Maybe I shouldn't have started this blog now, not with everything that's been going on.

The Mathematical Methods 1 session that I had last Monday started with discussing the last quiz, whose questionnaire I let them take home the Friday before.

When I asked for volunteers to answer the questions on the board, there were people who raised their hands to solve for the midpoint, even though we hadn’t discussed them in class yet. This was because they either asked their tutors or looked it up in their old (high school) books and notes over the weekend.

But no one took up solving for the equation of the line given the slope and one point, or the slope and one intercept.

I showed them that from the equation y = mx + b, they already had the value of m and a pair of values for x and y from the given point (or intercept). So all they had to do was substitute in the equation to get the value of b, which was how I solved it myself instead of getting another point using the definition of the slope. But I allowed for that kind of solution when checking their quiz.

Afterwards we also took up the definition and computation of the median of a triangle (a line from the midpoint of one side to the third non-aligned point) and the perimeter of several polygons.

In my Trigonometric Applications class I received only two assignments out of the five groups on the conversion of an expression to one trigonometric function.

I also gave them a surprise seatwork at the start where they were supposed to write down the eight basic identities, which they would have been able to recall easily if they worked on the assignment.

And again I heard complaints about how difficult the new lesson was, which was the verification of equations involving trigonometric identities. This is even after I wrote down the guidelines for verifying, such as converting to only one trigonometric function or sine -whichever is shorter. I also used only the first few problems from the book, whose solutions did not take more than one column on the board.

I guess some students are just used to complaining if the teacher doesn’t bawl them out for being whiny, even if I hardly give in to their requests. It doesn’t mean I don’t look favorably on those who tough it out, or who ask for help without insisting that they can’t comprehend the lesson.

In my mechanics class I showed them how to apply the rules of two-dimensional motion to forces and acceleration. For this class we solved only three problems, the first one taking up the entire first half of the period. This is because we already discussed the formulas for this when we had our session in the computer lab (which, I forgot to mention before, I could have used the LCD projector for but didn’t).

In this the third and last example that I gave (that later became their seatwork), it was a direct application of what they were going to be doing in the laboratory two days hence: the addition of concurrent forces.

And if it seems like I didn’t do much during the first day of the week to garner several paragraphs worth of detail, that is because I wasn’t in the mood to teach that day, knowing that half of the school was all over the campus watching and demonstrating cheers in the new covered court, in the grassy part of the quadrangle and in the football field (mostly in view of the classrooms or from the hall) for their annual two day sports fest.

We got our chance Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning, but knowing we had to go back to work for another day and a half afterwards prevented us from going all out.

But that’s a story for after I discuss the Tuesday and Wednesday classes. For now, class dismissed.