Summer Math Fun

Well, after venting about having to teach writing and having to grade so much writing, I do have some good news. I have put together a summer workshop on math. I am excited about it because I created it from scratch - created the course and brochure, set up a website (well, with some help), done the mailings to school districts , and the best part, I reap all the monetary benefits! I am very excited and have already sign ups after the first week!

Why I never wanted to teach writing

Having a PhD was supposed to mean, at least I thought was supposed to mean, focusing your life's work and career on something vitally important to you. I chose mathematics education - I love teaching math and helping others learn how to teach math more interactively and thoughtfully. However, in my role at Lehigh University, I have yet to be able to do that. Instead, what do I get to teach? Writing and Reading.

When I first left elementary school to move to teach in the middle school, I had to make a choice about what I wanted to teach. My list looked something like this:

1. Math
2. Literature
3. Social Studies
4. Science
.
.
.
.
.
.
100. Writing

I hated grading papers, reading and re-reading students work.....I don't know how you English teachers do it! But here I am, after spending 12 years perfecting mathematics teaching, after getting my PhD in mathematics, up to my eyeballs in papers (and up to my virtual eyeballs in emailed papers as well!!!!!).




This picture only shows two of my classes. I have another 15 papers online, 17 drafts of research projects, and 17 action research projects which haven't even been collected yet!

I think next semester I will teach how to read a math book and how to write math problems!

Running Motivation

I have had some trouble finding the Nike shoes that I have been running in for 14 years. Finally, I found them again online and they didn't cost $120 like normal!

However, with these shoes, I can't run slow in the back of the pack!

Zumba update

We have a new Zumba dancer.......

Easter service

Though Easter has passed a few weeks ago, I wanted to share the work we did for the children of our church and a neighboring church. We have an Easter Egg hunt each year for the children. There are a lot of kids, so we need a lot of eggs. We volunteered to help stuff the eggs with candy. I can't even tell you the shock on my face when I arrived and saw the very large tubs of unfilled Easter eggs waiting to be filled.




(sorry the pictures are blurry)

In the end, though, it was all worth it. The kids were so excited about getting the eggs. Though Champ was too old to participate in the hunt, we did get a bonus: any candy that was too big to fit in an egg we got to keep and eat!

Softball necessities

I just thought it would be interesting to show the necessities of my husband's morning softball league:

Randy is 13!!!

My son has turned 13 - he is officially a teenager! Now, Cari, I know you have your hands full now with your young children, but I think when they become teenagers, well, I can only imagine what your wine bill will be!!!!

He had a pretty good birthday - he ate out with his grandparents and best friends(once for lunch and once for dinner), he got to skip school for the day (and don't get me started on how much I was against that!!!!!!!), and we did a "While you were out" with his bedroom; updating it from child to teen.
The before shot:


He also took his first flight lesson:




They flew to New York City:


Then, flew over our house!


Then on Saturday, we had a combination party - an end of the season basketball party for the Lakers and birthday party for Champ and another boy on the team. They ate all the food like they were starving children, screamed like girls(very high pitched) when playing laser tag, and broke all the bowling lanes. I had forgotten what it's like to be with a bunch of middle school boys!






All in all, a very cool birthday!