Oh the joy of teaching Prealgebra! You know what? I use the alligator story when we compare numbers. Examples: 9>7 because the alligator would rather eat 9 cookies than 7 cookies. This is why > is called the "greater-than symbol".
7<9 same reason. This is why < is called the "less-than symbol".
-14<-7 because the alligator would rather owe 7dollars as opposed to owing 14 dollars.
I've been told that this is a very bad thing to do to them. However, if I just teach it like normal then I get many blank looks.
At least the light turns on when I teach it this way.
So hang me now.
That's the way we learned it in 3rd grade. I still remember it. Whatever works, man.
ReplyDeletewhat kind of cookies? What is the alligator doesn't like cookies, will cupcakes work? How big is the alligator? What if it's a crocodile? Will this be on the test? Do I have to bring my on alligator? Can I borrow an alligator from you? /snowflake
ReplyDeleteYeah, I remember that from elementary school too. I had no idea that I was learning prealgebra. We just called it math. Well, I called it "more fun than getting hit in the head with a dodge ball" but other kids called it math.
ReplyDelete@middle-aged and morose. May I add one please? "Do we have to know how to spell alligator on the exam?"
ReplyDeleteThat's not fair! This is math class, not biology class. And if I have to know how to spell alligator, this isn't English class either!
ReplyDeleteI just remember that the smaller end of the symbol points toward the smaller number. I can't remember whether somebody told me that, or I figured it out for myself. I don't remember hearing about the alligator. Apparently, I'm culturally deprived.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly, despite my word/humanistic orientation, this is one set of symbols I can comprehend without thinking about. When it comes to the somewhat similar symbols often used to label "open" and "close" door on elevators, however, I'm hopeless. I can never pick out the right button in time for it to do any good. Then again, I'm only marginally better when the buttons have words on them. Moving quickly from thought to action isn't my forte, apparently.
Check out the adds on the side of the page!
ReplyDeleteI haven't gotten my financial aid yet. Can you photocopy the alligator for me?
ReplyDeleteSince the early '60s, instructors of introductory physics have been told not to mention "centrifugal force," because their students just aren't smart enough to be able to understand it. Richard Feynman makes fun of this, in "The Character of Physical Law." It always seemed like a simple concept to me: as a six-year-old kid seat-belted in the car, when your Dad does a sharp right turn, you go "Waaaaayyyyy!!!" to the left.
ReplyDelete@MA&M: You sound just like F&T when discussing the Doppler effect, except that no one has yet accused me of discriminatory behavior.
@EMH "Check out the adds on the side of the page!"
ReplyDelete?? Snowtires and toner cartridges...??
Seriously, you've got nothing to confess to - you're teaching them 'where they are'. The real issue is where they should be. They should be in grade three.
And they should know how to spell alligator Dammit!
Alligators?!
ReplyDeleteLittle Hiawatha is scared to shoot his arrow at anything bigger than he is so he always aims at the smaller of two targets.
I received gruff admonishment from a faculty member who is also a member of the school of education because I'd used "FOIL" and "Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally". Her full complaint went like this: Because they don't do it that way anymore.
ReplyDeletewtf? What kind of reason is that to stop teaching something? "You have to stop doing that for the reason that it is stopping." I asked for a substitute strategy and was told "They don't do that anymore. They just do it." What the fuck? I swear to god, pedagogical jargon must be carcinogenic. The words must posess magical powers that, in the presense of an admin's giant cloud of CO2 from excessive blabbering, give everyone who stays in the School of Ed for more than 6 years, brain cancer. Sublethal brain cancer that lets you live until you would have lived had you not entered education, but as a marginally functional moron who can't form a coherent thought, but also can't just be quiet.
Can I have extra credit?
ReplyDeleteI will never forget one of my masters profs explaining to us what "melting pot" meant using an analogy of his Italian grandma's cheese and bean soup. He brought a big pot of it to our last seminar of the year. Great guy.
ReplyDelete