happy :)

... a little reparation happened today, a little healing.

Monday I had to write by hand in the math class 'cause I keep forgetting to turn the laptop OFF for the weekend and it loses its charge. I really liked the delivery of multiplying polynomials, with a "get comfortable with this dudes, get fluent!!!" (not at all in those words) approach, because that fluency is what makes factoring manageable.
He pointed out the patterns... the fact that it's the middle two terms that will usually be "like terms" in the typical binomial multiplication, and that *those* are the ones to use working memory on (um, no, he didn't use the term). And, of course, he stressed the huge advantage of Just Knowing the special products... but spent goodly time on *why* and *how* they do what they do, instead of "Memorize THIS!" without that. Pointed out *why* the two terms in a difference of squares are squares, etc.
But oopsie, spring break's not for another week. I gotta find a way to make a podcast... and clean my desk, it's revolting. There, I've said it out loud :)