Category: Advanced Algebra

  • First day of class- did it go as well as I thought?

    I tried something new this year. I was a little nervous trying it, but I did NOT want to do the whole “here is the syllabus, let me read it to you” shtick. So, I made the first day very active and involved. Did it work? What did I find went well, what didn’t? In…

  • First day of school – a new approach

    I am trying a new approach to my first week of classes. Instead of the usual first day where we hand out syllabi, and go over policies and procedures, and bore everyone, including me, to death I am trying something completely different. First off, I am keeping my room set up in groups. I have…

  • #MyFavFri – Learners teaching themselves Completing the Square

      Yea, that’s right. I just had 2 classes in a row teach themselves and others how to complete the square with circles and ellipses. How did I accomplish this miracle, because I really do consider it to be a miracle. In my Advanced Algebra Class we have the following problem called, creatively enough, The…

  • Frustration, ideas, and time

    Grr. Really. I have some frustration I need to get off my chest, so this will be a “constructive venting” post. Constructive, because I really do have a point, and venting because I can’t believe the things that occur in math education. First off, I have been really interested in how the curriculum of mathematics…

  • A PROOF of the visual representation of imaginary solutions

    Many people ask me why I ride my motorcycle long distances in the summer. This summer I traveled from Reno, NV to St. Louis, MO. It was around 4000 miles, round trip, and brutally hot for a couple of states worth of riding. But, that traveling allows me one single thing I rarely get. Time…

  • A visual representation of Imaginary solutions

    For today’s #myfavfriday I am presenting an idea that has been percolating in my head for a while. If you want to know what a #myfavfriday is, then see Druinok’s blog here. Learners have a devil of a time with quadratics. Afterall, there can be 2 solutions, 1 solution, or no solutions in Algebra 1,…

  • Financial mathematics and Advanced Algebra

    I have done a very poor job of writing about advanced algebra, the course I helped co-author 4 years ago with 5 other teachers in my district. I would like to rectify that this year, and explain more about the course and honestly, get better ideas for the course. The course is more project based,…