The Adventure Continues ...

Our adventures in blogging continue....

Watch for 3 new blogs going live September 6, 2006 ...

• Pre-Cal 30S (Fall '06) (Grade 11)
• Pre-Cal 40S (Fall '06) (Grade 12)
• AP Calculus AB 2006-07 (Grade 12)

So Long ...

We had our graduation exercises today. A gentle push into the world for all of you. I hope you're leaving with the keys to your future in your hand.

I'm so glad we've had this time together,

Just to have a laugh or learn some math,

Seems we've just got started and before you know it,

Comes the time we have to say, "So Long!"

So long everybody! Watch this space in the fall for pointers to new blogs for each of my classes.

Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Adieu, and all those good bye things. ;-)

Student Survey Results

The exam is long over and we did a little survey in class. The results are below; 4 students participated. Here are the result. Please share your thoughts by commenting (anonymously if you wish) below .....

How prepared were you to write this exam? (Average score out of 100)

75%

How much effort did you put into preparing for this exam? (Average score out of 100)

67.5%

How good a job did your teacher do preparing you for this exam? (Average score out of 100)

92.5%

Did you have enough preparation using your calculator?

Yes   100%     No   0%

Did you have enough preparation without using your calculator?

Yes   50%     No   25%     Middle    25%

Was I too hard or too easy on you??

Semester 1 was easy. Semester 2 was really hard for me. It killed me actually.
Just right.
Too easy.
Too hard.

What was the best learning experience you had in this class?

Blogging (2)
Mini exams (2)
Group Work
Wiki
Pre-Tests
Teaching and explanations were very clear and easy to understand

What was the worst learning experience you had in this class?

Homework (2)
None
Blogging On Blogging before tests

What suggestions can you share for next year?

More wiki assignments from past exams.
More exam-like long answer questions in class.
Have students doing boardwork in class.
The blog didn;t help me that much.

It's interesting to compare the items that were considered both the worst and best learning experiences. Also, take a look at the list of worst learning experiences compared to suggestions for next year. Help me do a better job next year by commenting on what you see here ....

The Places You'll Go!

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself
Any direction you choose. --Dr. Suess, Places You'll Go

It's almost graduation--what direction are you choosing?

Passing it forward--

Some 43 years ago, when I was about your age, my father who used to travel a lot, wrote me a letter enclosing a small article clipped from a magazine. In that letter, he wished for me a life of purpose and joy. He shared with me the clipping which described such a life and quoted George Bernard Shaw whose words you can read above.

I carried that article with me for years; unfortunately, somewhere in the many moves, it was lost. But not the thought and the power of those words. They have become a part of who I am. I know that my career as a teacher, and the mentoring I do now for teachers seeking National Board Certification are but "drops in the ocean" in this often violent, globalized world of ours but my life has been filled with joy, happiness and love.

I'm sure that my father writing and sharing those thoughts adds to their meaning for me, especially now that Alzheimer's prevents him from recalling what occurred. But his belief in me, in mankind in general, shaped my world. I'm passing that forward --my belief in you, my belief in mankind, and my wish that you find the real joy in life!

Wishing you success ahead!

I am thinking that these days each of you, your family, and your friends are looking to your future and wishing you success. I'd like to do that too!! To wish for you all that Emerson describes-- Would this meaning of success be one you'd be willing to adopt?

Two roads diverged in a wood---

THE ROAD NOT TAKEN by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

This has always been one of my favorites as I've found myself faced with those "two roads diverged" so many times in my life. I'm thinking you may now be viewing "two roads diverged" now as you are about to graduate and I know you will be many other times in your lives.

My choosing ( It wasn't necessarily an easy choice.) Earlham College was one of those times I "took the road less traveled" and it has made "all the difference" in my life. My years at Earlham have had a profound impact on who I am today, how I see the world, and what I believe.

Have you taken/will you be taking a road "less traveled by" and has it/will it made/make "all the difference"? Or does it matter?