Whew

reathing a deep sigh of relief today. Well, let me back up a little: Ive been struggling in my pre-calculus class because my teacher is a fucking crack head and his lectures are completely incoherent and impossible to follow. I almost left class in tears on Friday because I am nearing my wits end. I need to take calculus next term to stay on track with the engineering program so I have to pass this class and go into calculus with a good grasp on this stuff. Well, that isnt happening right now. Last week we got our grades on our first quiz and only 3 people out of 25 passed it and the average score was a 56. So, Im not the only one who cant seem to learn shit from this guy.
Anywho! I just got a text from a friend of mine saying that he will tutor me and not to worry about it. *Whew*.

This reminds me of a huge pet-peeve of mine that Ive recently discovered, and that is when teachers show up to class with no apparent game plan or lecture or material prepared. And Ive noticed this more often in math classes recently which I think is totally unacceptable! You cant just show up and wing it and expect that students are going to walk away with any sort of deep understanding of whats going on. This is what inevitably ends up happening when a teacher is winging it through a math lecture: a student will pick a confusing problem out of the book and ask about it; the teacher, having never seen the problem in his life, will try to work the problem out on the board when he realizes, that, gee, the problem is tough and HE ends up spinning his wheels on it a bit before remembering, "oh yeah, thats how you do it"; while trying to notate and follow the whole process, the class ends up more confused than ever. Ive been in great math classes and the thing that sets them apart is that the teacher shows up with a prepared lecture, prepared notes for the students to follow and copy, strategically selected example problems that illustrate each facet of the formula/rule/whatever that is being taught, AMPLE time for question and answer, and a good understanding of what needs to be covered for each homework assignment. I fucking HATE IT when the teacher asks you if you have any questions about the homework and you know damn well he didnt cover everything he assigned (mostly because he has no idea what he's assigned) and you get home, look at the homework and have a million questions. The thing that angers me most is that teaching is this guys JOB. I am expected as a student to come to class prepared, he should MOST CERTAINLY be expected as the teacher to have lectures and etc. prepared for class!

Ok. End rant. I guess Im just super fired up about this because Ive never struggled in math so much. Perhaps Ive always had good math teachers and thats why it seemed to come so easily to me. Oh, good teachers of the world, how I love and appreciate you more than ever right now.

In complete contrast to this, my Physics/Strength of Materials teacher is brilliant and amazing and awesome and I love her. I only wish she taught every class I need to take.

Seamus is making delicious flank steak for dinner tonight. Mmmm...

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