I'm feeling pretty intelligent today. If I get called to substitute for a Math teacher, I am usually prepared to put on my smiley face as I politely explain that I was an English & Theater major and that math is really not my strong point. Translation: I have no idea how to help you, kid.
Today was a lighthouse in my sea of math despair. I realized in the first couple minutes of teaching IM2 (I think it stands for "Integrated Mathematics," but don't quote me), I had a light bulb flip on above my head when I started class. I actually knew what they were doing!! Imagine my delight as I remembered how to multiply out factors into standard form of a quadratic equation!
*cricket chirp*
Oh crap. Something tells me I just screwed up the explanation of the very concept that I claimed to understand. Allow me to demonstrate:
(x+3)(x+6) = x2 (squared) + 9x + 18
Yes, I realize this is pretty basic stuff, but you have to remember the fact that I consider myself a bit of a math dunce. I had to work like a dog in high school to get good grades in math in high school and I only survived AP Calculus by spending three hours on the phone with Evan every night. It's so not my thing. After I tested out of math entering college, I forgot pretty much everything. So to be able to actually stand in front of the class and offer help to the students was priceless to me today.
Of course, when a particularly bright kid who was already finished with the assignment that the rest of her class was still working on asked me a question about their assignment for Monday, I read the question carefully and replied:
All I hear when I read that is "Greek Greek Latin Latin Blah Blah Blah." I'd ask your teacher tomorrow, if I were you.
I love being helpful.
Albert Einstein, signing off.
