21 November 2007
I'm a certified English and Humanities teacher, not a Maths teacher.
The kids are learning how to convert the metric system to the imperial system and vice-versa. This week they learn how to calculate length conversions and next week they learn weight and mass conversions between the two systems.
The other sixth grade teacher warned me that this week is the bane of his existence in Mathematics class.
Picture this:
1. seventeen 10-year-olds with rulers that are marked with centimeters only (no inches). "But what's an inch?"
2. seventeen 10-year-olds who have never lived in a country that uses inches or miles to measure length or distance. "But what's an inch?"
3. seventeen sets of parents that aren't exactly sure what an inch is. "But what's an inch?"
4. two apathetic teachers (one of whom is Canadian and therefore too logical to comprehend the fairytale "once upon a time"ness of the imperial/American system and the other of whom [me] actually knows how many inches are in a foot without looking, but who isn't a trained maths teacher) who feel like they should be teaching fractions right now. "But what's an inch?"
This is my week in maths. Next week they learn about gallons and stones.
The Boy's family used to give me a hard time around the holidays about not knowing how many grams were in a kilogram. I now see that they were completely right.
The system I grew up with is, in fact, ridiculous.
Ah, the things I'm learning during my tenure as an elementary school teacher.
betholindo at 18:21