Holiday = Magic Rub

Happy Belated July 4th, everyone!

I discovered something very interesting yesterday when I was teaching my classes. Like the weekends, holidays also act as Magic Rub erasers on students' minds. If you are a teacher, or perhaps a reflective student, you know that this is true.

For some reason, students that can easily distinguish between the equations of parabolas and ellipses on Friday have strokes of amnesia on either Saturday and Sunday. They then come back Monday with bewildered looks on their faces when you write a quadratic equation on the board.

The same thing occurred with my Algebra II class on Thursday. Normally, teaching on Tuesday and Thursday is pretty nice, because there is only one day in between, and students usually keep up with their work. Unfortunately, Wednesday, July 4th was very different.

I understand that the last thing you want to do on July 4th is study Geometry or Algebra, and believe me, I did not do much prepping on my part, either. I spent most of the day eating double bacon-wrapped hotdogs with the boyfriend and his family.

Yes, double bacon-wrapped hotdogs. No, I am not ashamed. Here is a recipe if any of you (those without heart-conditions only!) want to try it out yourselves:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/fully-loaded-bacon-wrapped-hot-dogs-recipe/index.html

You can even forgo the toothpicks. My boyfriend's sister said the key is to cook them slowly so the bacon doesn't get crispy and unravel. Also, wrap with two pieces of bacon instead of one. And none of that turkey bacon shizz. If you're going to clog your arteries, clog 'em right! That's how we do in Amurrrrca.


Alright, back to my original story. Clearly, I get way too excited about fatty foods. Perhaps I should have started a food blog instead...

Like I was saying, the last thing you want to do on July 4th is study. But seriously, guys, your parents are paying out the wazoo (sp?) here, and unlike a real math class, I don't have a full year to cover all of Algebra II or or all of Geometry. Yes, I already gave that lecture to my students.

Well, it is back to work now. Today should be interesting, as the mathematician's project I assigned my Geometry students is due. Hopefully no more "Ooclid"s.