BLOCKED: omg so did i tell you that im actually getting to study math
that i have been asking questions about
since i was young?
projective geometry
<3
9:32 PM i get to explore dimensional space, draw it with ruler
s and pass it in for a grade
9:33 PM how goes the economy-watching?
me: Meh.
9:34 PM BLOCKED: once again, im sure the economy isn’t helping much
ive just begun researching the new deal
me: No, and it’s getting worse.
BLOCKED: and im begining to get worried about the NEED for a WWIII
me: a quarter of teens are unemployed.
BLOCKED: to fix the economy
how upsetting of a thought is that??
9:35 PM i brought that up in class and my teacher winced
me: DOn’t say it too loud… this channel might be monitored for good ideas.
BLOCKED: i wouldnt be suprised
me: https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=7703263cdd&view=att&th=126ba00fb8cf34c5&attid=0.1&disp=inline&zw
can you see that?
That’s my current projective geometry project.
BLOCKED: i cant see it, says i need to log in
9:36 PM but projective geometry is AMAZING
i started thinking of time as an instance of infinity
and my brain started doing twists and turns
in ways i had never imagined
me: Oh, I’ve got one for you.
BLOCKED: oh?
9:37 PM me: Imagine a small orange cube.
BLOCKED: k…
me: Say, 3′ on a vertex.
Now….
the complete definition of that cube is…
the cube…
and the universe, minus that cube.
BLOCKED: ahisbdfojasdhguiuhosdfka
9:38 PM is that dropping into the dimension beneath it?
me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGK84Poeynk
9:39 PM BLOCKED: im not getting an audio
something must be up with my drivers….
my favorite thing i drew though
9:40 PM was parrell lines
being shown
as a donut
but the values of the outside and the inside lines
are the same
because all of them meet at a singluar point in space
which is infinity
9:41 PM me: That’s non-euclidean geometry.
BLOCKED: yeah, thats what were studying now
veryyyyyyyy interesting
9:43 PM me: It is very interesting.
BLOCKED: my head always hurts after math class though
because literally our last unit was
9:44 PM “weird things happen at inifinity”
me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOLAGYmUQV0&feature=channel
just remember… Mr. Georg Cantor went crazy studying infinity.
BLOCKED: most mathemiticians do
9:45 PM …i think
xD
me: No… no. He really went crazy. They put him in a santatorium.
9:46 PM BLOCKED: dont worry about me, but i could see how if math was your passion
you could EASILY slip into insanity
i mean i spent an entire class trying to draw the 5th and 6th dimension
being bent over each other
and my friends kept looking at me funny
9:47 PM because i was using WAY to much paper
but anyway, infinity is amazing
and i am beaming with excitement for college
9:48 PM i have finally gotten to the level where i can ask wuestions
and the teachers can answer
… not saying that u couldn’t
me: That’s really the purpose of education… to keep passing you on to the teachers who can answer your most interesting questions.
And then finally, get you to the point where you can’t find anyone who can answer your question…
so you BECOME the answer.
BLOCKED: YAY!!!
/me does a dance
me: May I put this conversation on my blog?
BLOCKED: of course
Conversation with a former student
10 February 2010
Snow
10 February 2010
Well. The snow was originally supposed to start around 9pm last night. Then the weather reporters suggested around 5am, and now 10am is the scheduled start time for Snowmageddon in southern New England.
At 6am on the dot, I got a call from my co-dorm parent. “School’s canceled,” he said. “Look for an email later today about what the plan is.” He hung up.
There were some brief flurries around 8:15am. I’m still waiting for the e-mail from the school that informs me that school is officially canceled (maybe I’m not on that e-mail list). But everyone seems to know that we’re having a snow day today.
In spite of the fact that we don’t have any.
You know.
Snow.
Tomorrow is our winter carnival day. The school will divide up into two teams and compete against one another in various fun activities, and then a basketball game in the early evening. The day after our winter carnival is traditionally a late-sleep, and I believe the plan is that I will miss my two morning classes. So…
For this “no snow” day (so far… it could get awful later in the day), students will have three days of no classes with me. Meanwhile, in the hour and a half since school should have started, I would have had at least two class periods. Likely four before the weather got bad enough to worry about.
Sigh.
Teacher Connected
10 February 2010
OK.
I decided I would solve this problem on my own. I told my classes yesterday that if they wanted to submit something in handwriting, they could — on lined paper, and obeying all of the school’s other instructional norms about handwritten work.
But if they typed it on their computers or on the school’s computers — it had to go on the wiki, or be emailed to me. No more typed, printed work accepted. Any such paper received will be given a zero.
They got it, even if some of my colleagues don’t.
Here’s the deal. I’ve been a freelance writer working for a company with tight margins and little room for error about what will sell and what won’t. They don’t want to pay postage costs or waste time shifting paper back and forth by FedEx or USPS or any other way of moving atoms around. It’s far cheaper for them to pay an ISP to give them access to Internet protocols for moving electrons as data than to shove moles and moles of atoms around. And since it’s a company that’s indulged in a little science-fiction here and there, it’s OK — they like being sci-fi based.
But basically, I don’t print anything out now except for school or church. I can’t very well read my sermon off my iPhone, after all (and actually I haven’t read anything off my own printed papers in church for a while, anyway). And increasingly, I don’t print anything out for my students. I make them access the web to get it off the wiki.
So. I’m not thinking of myself as going against the grain at my school on this. I’m bringing the future a little earlier than it might arrive on its own merit. And that’s fine.
