary.  So learn as few formulas as possible and thoroughly understand the ones you do use.  Remember formulas are just summaries of … Continue reading

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Tracking Handwriting: Should I be a Little Depressed?

Just a thought.  If a person’s handwriting is individual to them and if a person’s handwriting also reflects their current state of mind, then I, who grade handwritten student papers every week, have been looking at a time series sampling … Continue reading

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The Light Melancholy of Teaching

In a recent article in The Atlantic, Meghan O’Rourke use the phrase “wrapped in the light melancholy of traveling.”  In the context of her article and my experience on long solo bicycle tours I took this to mean a feeling … Continue reading

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