Why Is Everyone So Scared?

Hey everyone, where have I been? Well last week I went back home for a little visit, and then I decided to take a week off from the whole Book That God Wrote thing, and I might take another week off too. 1 Samuel is a great stopping point for a little while. Don't worry though, I'll be back soon, I'm not going anywhere, but the better books can really take it out of me because, well, I have so much to say about them, and we just had a wonderful series of them. what with Joshua, Judges, Ruth and 1 Samuel all in a row, the Bible must be making up for Numbers and Deuteronomy, bout damn time if you ask me. But there's been something on my mind recently that I thought I'd bitch about on my digital soap box for a little while. Basically, why are Christians so goddamn scared of everything? Intrigued? Read on.

Why I Hate Teaching

This right here, I got this email yesterday:

Subject: MATH 210

I'm in your MWF 10-10:50 class.  Is our test Monday or Wednesday?
Thanks,
M** W****

Hmm, I've only wrote that on the board for the past three weeks that the next test will be Monday March 29th, the Monday before Spring Break. I'm not sure I could be any clearer for any longer. So either this is the guy from "Memento" attending my class or he hasn't shown up since Test 2. And you know what really fries my bacon? I'll have to grade this joker's test. I fucking hate teaching sometimes, college students can be such worthless little shits.

P.S. Those of you waiting for the last part of Numbers, it's coming soon. As you know, the weeks leading up to Spring Break are brutal, but over the break I should be able to catch up some, and maybe not take a week between each part. But I also have a paper to submit at the end of April, so there's no telling what's going to happen.

Just Cowboy Up Already

It's the beginning of the semester, still officially the first week since we only had half a week last week and this monday off. It's this first week or so that all my pet peeves of teaching come roaring in. Eventually it tapers off and I get into the swing of things, but the first few days I'm continuously reminded of all the little things I hate about teaching. There's a particular phenominon I hate more than anything. This semester my classes started with 35 seats (all full), which isn't that bad, but the limit has since been raised to 39 to accomodate student demand. Still this is nothing to get all riled up about, and compared to the fall, where classes can start at 45 (fuck my life) seats, this is still managable. That is until I wander online and see:

I Don't Do Sympathy

 

What's the deal with fractions? Say it like Seinfeld and it's kind of funny. Say it exasperated while shaking your head, as I usually do after class, and it's not really funny at all. Really? What's the deal with fractions? It's one of the things I'll never understand as a teacher. Let me explain, I've broken down things students do into two categories: things I understand and things I'll never understand. As you can probably expect, that first category grows ever smaller while the second increases without bound. Don't misunderstand me though, I'm not completely unreasonable, there's plenty in that first column. For example, I can totally understand why a student would have trouble with logarithms the first time they see them; after all they require a complete backwards thinking that we haven't quite felt since learning that division was the opposite of multiplication (which by the time you hit logs was a long long time before). There are plenty more, keeping integration rules straight, dealing with Z mod 2 the first time and learning that 1+1=0 there and so on. Though as time goes on I start to wonder if I'll ever be able to stop adding things to this second category. Things I'll never understand include: How can a student solve an equation with xs but give them the same equation with zs then they're lost? Why does a student, who made it all the way to calculus, need their calculator to find 5-0? And of course, fractions, fractions blow minds, and I'll never understand why.