Blogging on Blogging

A good class today folks! I felt there was a lot of interaction between you as a class and myself. Lots of good questions and good thinking going on as I walked around the class. One observation: Some of you, when uncertain of how to do a particular problem, try your best, second guess yourself, and change what you had thought was the way to proceed at first. Your first instincts are usually good ones. Please try each question going on your instincts. When you get it wrong, leave your mistake on the page so I can see it. It's only by seeing your errors that I can help figure what you're doing wrong and why. Then we can correct it!

We were talking about exactly what sort of post you're supposed to make to get that mark on your test. The kind of post I'd like you to make should have one or more of these characteristics:

• A reflection on a particular class (like the first paragraph above).


• A reflective comment on your progress in the course.


• A comment on something that you've learned that you thought was "cool".


• A comment about something that you found very hard to understand but now you get it! Describe what sparked that "moment of clarity" and what it felt like.


• Have you come across something we discussed in class out there in the "real world" or another class? Describe the connection you made.


• Respond to a Blogging Prompt I posted. (see below)

Your posts do not have to be long. I'm far more interested in the quality of what you write rather than the quantity.

Blogging Prompt
To help us along our blogging journey I've decided that I will also occasionally post a Blogging Prompt. It will be easy to find because I'll always put it under a heading like the one above this paragraph. Feel free to create your own Blogging Prompt for the rest of us if you like. If it's a really good one (i.e. has rich possibilities for blogging) we'll count it as your post. ;-) Here's my first one:

We've learned how to multiply polynomials using the distributive law and using the area model for multiplication. Blog a brief paragraph identifying ways in which these two types of multiplication are similar. Blog a second paragraph outlining the ways in which they are different.

This sort of compare and contrast exercise can be made easier to do using Venn Diagrams. Draw two large overlapping circles. List the similarities in the overlapping section and the differences in the appropriate non-overlapping sections. If you like, you can use this web tool to do it online. If you do blog about this prompt and want to post your diagram we'll talk about how to post pictures sometime in class. ;-)

Happy Blogging!