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Showing posts from November, 2017

Pre-Calculus and the Witch of Agnesi

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This year, a colleague announced that he needed to take a short leave from school. This is the second teacher in our department who has needed to take time from work this year. Due to an unfortunate shortage of qualified substitutes, teachers in our department have been asked to take on another teaching section. Some teachers are eager to do it, thanks to the bump in pay (after all, who couldn't use a few extra bucks in the bank?). However, some teachers are reluctant to teach an additional period, citing an already busy personal and/or professional schedule. So when I was asked to teach one of my colleague's classes, I was hesitant. But wanting to help out (and with a son looking at tuition payments next year), I agreed. I knew the leave would only be a few weeks and most of it was during the month of November, a month with days off for Election Day, Veterans' Day, and the Thanksgiving break. So when I was asked to cover his Honors Pre-Calculus class, that combination