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

We had our faculty meeting last Monday afternoon, after my mechanics class.

The items on the agenda included the NTSP 1 projects both environmental and socio-civic, the student assistant manual (and contract), the update on the Student Council Commission on Elections (overseen by and reported on by the writer of this post – the guidelines for the formation of new political parties and fielding of candidates are being reviewed) and the status of the “Science I Can Touch” contest, for which interest among the college students seemed lackluster.

For the last item, it was suggested that more samples be placed all over the campus to generate the proper amount of enthusiasm. And the science teachers could give an incentive (but not necessarily make it a requirement) for those in our classes who want to join. There was, in fact, one request from a student participant about raising the thousand-peso limit for the entries, which would defeat the purpose of demonstrating concepts using everyday materials.

As for David’s running bank of sensors connected to a timer, it has apparently been shortened from a hundred meters total distance to fifty meters.

Dishes from the nearby Chinese fast food were served, as well as ice cream, all in honor of the month’s five birthday celebrants (including the Dean). Since Miss Karen (head of the Registrar’s Office and Sociology teacher) already gave us (at least the four teachers) cup sized premium cakes (such as blueberry cheese and mango cream) the Tuesday before, we weren’t expecting another, larger cake, but I guess it was for the Dean who wasn't there the first time.

The other faculty also gave us presents of large sports duffel bags that are big enough to fit badminton rackets as well as several baseball bats.

In my Mathematical Methods 1 class last Tuesday, I taught them how to get the other point at the end of a line segment given one point and the midpoint (basically just the transposition of forms we already took up in previous sessions).

Afterwards I told them about the slope of horizontal and vertical lines, and how to tell if two lines from the given equations are parallel or perpendicular.

Besides graphically, where they have to draw both lines to show they either do not intersect (by drawing a third line perpendicular to both) or that where they do intersect the angle formed is 90 degrees, there is also the computational method.

First, get the slope of the line. If it is in the form Ax + By + C = 0, then the slope is –A/B.

If the slopes of the two lines are equal, then the lines are parallel. If one is the negative reciprocal of the other (or if their products equal –1) then the lines are perpendicular.

In fact, in retrospect, since the second line is given as Dx + Ey + F = 0, showing A/B = D/E would prove they are parallel and A/B = -E/D shows they are perpendicular, another topic to return to in the next session.

After that we went to a bit more complicated topic, which was given the equation of one line and one point outside of the line, find the equation of the line that is parallel or perpendicular to the first one but passes through the given point.

Even though I gave them twenty minutes for the exercise on the same topic at the end of the period, it seems that a lot of them did not get the procedure. I thought of going back to enumerating the steps for next session, although it’s been weeks since I last used that method.

Next week, I’ll discuss Wednesday’s classes onwards. Those who are finished copying the notes are free to leave the classroom.