I'm a Senior Mathematics Teacher in South East Melbourne.
I've been teaching for 3 years, this is my fourth year on the job, and I absolutely love it.
I teach primarily Year 11 and 12 VCE Maths Methods and Specialist Maths.
Fire away!
[AMA] I'm a High School Maths Teacher. Ask Me Anything!
MathNerd on 01/05/2018 - 08:52
closed Comments
Were you a teacher at this high school or reception/admin/etc?
Personally I find myself arriving to school way before the first class starts, and leaving school a lot later after the final bell.
I do create a lot of resources (such as graph axes, diagrams, worksheets) using various software, for the sole purpose of deepening mathematical understanding.
This does take a lot of time to prepare, and each class I teach I try to create something that helps understanding.I myself was a tutor for a number of years, and I think tutors are great, when they're used to supplement the teacher, rather than replace the teacher. Some concepts do deserve a second view, and tutors can provide that. They can also help when the student is feeling a bit snowed under with the pace of the work etc.
Where do you stand on the τ versus π debate?
Tau vs. Pi? Ah, I'm a classic. I like pi. They're tasty.
What software do you use to create your worksheets?
Word 2010 for the foundation, MathType for the maths and FX Draw/FX Graph for the diagrams.
That's all I need.
there are also latex, which looks a bit like html, but will take a while to learn and master. FX math is the most user friendly software available for drawing graph and diagram. Hopefully in the not so distant future, someone will come up with a program, where you draw with a stylus on your laptop and convert to a shape, including very complicated geometrical diagrams.
softwares like geogebra and desmos are also very useful.
40 + 2 x 30 =
40 + 2 x 30 = 40 + 60 = 100.
+1 for showing your working
Thanks for the upvote.
What proportion of the numbers on a standard roulette wheel are even?
I was taught never to have 2 '=' on the same line. Was this simply a preference which my maths teacher had passed onto me, or was there some truth to what I had been taught?
eg.
y = 40 + 2 x 30
⇒ y = 40 + 60
⇒ y = 100
No need for assumptions here when we are talking about the fundamental ideas of the order of operations. Every mathematical problem has these underlying concepts.
A good problem to state assumptions would be dynamics problems such as objects in projectile motion etc, where assumptions such as the magnitude of air resistance (such as zero, proportional to velocity or proportional to velocity squared) must be stated.
How did you graduate high school without understanding the order of operations? That is primary school level maths.
It is not "illusory", it is a fundamental component of how mathematics has been conducted between countries, cultures and different societies for centuries. The conventions exists to eliminate ambiguity while allowing notation to be as brief as possible.
"to assume that applies everywhere" - That is the case. It does apply everywhere.
@TheGhostWhoWalks: You also made the assumption the numbers were in decimal. Could've been in hexadecimal. Could've been in octal. We could play this game forever. We've got a r/iamverysmart over here.
priority in these circumstances are not pre-ordained by some vague reference to illusory 'fundamental ideas of the order of operations'.
Yes they are. Good troll though!
@BlazinPast: Yes, they could have been in hex, but the point of the question related to priority, not the numeral system.
@TheGhostWhoWalks: that's quite a rookie assumption you made. too much rigid thinking. you said yourself a good mathematician would lay out that assumption. pitiful. relearn the foundations of r/iamverysmart and pseudo-intellectualism.
@BlazinPast: I didn't say any of that. The question related to priority of operation, not the numeral system, so that's what i focussed on. You're taking this very personally. I don't waste my time on Reddit - i waste my time talking to people like you on OzBargain.
@TheGhostWhoWalks: you made an assumption it was related to priority of operation, did you not? Weren't you the conceited one stating to outline all assumptions in a question? Was that part of the trolling classes, to revert to the good ol' comeback of 'you're taking this very personally'? Seems like someone can dish out the trolling but can't take it.
@BlazinPast: I never conceded being conceited, even if i am. I did not need trolling classes - i'm self-taught. Come closer so i can slap your face with my glove. You do understand everyone else has gone home don't you?
@TheGhostWhoWalks: how scary. Someone's definitely butthurt now. No assumptions needed for that one.
@BlazinPast: Please consistently use upper case to start a sentence. It mildly irritates me when you don't. Anyway, what are you doing near my butt? It's only you and me here now you know - i did explain that.
@TheGhostWhoWalks: there wasn't enough trolling in that comment. All I have to say is keep your emotions in check if you're gonna keep trolling. Trolls aren't supposed to get offended. You're not good enough yet.
@TheGhostWhoWalks:
@TheGhostWhoWalks:
@TheGhostWhoWalks:
@TheGhostWhoWalks:
@TheGhostWhoWalks:
@TheGhostWhoWalks:
@TheGhostWhoWalks:I don't often neg, but at times like these we need more than 5 per day.
@Scrooge McDuck: I don't neg at all - i'm obviously a little more resilient than a geriatric duck balancing on a walking stick.
Negging is for reducing the prominence of low quality comments, it has nothing to do with resilience.
Formally, but not in practice, as you would or should know.
Are you telling me this represents a high quality comment? Pull the other one.Get back into the confined little box that is your mind.
Pos/neg voting increases/decreases the prominence of comments. It is useful for when users want to express agreement/disagreement without cluttering up the thread with replies.
Hahaha mate you have to stop commenting!
@TheGhostWhoWalks I posted this equation specifically to see people like you freak out, sorry not sorry but you got trolled >.<
Ah, reviewing history post facto. Good on you.
In fact these issues arise around early high school - nothing new under the sun there…
@stormii: Well, a highly functioning meth addict. But by all means denigrate those with drug issues - demonstration of course that you're a brave and insightful individual. Big ups!
Find all Homeomorphically Irreducible Trees of degree ten (i.e ten nodes).
Ah, goodwill hunting!
Here! (Disclaimer: I do not know this area of Mathematics, and is hence not my work).
I do not know this area of Mathematics, and is hence not my work
All it takes is basic mental arranging ability.
It's an easy movie/fake difficult question.
In basic English: Join ten dots in all possible ways which are different no matter how the dots are moved, so that all dots are joined without any loops.
If a train leaves Flinders Street station and travels at 45km/hr for 2 hours, how many pancakes does it take to get to the moon?
38,440,300,000 assuming an average pancake is 1 cm thick.
Hint: Pancakes are the fuel source.
Wrong, pancakes are the time measurement.
So the answer requires a knowledge of the number of kilojoules in each pancake? And the total energy required to reach the moon?
38,440,300,000 assuming an average pancake is 1 cm thick.
At perigee the surface of the Moon is only about 35 billion pancake thicknesses away from the Earth's surface.
What’s your ethnicity?
What's your ethnicity?
Product of Bangladesh.
Product ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
It’s funny because of math
Are you asking me for mine? I thought you started this AMA, not me?
Unless I should be reading in between the lines with your response (question) to my question?
I’m Chinese/Vietnamese.
Well it's a dodgy question you've asked, as it usually ties directly to race and religion.
In what way is ethnicity or race relevant to his work as a Mathematics teacher?For example just because i'm from Bangladesh doesn't mean i'm Muslim, or a maths teacher, which i'm not.
It's "Ask Me Anything" not "I Will Answer Anything You Ask Me" (IWAAYAM)
Has anyone on ozbargain done an IWAAYAM? I like the idea, but I'd also imagine that it would be a nightmare for moderators :D
Well it's a dodgy question you've asked, as it usually ties directly to race and religion.
In what way is ethnicity or race relevant to his work as a Mathematics teacher?I have to agree with you on that one.
@MathNerd: Funny thing, I asked as a light hearted question with some tongue in cheek.
Connection (read revelance) was the stereotypical phrase “Asians are smart at Math”, hence the question I asked.
Seems like some members including yourself took exception to this question.
Actually quite surprised as most comments I see on this site show members have a bit of wittiness and sense of humor.
Obviously I must have walked into the wrong theatre.
@idonotknowwhy: Very well of that mate, hence I asked.
I wasn’t expecting “You Must Answer My Question” (YMAMQ)
@idonotknowwhy: I was going to say “race”, but wrote “ethnicity” as I believed that’s the term to use these days to be ‘politically correct’.
My ignorant self could be wrong?
@AnDyStYLe: Note my precise phrasing - while it's certainly a dodgy question, i wasn't necessarily saying your motives were dodgy. I personally don't buy into the 'Asians are [inherently] smart at math' line. Take Singapore - their teaching tends to be very rote - give them a slightly different scenario and they're drowning. There are hotbeds of creativity internationally - say the US - but it's certainly not China, they mainly steal ideas.
@AnDyStYLe: I'm from the subcontinent. I guess if you chucked a /s at the end I might have taken the comment a bit more lightly, I've had some really strange questions been thrown at me so please forgive me if it looks like my guard is up.
Kudos to you! One of my favourite teachers in school was my senior maths teacher, and she was the reason I went on to do maths at Uni. I wouldn't be able to survive teaching high school maths but mad props to anyone who can. (@JenPat yay!)
What topic do you feel is missing or comes too late in the syllabus?
What kind of classes do you prefer teaching? Remedial, advanced, middling, mixed?
Thanks! Teaching high school maths is definitely not for everyone, as it requires a lot more than just knowing the content really well.
I'm happy with the topics that I teach, however I do think that Dynamics does come too late (it's at the end of VCE Specialist Maths, I haven't seen the ACT curriculum yet). It's a really nice topic that we have to wait until the end of the year to teach.
What kind of classes do I prefer teaching? Advanced, for sure. As I stated, I primarily teach Year 12 Maths Methods and Specialist Maths, these are where my strenghts lie. I can certainly teach younger year levels, but it's not as exciting/challenging as the senior maths subjects, where we can really dive quite deep into mathematical thinking.
I can totally understand preferring the harder classes ;) I know I did as a student (I was in NSW, they've probably changed the syllabus since I took it). Thanks again!
No worries.
I love your comment about your favourite teacher. My maths teacher inspired me to love maths and to follow the career I now have.
I have often wondered why matrices are not in the NSW curriculum.
I teach at a small school so get to teach all different levels. Most maths teachers prefer high level classes but I don't mind which classes I have. I feel I can make the most difference with students who struggle.I have often wondered why matrices are not in the NSW curriculum.
Me too! When I got to Uni I was like, this isn't hard but why didn't we do it in school?
I feel I can make the most difference with students who struggle.
Thanks! I felt the same when I was tutoring at Uni.
You're a star! :)
Well done JenPat.
May be calculus has more applications, so anyone who studies senior maths in high school are better off with knowledge of differentiation and integration, which has applications in engineering, business, economics, social science etc.
What is the volume of one portion of an oval based cone if a straight cut was made somewhere through the oval at a compound angle to true vertical (ie angled from vertical axis and at a random angle to widest and narrowest part of an oval)?
Wow, that'll require some pretty advanced analysis. What leads you to ask such a question?
It's a maths puzzle that I'm trying to solve as a mental exercise. I don't want to cheat and find out the answer online. If you answered, I would have averted my gaze.
Just needed to know if it is part of spec maths syllabus as I was a crappy student and only picked up the textbook during swatvac. Didn't manage to cover the entire syllabus before the exam.
No, it's not part of the specialist maths syllabus, it's more of a university type question.
why do you keep responding to the questions. this is not your AMA. Maybe start your own if you're that desperate for attention
Think of it as an efficiency dividend.
Anyway, i appreciate all the attention, including yours.
Mathematicians would use the precise term 'ellipse'. Oval isn't really mathematically defined as it just means egg shaped. Given the elliptic integrals, I'm outing the question asker as a tourist! The narrowest and widest parts are the semi minor and major axes.
I've stated before, I am not a mathemagician. I just use questions like these as anyone would with Sudoku.
Kinda like outting Bruce Jenner at this stage.
This is called a mathematical modelling problem. It's less about solving the problem and more about finding a relationship that could solve it, provided you had been given values.
In this example you would begin with the equation for the volume of an elliptical cone (V=πrRh*1/3) and from there you would create an equation to find the volume of a cone with your portion cut out.
This is quite a difficult exercise and I've only been introduced to it now in 3rd year engineering. But definitely possible if you look at it step by step.
Hope this gives you a place to start (if you didn't avert your gaze).
You're spot on with what I'm trying to achieve. To come up with the formula.
I have figured out the volume of an elliptical cone. Figured out how to model the cut at an angle. Just not sure how to get the volume from the non-flat base cone.
It was actually an honour bound challenge I made with an actuarist friend who already succeeded at the challenge.
I'd love to see the solution when you have it :)
Would be great to gift to my advanced students as a challenge!@MathNerd:
I'm sure the formula is already out there. In fact, my mate has already solved two intersecting elliptical cones.I'm just a little basic.
Have you ever checked out your students? Lol
I worked at a high school, i never found out of school hours a problem. Occasionally we had meetings that run until 6pm, and there were parent teacher interviews for long afternoons/evenings with every report that comes out.
but balance those hours against the 12 weeks of paid leave? Seems fine!