{photo by Alex Proimos on flickr / CC BY-NC 2.0}
“Some people think they are in community, but they are only in proximity. True community requires commitment and openness. It is a willingness to extend yourself to encounter and know the other.”
~ David Spangler
In an effort to live in true community and extend ourselves to others, we are back with another “Friday Flop” story to share! (See last Friday’s post for more on what this series is all about.) Today we hear from Paige Bartel, our UMS/HS Algebra Teacher and HS Science Teacher:
Every year in Algebra, I have done a week-long graphing review that I call “graphing boot camp.” The packet that I used in the past had some quirks and challenges, and so this year I decided to overhaul the packet, reformat, and fix all the parts that were bothersome. So… I remade the entire packet, start to finish. And I fixed all of the parts of the packet that bothered me, and in the process of reformatting and reworking those parts, I ended up creating a whole other set of problems!
The first thing we noticed when I was passing them out in class was that the gridlines on the graphs were so light, they were essentially imperceptible. Then when we met in class the next class day, we realized that somehow the new key was wrong, and matched neither the original worksheets or the new worksheets. On the third class day, there was… something. I don't remember what ended up being wrong, but it ended up with massive apologies on my part! I had tried to make the packet better, and ended up making a mess!
Thank you, Paige! We all know what it’s like to make a mess of something in the process of trying to make it better. And we appreciate all the work you put into improving our math materials.
Parents, please share your flops with our community too! Email Down Home with your quick story about something that didn’t quite work out the way you expected it to…
Happy Thanksgiving, readers! Down Home will be on a break next week, and we wish you a thanks-filled, gratifying week off!
One more thing to share today – here's an opportunity for parents and kids this weekend. Click on the image to the right for a PDF with all the info, or visit this website: www.friendshipthroughdance.org/events.
