A New Year, A New Journey

It has been FOREVER since I have posted to my blog. Life happened and the next thing I know it is over a year later and I haven't posted anything new. In the last year I have graduated college, and I now can say that I have a Bachelor's of Science in Mathematics. (My boyfriend always laughs at the idea that I have a "BS" in Mathematics.)

Now I have embarked on that journey called "Finding a Job," also known as "Starting a Career." I took a long time to complete my degree. (I graduated high school 20 years before I graduated college.) When I first started college back in 1992, I thought I would teach elementary school. Twenty years later, I had decided that I would much prefer teaching high school mathematics, and eventually collegiate level mathematics. My educational journey has not ended. Because my degree is not an education degree with a mathematics concentration, I need to go through some kind of alternative certification program to teach in the state of Texas. Most educators-to-be choose to go through the regional education service center in their area. I had planned to go through Region III (my local education service center) for my alternative certification. While I was researching the criteria and steps I would need to take to enroll in the program, I learned of a new program being offered at my university. As a student at the University of Houston - Victoria (UHV), I was able to make use of the Career Services office to help me look into options for alternative certification. My Career Services officer told me about the Victoria Online Initial Certification for Educators (VOICE) program through UHV's School of Education. The awesome thing about getting my alternative certification via the VOICE program is that by the time I have my teaching certification, I will ALSO have 18 credit hours towards a Masters degree. This is a perk that is not available through the regional education service centers.

I have completed the first step towards enrolling in the VOICE program, but now comes the scary part. Now I have to find a job at a high school. I have been privately tutoring high school Algebra for the last couple of years, in addition to being a mathematics and statistics tutor at the university. I have experience teaching mathematical concepts. I have even written a few basic algebra handouts 
that have been published on the university website. I have put together an awesome portfolio to impress the high school principals. I have spruced up my resume, and now I am searching the internet for local school districts with high school mathematics openings.

I am looking forward to starting this part of my journey. I am hoping to chronicle my journey through The Inner Nerd, and I would love for you to follow along.

The Best Days Ever

Nowadays, we often hear about how much kids today have. There are video games, iPods, iPads, cell phones, portable gaming devices and DVD players to keep them busy. When I was growing up in the 1970's and 80's we didn't have these things. If we wanted to play a game, we went outside and rounded up our friends to play tag or Red Rover in the front yard. If we wanted to talk to our friends, we went outside and hollered for them to come over, or we rode our bikes to their house. If we wanted music, we had these things called record players that we would put a vinyl disk called a record onto. The record would spin with a needle from the record player gliding along in the grooves to produce the music. After four or five songs, we had to flip the record over to listen to the B side. This is how I grew up.

We had to use our imagination to play. We couldn't put a small disc into a machine and watch detailed animations come to life on the television screen. We didn't rely on someone else to create a storyline for us to follow. No, we would make things up ourselves. I spent hours pretending to be Daisy Duke to my friend Shane's Bo and Mark's Luke Duke. The old Studebaker that my dad spent countless weekends tinkering with was our General Lee. When we tired of pretending to outrun Boss Hogg and Rosco P. Coltrane, we became the Justice League. Some days, I was one half of the Wonder Twins and other days I was Wonder Woman. The Studebaker was my invisible jet plane, or Lex Luther's secret lair.

I often wonder about the imagination of today's generation. I often think that because they have such unprecedented access to technology that they will lose the ability to imagine and play make believe. One child of today's generation that I don't worry about is B. B is my nephew. He is a bright, articulate 3 year old. He makes us laugh on a daily basis because of his imagination and quick wit.

Today I went to visit him so that I could give him a t-shirt that I had gotten for him. As I was getting ready to leave, I mentioned that my cat had decided to escape the other night and was hiding under my boyfriend's truck. This sparked an imaginative story from B. It seems that the other day his rabbit escaped and hid under his dad's truck axle. (The same area my cat hid.) When his dad went to get the rabbit a snake was hiding by the axle, so his dad grabbed the big BB gun and shot the snake. But the snake had already bitten both B and his dad. So B called his mom, the nurse, and she called her nurse friends. They killed the snake and saved B and his dad from their snake bites. (B's mom was listening, grinning, and shaking her head the entire time he was telling his story.) I asked B if the nurses were the heroes, and he promptly replied with a resounding yes.

Other days, B decides to be the superhero. He has several capes to help him act the part as well. Each superhero persona he imagines has a different color cape. His Superman has a red cape, and his Batman has a black cape. His Kung Fu man wears a green cape with "kung fu" clothes. He has other capes in different colors, but each of his superhero characters  has a different personality and super ability. How did he end up with so many capes? Simple. He talked his grandma into making each and every one of them. When she argues that he has has plenty of capes, he argues back that he doesn't have the right cape for the superpower that he wants to pretend to have. So she goes to her store of fabrics and finds just the right color and makes his new cape.

Some of my favorite days lately are the "B and Tia" days, when I get to babysit him. (Although he insists that he isn't a baby so I am not babysitting him. He is just hanging out with me for the day.) We will cook together, and we will play some video games. But my favorite thing to do with my B is to pretend. We pretend to be superheros or dancers. We pretend that we are in spaceships or giant boats. We use our imaginations and THAT is (as Phineas and Ferb would say) "THE BEST DAY EVER!"

I'm a Disney Nerd Too

Those of you that have read my previous blog posts, know that I am a math nerd. I have mentioned that I am a Disney nerd too, but I haven't really talked much about it. It took me a long time  to become a true Disney nerd. I took my first trip to Walt Disney World when I was 14 or 15 years-old. Back then, I was a surly teenage kid that didn't really appreciate what my parents were treating me to.

Walt Disney World is a treat. For many, it is a once in a lifetime event. Well, back in 2007 I decided to treat my daughter to a trip to the Happiest Place on Earth. That trip was my indoctrination into the world of Disney Nerdom. I discovered that there are websites for people like me. LOL I found the greatest community of Disney lovers in the world at www.passporter.com when I purchased the 2007 Passporter's Guide to Walt Disney World at my local bookstore.

Jennifer and Dave Marx write AMAZING guides to all U.S. Disney parks and the Disney Cruises. As an extension of their guide books, they also created the Passporter Boards. I have yet to find any other web based Disney community that is as friendly and informative as this group is. Before our 2007 trip, I joined this community and learned a whole ton of tips and information for making the most of what was intended to be a once in a lifetime trip for my daughter. We returned to Walt Disney World in 2009 with my daughter and my boyfriend. This year we are going back again, but we are also taking a Disney Cruise beforehand.

I first found out about pin trading and little extras like a conductor's license from the Passporter Boards. Souvenirs at Walt Disney World can be amazingly expensive, but with some of the advice from the Passporters, I found out about some great free or low cost souvenirs.

If you find that you just absolutely LOVE a particular restaurant at Walt Disney World, then you can ask your waiter or waitress for a copy of the menu. Want to know how to make that scrumptious dish you ate? Ask your waiter or waitress for the recipe and often the chef will send out the recipe card for you. For those of you that have special dietary needs, just note them when you make your dining reservations, or let you waitstaff know, and the chef  will come out to personally to talk to you about your dietary needs. The wonderful chefs at the Disney parks have even been known to create custom off-the-menu meals for people with special dietary needs. For instance, my boyfriend can't eat nuts and seeds. On our last trip, he was greeted by the chef at every restaurant we ate at, save one. The chef at Raglan Road even made my sweetheart a special off menu dessert since all of the desserts listed featured some kind of nut or seed.

Disney parks are also noted for accommodating all kinds of special needs from mental health disorders to severe physical disabilities. Everything from accessible lines to Guest Assistance Cards help guests with special needs enjoy every aspect of the Disney parks. My daughter has a hereditary disability. For our 2007 trip, we did not know about the Guest Assistance Cards, although there is a special forum on Passporter Boards that often discusses this accommodation. (Admittedly, I spent more time reading the Walt Disney World specific forums and didn't scroll down to the Vacationing Your Way: Your Special Needs forum to get the information I needed.) We spent so much time walking around and waiting in long lines that my poor little girl was in physical pain at the end of the day. Thank goodness for the nice hot baths back at our resort.  By 2009 I had learned so much more. I made sure to get the Guest Assistance Card for my daughter. We were able to stay out in the parks so much later because the Guest Assistance Card allowed her to wait in an area where she could sit until it was time to get on the ride. Lots of the rides at Disney parks have special cars for those that can't leave their wheelchairs.

I learned about the special diet needs and Guest Assistance Cards from the Passporter Boards. I also learned about these magical people called Fairy Godmailers. A Fairy Godmailer, is someone that offers to send postcards from their Disney destination to others that can't be there. We have been Fairy Godmailers for our last two visits to Walt Disney World. We will continue this magical sharing again this year. It is so much fun to have Disney characters sign special postcards for kids that are not able to be at Disney. When we have mentioned to the characters that the postcards are for kids that can't be at the parks, they are always excited to sign the cards and have some magic sent to a kid somewhere else in the world.

You should check out the Passporter Guides and Passporter Boards to get lots of great tips for your future Disney trip. The Passporter Guides are available at Amazon.com or at www.passporter.com. While you are www.passporter.com check out their iPad 2 contest (http://www.passporterboards.com/concierge/ipad-photo-contest.php). Just look through the photo archives to find the daily mystery photo and click on the contest link to be entered into the drawing for a brand new iPad 2 loaded with all of the most current Passporter eBooks.

Decisions

So I recently figured out that I can FINALLY graduate this December if I take 5 classes this fall. I'm all for that. I need to graduate soon for my own sanity. My bachelor's degree has taken me almost 20 years to complete, so I am ecstatic that the end is so near.

Here is where I have a small dilemma. I originally started my college journey thinking that I wanted to teach elementary school. A couple of practicums in my freshman and sophomore year changed that notion. Then during my educational hiatus I worked as a teaching aide at a local junior high and then a mathematics tutor at a local charter school. This got me to thinking that maybe teaching junior high or high school would be a better fit for me. When I started back to college in this final leg, I began working as a tutor at the college level. I found that I really enjoy this. I love helping grownups (my college is mostly non-traditional students that have returned to college, but this demographic is changing) to finally understand a subject that perplexed them for years.

Now that I am nearing the end of my time as a collegiate undergrad I am faced with having to decide what I want to do now that I am "all grown up." I have seriously been considering teaching at the collegiate level. The local community college often has an opening for a instructor of fundamental mathematics, and I would have the desired requirements. However, this option would only be part time, so no benefits like health insurance. Although, while I work as an adjunct instructor, I could return to school to get my Masters in Adult Education. With my Masters I could qualify for other collegiate teaching positions.

If I decided to go ahead and teach in the public school systems, I have two options there. Option one, I could go through the Regional Education center and get an alternative certification while I teach in the public schools. Option two, I could enroll in my college's VOICE program, which would allow me to obtain my alternative teaching certificate while also earning Masters degree credits.

Personally, I am heavily leaning towards the two options that would earn a Masters degree. All options have their pros and cons. I need something that will offer me benefits like health insurance, but I like the idea of teaching at the collegiate level. Ah, decisions, decisions.

Ancient Egyptian Math

So this summer I am taking a class on the History of Mathematics. I find it interesting to see how some of our common mathematical ideas came into being. Did you know that Egyptians had their own form of multiplication? Or that they didn't use fractions as we know them today? The Ancient Egyptians used only "parts" which would be equivalent to our modern "1 over some number." If they had two or more "parts" it was broken down into smaller fractions so that all fractions had a 1 in the numerator. While I find their method of multiplication fun and intriguing, I find their fractions kind of confusing. Further reading revealed that at some point, the Egyptian scribes had written down all the "equivalent parts" in a table for reference. Doing my homework for that particular assignment was a little daunting as I had to change familiar looking fractions into a series of fractions with only 1's in their numerators.

As I mentioned, I actually kind of like their method of multiplication. When I have shown others how to use the Ancient Egyptian method of multiplication, they have all exclaimed how cool that is. Even those people that profess to hate math and claim to not be able to do any math, seem to catch on and LIKE this multiplication method. Simply put, the Ancient Egyptian method involves creating two columns of numbers and doubling the numbers from one row to the next. As an example, if we wanted to multiply 14x15 using the Ancient Egyptian method we would first create two columns. The first column would start with 1 and the second column would start with 15. Then we would double each column so that the next row held the numbers 2 and 30. We continue to double these rows until the next row in the 1 column would be larger than 14. We would add the numbers in the 1 column that sum up to 14 and then add their corresponding numbers from the 15 column. This sum is the answer to our problem. Here's what it would look like:

1            15
2*          30*
4*          60*
8*          120*

Since 2+4+8=14 (I have them marked with an * just to point out which numbers I am adding.), then I would add the corresponding numbers from the other column, 30+60+120=210. Using the traditional method of multiplication I can check my answer and see that 14x15 does equal 210.


The thing about learning the history of mathematics is that sometimes the old ways of doing something can be beneficial to understanding the new ways of doing that same thing. While there are numbers I would not want to multiply using the Ancient Egyptian method, think about trying to use this method to multiply two 3-or4-digit numbers, it is still kind of a cool way to do multiplication. Learning the history of mathematics also helps me to appreciate some of the more modern methods. I know I would not want to memorize an entire table of equivalent parts to use for a fraction. I like math and learning the history behind it, makes me appreciate the nuances and the tricks of mathematics even more.

What does your inner nerd like to learn about?

For anyone interested in learning some history of mathematics, the textbook I am using is: A History of Mathematics: An Introduction by Victor J. Katz. I found my copy on Amazon.com.

Introducing My Inner Nerd

I'm a nerd. I love that fact. I embrace that fact. My family and friends tease me because of it, but I wear my nerdiness as a badge of honor. I'm a 37 year old woman with a teenage daughter that loves mathematics and learning. I'm a college student majoring in mathematics. There aren't very many people in my program at my university. As a matter of fact, all 30 or so of us overlap in so many classes that we eventually have each other on speed dial for homework help. LOL Compared to other majors, we are a tiny group. One thing that we have in common, besides being math  majors, is that we all have a love of learning and we all acknowledge and embrace that we are nerds.

So what is a nerd? Merriam Webster (www.m-w.com) defines a nerd as "an unstylish, unattractive, or socially inept person; especially : one slavishly devoted to intellectual or academic pursuits." I admit, I am not the most stylish person, but I do have a tendency to choose comfort clothes over fashion trends. I am proud to say that I am not all that socially inept. I have friends. Granted, most of my friends could also be classified as nerds, but they are friends that I can socialize with. As for being slavishly dedicated to academic pursuits, well, I will admit that I am easily distracted from my studies. However, I do enjoy learning. I get excited when I figure out how to perform multiplication of fractions using the Ancient Egyptian method of multiplication. I like showing that I am smart. 


Being a teenager, my daughter is often teased for being "weird" because she is good at math. I am proud of my daughter for doing well in school and enjoying those "nerdy" subjects like math and science. She has learned that being smart is a good thing and that while being a nerd may cause her to be labelled as weird, she has real friends that like her for being herself. Her friends know she likes math and science and they know that she embraces her weirdness. They stand by her and stand up for her when others tease her for being a nerd. She has real friends. :) 

Since this is my first blog post, let me give you a sense of what I hope to do here. I hope to use this forum to share secrets of mathematics and recommendations for mathematics help. If there is some math topic that you want to learn more about, please let me know. If I don't know the answer or how to work the question, I will find out. I won't be able to answer questions in an instant so do NOT ask me for help with homework that is due in the next couple of days. I have written a few handouts for the University of Houston - Victoria Academic Center. You can find those mathematics handouts at: www.uhv.edu/ac/mathsci. I have also written a few articles for eHow.com. I will post links to some of my articles as they have relevance to what I am blogging about.  Since I am also a Disney nerd, I will often post Disney related blogs. Want to know something about Disney? Just ask and i will find out if I don't already know the answer.


Are you a nerd? Do you embrace your nerdiness and weirdness? I would love to hear from fellow nerds. Until next time my fellow nerds.