Tuesday, May 18, 2021

Life Of A Math Teacher: Bringing Joy

Mathematics is the most beautiful and most powerful creation of the human spirit. 
-Stefan Banach, Polish mathematician

The beauty of mathematics only shows itself to more patient followers. 
-Maryam Mirzakhani, Iranian mathematician

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1YjDxEyxXY9BE1jAbn0no8WGJgNVS8Iar
^Sunshine

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1qkvLPXnk4CvM21jrpw_Dv1c7yHLVRATF
^Teddy bears

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1DG8RqlInO4Ifs5haFSEmP8DjcZdEpHJU
^ My students' names

Let me guess.

You associate math with drudgery and boredom.

Your days as a math student filled you with confusion and dread, if not rampant stress and anxiety.

And if you're an adult, you see math now at best as a dry, dead process necessary for filling out tax returns, doubling recipes, and checking in on bank accounts that adds precious little to your vision of a creative, dynamic life. 

Hmm. Maybe those aren't your exact thoughts, but I bet I'm close.

And isn't that a shame?

Mathematics should bring us joy.

The language of nature.
The expression of our physical world. 
The very fingerprints of God's design.

To me, math is sunshine and teddy bears and the colorful expression of human life, and I've created these postcards for my students to prove it.  

I hope to bring my students joy. 


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