Looting and Burning Tonight

The former Shop'n'Save will be closing for good Sunday evening. (Rumor has it Hobby Lobby will be taking the space.) Many of its shelves are empty, and what's left is all on sale. I needed to buy a jug of milk, so I stopped off on the way home from work. I bought... more than milk, and probably would have gone even further if I'd had more carrying capacity than a shoulder bag. A packet of sharp cheddar, a couple of frozen dinners, and a pint each of Haagen-Dazs Coffee and Ben & Jerry's Vanilla Caramel Fudge. (The ice cream was 50% off, and I resisted temptation as much as I could.) I felt kind of like a barbarian picking through the ruins of a conquered city. (The cashier did not find this remark amusing, sad to say.)

Next week, I'll have to switch over to the other Schnucks. Blah.

Testing, Testing!

Today I returned the second (and last) midterm to my Linear Algebra class. I wasn't pleased with the scores, and I guess quite a few students were even more displeased. I hate when this happens - I feel as though I've failed them somehow.

At any rate, I went over the problems for them. One of the problems had several different lines of attack, and I went over two of the most direct methods. One student - one who'd done well - raised his hand: "Could you do :this:?" It was a good idea, and I quickly described what he'd find if he took that route.

Finishing the review, I continued with the current material, involving coordinates with respect to a basis. I showed them a few examples, pointing out the geometric content and showing how this allowed a shift from abstract vector spaces to things that look very much like R^n. I got just to the verge of discussing the mechanics of change-of-basis when time ran out.

The student with the good idea came up to me then, and said, "I see what I did wrong. I stopped too soon; I should have gone and :done this and this: Then I'd wind up with :this:" I agreed, and pointed out that he was doing precisely what I'd been talking about moments before, and that the result was precisely change-of-basis - the subject of the next class session. "Yes, you're on the right track!"

As he walked away, he was laughing softly, in tones of joy.

I may not have connected with quite a few students, but this kid's got it.