There are definitely moments when I look at myself and say, "wow, I am a dorky math teacher!" I like it, don't get me wrong, it's funny sometimes though.
Yesterday was one of those days. I was teaching my 10A students about completing the square to solve a quadratic function. The next thing we needed to learn was the quadratic formula; we all know it by the dorky song but I didn't really want to teach them that.
So I figured I'd take a more analytical approach. I figured it was a good group to do it with since they are all very quiet (I wouldn't get a lot of singing participation out of them to say the least) and very good at math.
So we started by completing the square on the general quadratic function: 0 = ax2 + bx + c. Now I won't bore you with the process, but by completing the square (if some of you are curious about what I'm talking about, brush up on your math skills a bit!) with this general function, we derived the quadratic formula. That's right, instead of just making my students remember the quadratic formula, they now know where it comes from and why it exists! If that's not cool, I just don't know what is...ok, dorky math teacher again! Again, if your inner-dork is crying out for more math, this is a write-up of what was on my board yesterday and now in my students notes...so cool, I know :) Enjoy!
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