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

To continue my discussion of my Mathematical Methods 1 class yesterday, my co-teacher David’s suggestion is that the comprehensive exam on Thursday will have the same coverage as the finals, and that whoever gets perfect in the comprehensive may not take the finals anymore.

For the rest of them, only the higher of the two exams will be recorded, and accorded 30% of their final standing (the accumulation of the nine weekly quizzes, totaling a hundred points, will take up the remaining 70%).

In fact I would like to go one step further and tell them that if they are content with their score in the comprehensive exam (even if it is not perfect and provided I get to check all of it on time, as well as their remaining quizzes so they could see their complete pre-final standing) they may NOT take the finals anymore.

I’m sure there will be more students though who would rather take the chance and answer the finals hoping to get a higher score there after finding out the kinds of questions that will come out in the comprehensive test.

David also included two properties of logarithms which he noticed was not in the textbook. This was the alternative of getting the logarithm in base n of a number, which cannot be computed straight out on most scientific calculators. The other way is to get the log of the number in another base (such as the standard 10 on calculators) divided by the log of n in the same base. The other identity shows that b raised to the log of a number N in base b is equal to N.

Related to that, again I asked those who could not determine the answers we got in the examples on the board similarly on their calculators to consult with me, since some models input the number first before the operation and for others, it’s the other way around.

I told them that on the next meeting we would have a review which would also double as board work recitation. I told them that unlike the other times, students would only be called once, and if they decline hoping for another topic that they are more familiar with later on, they would have missed their last chance to recite.

In my Trigonometric Applications class I discussed the third and second to the last topics, which are Properties of Graphs of Trigonometric Functions and Inverse Trigonometric Functions.

For the first time in three terms that I’ve been teaching this topic in this subject, I was finally able to use a computer and a projector to show the graphs in spreadsheet software in class, instead of having to rely on printouts in transparencies.

I guess I can chalk it up (heck, in my profession I can chalk EVERYTHING up) to it being the first day of classes after two days of suspension, and people who usually reserved a day or two in advance couldn’t, and were now served second to my arriving (or technically, calling) first.

I also got to use the remote (as in wireless infrared) mouse for the first time, that entertained both the students and I with my attempts at maneuvering the pointer with my thumb over a four-directional button.

I’ll have to stop my tale in the middle again, and resume on Thursday after yet another holiday for this term. The teacher of the next period is already outside. Class dismissed.