If any of you are reading my random post in linebyline, then you probably have seen several scenes of a story I'm writing. What some of you probably didn't know is that the scenes are posted in non-chronological order. This means that the scenes are not in proper prder. If you really want to see the correct order of the story, this is what this post is for. I will only post the scenes already posted in linebyline so the story is imcomplete until all the scenes have been modified (b/c of the prompts) and posted.

( The incomplete story )

Stolen from sprinkledonut

( more meme )

It appears that the conjecture that if you give students math puzzles to figure out, they will do math without much complaint was right. Too bad most of them don't realize that these puzzles involve math....

For those who are curious, here are some of the puzzles:

1. Can you connect 9 dots laid out 3x3 using 4 straight lines, without lifting your pencil from the paper?

2. A gardener laying out a bed of roses finds that she can plant 7 rosebushes so that they form 6 straight lines with 3 rosebushes in each line. How is this possible?

3. A group of four people has to cross a bridge. It is dark, and they have to light the path with a flashlight. No more than two people can cross the bridge simultaneously, and the group has only one flashlight. It takes different time for the people in the group to cross the bridge:

Alice takes one minute,
Edward takes two minutes,
Roselie takes five minutes,
and Charlie takes ten minutes.

How can the group cross the bridge in 17 minutes?

Since Jess doesn't know that all Euclidean triangles have angle sum of 180 degrees... x_x

There exist a line AB and a point C not on line AB.
By the parallel proposition, there exist exactly one line through C such that it is parallel to AB. We will call this line DE.
By the line postulate, there exist a line BC and a line AC.
Since AB // DE and BC is a transversal, <ABC = <BCE. Since AB// DE and AC is a transversal, <BAC = <ACD. Since <ACD + <ACB + <BCE = 180 because the angles form a line, we can substitute <ABC for <BCE and <BAC for <ACD. Thus <BAC + <ACB + <ABC = 180 QED

Yesterday, I realized that I did something that was stupid. Last Monday, September 28, I decided that I didn't want to spend an entire day watching students take a test. So, I made it a take-home test due Tuesday, October 6, which was yesterday. My stupidity? I forgot that I was dealing with teenagers and not responsible adults. I gave them 8 days to do the test since if I gave them a week, it would be due on a Monday and some of them would forget to do it over the weekend. So, Tuesday due date so I have time to remind them on Monday.

As I should have expected, without me there to make them do the test, most of the tests were handed in incomplete. With most tests incomplete, many of the students fell within the D/F range of the grading scale. That means it was time to get angry phone calls and angry e-mails from parents.

In a surprising turn of fate, this conversation happened:

parent: WHY DID YOU GIVE MY DAUGHTER A FAILING GRADE?!
me: I don't give grades; I only record grades that they earn.
parent: WHY DID THEY FAIL YOUR MATH TEST?!
me: ...Did you happen to look at their math test?
parent: NO! I JUST KNOW THAT MY DAUGHTER IS GOOD AT MATH!
me: ...I suggest you look over that math test. If there is any problems that you think I graded too severely, I'll re-examine it.

*parent goes off to see this the math test. muffled sound of parent and daughter talking in the next room. Eventually, parent looks over the math test yells from other room*

parent: YOU ONLY ANSWERED TWO QUESTIONS?! HOW DID YOU EXPECT NOT TO FAIL?!

*muffled sound of explanation. Daughter probably said something about not having time to do it. Parent probably asked how long did she have to do it. Daughter tells*

parent: ONE WEEK?! YOU HAD A WEEK AND YOU COULDN'T FINISH A TEST?!

*incoherent yelling and I think there was a "I hate you!" in there. Door slams and parents picks up phone again.*

parent: I'm so sorry for calling you. *hangs up*


Yes, you read that right. A parent apologized to ME... sort of. The world must be coming to an end soon.

From Esther Blanchett/sisterladysaint

"God would never ask you to choose. One of the greatest gifts God has given us is the ability to love. To love others, to love yourself, and even to love your enemies. When we stop loving others and close ourselves off to do what we claim is right, that is more of a sin than any sin we could ever commit.

During a cold night, just before the family gathers before the fireplace, a warm feeling starts in the bottom of your heart, and it feels like lifting your face to the cool night sky. Being a grain of sand in a big beach, yet feeling so loved... that feeling... LOVE. It is the only thing left, even if all else is gone. Because we are left with love, we believe in God. The Lord as well. Because the Lord loves us! He has given us this gift!"

...Can anyone explain to me how I thought up this little speech? O_o

Comment and I'll give you a character/person. Find a picture of that character/person for each category and post the results in your journal!

( Of course someone had to give me Misaki-chan )

Apparently, asking students to tell you "what is wrong with this?" is too difficult for some parents' standards. You think that understand why something is wrong is as important as how to do things right. I mean, we all make mistakes but can we learn from them?

Problem: (modified since LJ doesn't do superscript)

a^2 + b^2 = c^2

(2a^2 - a^2) + (2b^2 - b^2) = (2c^2 -c^2)

2a^2 + 2b^2 - a^2 - b^2 = 2c^2 -c^2

2a^2 + 2b^2 - 2c^2 = a^2 + b^2 - c^2

2(a^2+ b^2 - c^2) / (a^2+ b^2 - c^2) = a^2 + b^2 - c^2/ (a^2+ b^2 - c^2)

2 = 1 ?

Here is the Test.

( Results )