On the Edge

It's been awhile since I've posted. This math thing has really slowed down. Some stuff just isn't clicking.

Our first test is tomorrow morning. If I get a C or better I'm staying for sure. If I get an F, I'll probably drop and try again later. If I get a D, I don't know.

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Good things

1. Steve Reyes is a really good teacher. I am impressed at how much he seems to care about doing well, his grasp of the material, and ability to walk a classroom full of math aptitude deprived 18-yea- olds and me through some very complex ideas. Complex to us at least.

I'm also impressed with Steve as a person. He's 28 and is teaching at the UA with only a bachelor's degree. I don't know whether it is in math, math/education, or what, but that's as far as he's gone so far. Steve graduated from Cholla High School in Tucson as valedictorian and is the first member of his family to graduate from college.

Because he is the exact kind of person I was interested in when I wrote my book, I thought he might like to read it, so I gave him a copy. I hope he has a chance to look at it.

2. I now know how to do things in algebra and with functions that I couldn't imagine knowing how to do less than six months ago. In fact, I can do things that I didn't even know existed less than half a year ago. That feels good.

Bad things

1. I'm spending way too much time studying for the amount it seems that I am learning. Seth assures me that no one in my class is putting in as much time and he may be right. So, I don't know whether it's because it's getting harder or what, but I'm thinking that I ought to be spending less time staring at equations and functions in a book or on a comoputer screen and more time working on my classes that I teach and on photography and my own writing and on my bicycle training for the Bicycle Tour of Colorado and RAGBRAI.

2. I'm not seeing a book or even a good article in this pursuit right now. I'm not experiencing a sense of wonder that I could share. I'm experiencing a sense of plodding that I don't imagine a lot of people want to read about. My best case outcome or climax would be passing a course in calculus at the UA or Pima College some day. That is a feat that probably hundreds of thousands of high school juniors and seniors accomplish every year. It's possible the "wonder" and "insights" come later, once I've learned the language. I'm still holding out hope.

3. I am surprised that the textbook and the online support offered by Pima College is far superior to that offered by the UA. As good as Steve is as a teacher, I'm thinking that I should have enrolled in the equivalent College Algebra course at Pima College. Because of the book's online tutorials and exercises, tt's better, at least for me.

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I'll report back on my test.