Is there a book you would like to use in your future classroom?

Yes! I would love to use the book “What’s your angle Pythagoras?” by Julie Ellis. I know this is considered a children’s book, but the math content is middle school level. I think it is a fascinating fictionalized story about how the Pythagorean Theorem was discovered. I think it would be a great tool to use when introducing the Pythagorean Theorem. Also I would like to be able to set up a math classroom where math is discovered and not preached. What I mean is I want my students to know that there is more than one way to the right answer. I often got in trouble in math for getting the right answer but using a different method. I think this book will provide an interesting gateway for students to get the main concepts of the theorem before every really getting the theorem. The students will get a demonstration of discovering the theorem, and begin to understand how the length of the hypotenuse depends on the height and length of the other two sides. I can then set the students up with a problem and ask them to guess what the length of the hypotenuse is by what they learned from the story. After the students have spent some time discussing and discovering, I can introduce the actual mathematical theorem.

What Makes Writing Worth Reading?

I think determining a set of characteristics that a piece of literature must have in order to make it valuable to read is difficult. Not everyone has the same taste or interests, and thus what I find valuable and worth my time you may not. I think there are particular categories in which we decide to read something or not. Educational - When I say educational I imply "decided learning." Just because your teacher tells you to read pgs blah - blah doesn't make it worth your time. You may read it, being the good student that you are, but frequently it isn't enjoyable. If you are like me, you will frequently google items that you have heard about to gain more knowledge - this is educational reading made valuable to the reader. Personal growth - I think it is worth it for people to read items that may help in self improvement. This is why diet books are bought, self help books etc. I think anything that will help you become a better person is worth reading and attractive. Pleasure - reading for fun! This type of reading is what I have seen a lot of growing up. My mom is one of those people that has a new chapter book every week. They don't add meaning or purpose to her life, but the books entertain her and add a little joy. I think anything that can add joy to your life is worth reading. These are a couple of the ways in which I think we choose books that are valuable to us.

I also think that people choose literature based on appearance. They say never judge a book by its cover, but we all do it. I personally have the tendency to pick up any book that has a girl dressed in one of those fancy gowns from the 1800s. They have a way of drawing me in. For starters, they draw on my historical interest (educational), and then the story line often present entertainment (pleasure).

I think these are only a few things we look for when looking for valuable writing to read.

"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me."

Words definitely have power. If someone criticizes us we may pretend it does not bother us, but later in privacy we will evaluate the criticism in hopes that it is not true. Even if we find the criticism to be false we usually still feel hurt by it until the thought completely leaves the mind or an apology is given. Not only that but words say a lot about the way we think, and our thoughts have a lot of power. For example, some people are able to speak their way to being sick. After continually talking about being sick and thinking about being sick people will find themselves feeling more sick the more they talk about it. If someone says something bad about us, and we allow ourselves to believe it to be true, regardless to if it is true, we may make it true because we believe it.