Chapter 5: Stories Quantitative Data Tell, Continued (Days 29-30)

NOTE: Yesterday I posted some confusing information about the date of final exams here. I've since received corrected information, and so I have edited out the incorrect date from yesterday's post.

Today in Stats, we continue with the next six pages in Chapter 5, "Stories Quantitative Data Tell." These pages continue with boxplots and show how they can be used to compare changes in data over time. But after school, the schedule changes that I proposed in yesterday's post become official. The lone guy in my first period Stats class has agreed to move to my fifth period. His previous fifth period class was art, and the art teacher will enroll him in her first period class, even though it's a slightly different art class.

And so starting on Thursday, the next time that odd periods meet, I will have first period conference, third period Calculus, and fifth period Stats -- now my only general Stats class. At the same time, the principal tells me that she is in contact with the math teachers at the main high school in the district, and we'll see whether they agree to let me observe their classes. As I wrote earlier, some of my recent Calculus classes have been shaky, and so it will help for me to watch an experienced teacher. And of course seeing the unfamiliar Ethnostats class taught will help me as well.

So what does this mean for my blogging schedule? On one hand, it's easy to say that I should start posting on even days and make Ethnostats the focus of my blog, now that I have two Ethnostats classes and just one general Stats class. (And considering that fourth period Ethnostats is still my largest class, perhaps I should have blogged it from the start.) On the other hand, I don't want to change horses midstream. I've already committed to focusing on Stats here, and I wish to continue. And besides, I like saving the Ethnostats classes for Twitter. Therefore I will maintain my blogging schedule. The blog will now focus mainly on my fifth period Stats and the four students who will now be in that class, and the blogging schedule will still be each day that fifth period meets -- Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays.

Meanwhile, the days when I observe any math teachers from the main high school will become "A Day in the Life" on the blog, since my observations are worth noting. Keep in mind, though, that while the sister campus also has a block schedule, it's a different block schedule from the one on our campus. (I won't fully explain the new schedule on the blog until I deem it necessary to do so.) Then again, due to that different schedule, it could turn out that the best time for my observation would be during my sixth period conference (that is, on a non-blogging day) rather than first period.

In third period Calculus, we move on to Section 2.6, "Derivatives and Rates of Change." It is the first time that the word "derivative" appears in the text. With more time today, this lesson goes more smoothly.

Many graphs in today's Stats relate to a certain New England forest, wind speed, and temperature. One question in the homework briefly mentions global warming. Maybe this is why the previous Ethnostats teacher tied this chapter to the global warming unit. Also, recall that in September 2019, Greta Thunberg made her UN speech. There is currently a UN General Assembly meeting right now, and global warming is an issue today. So I could tie tomorrow's assignment to today's global warming news.

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