Monday, September 17, 2007

Planning Ahead

Halloween is my second favourite holiday, and I couldn't be more excited about this year. To begin with, I missed it last year, so I need to compensate. Secondly, I will get to dress up for school, which is awesome. I've decided that for my school costume I want to be something math-related. I know it's super-dorky, but I am a math teacher after all. If I can't embrace the dorkiness (in an attempt to normalize it, of course), then this career path is not going to turn out well for me.

But what to wear? I am completely stumped as to what would make a good costume. I don't want to dress up like a famous mathematician because (1) even if I tell people, they still won't know who I am and (2) that's not fun. I also want to avoid just writing a lot of numbers on a shirt and being pi/the fibonacci sequence/whatever, because that's not so much a costume as it is a t-shirt with numbers on it.

Suggestions, please!

10 comments:

Jaya said...

You could be a cartesian plane, and plot something neat-looking on your axes. Of course, you'd have to hold your arms out all day...

Roni said...

Math superhero! You would get to wear a cape, have a wall activity where kids could vote for your superpowers, sport a mask complete with logo. You and your CT could be a dangerous duo, fighting crime/idiocy with mathematical powers...of 10!. Of course, flying through the hallways would be a necessary (and excusable) activity.

Hmmm...but what to name a math superhero? Madam Calcutron?

BTW, I'm totally jealous that you get to dress up for Halloween. I'm going to carve a jack-o-lantern for the school if I can find the right kind of pumpkin. In the land of school uniforms I think that's just about the best I can do.

Jen said...

Binary woman? A take off on Roni's suggestion? Or be a ruler - now that would be true dorky.

Anonymous said...

Geetha,
Jason, son #2 taught math for 8 years at Howell High School (now assistant principal) and dressed for his freshman classes as The Count from sesame street. He had language down and a few jokes. He thought it went well. That's my input. How did you end up in Cal. student teaching for math?

Bill


PS - your mom is the favorite librarian at Emerson this year.

Linda said...

Suggestions from my school:

A student suggested you be a Mathmagician.

Sam suggested a square root and Mary suggested a little higher level and make it a cubic root. Make a cube (or square). Paint it to look like a carrot or other familiar root.

Beth suggested the triangular trigonometric mountain of SUCATOA. She assures me that that is an acronym for some trig process but I am not sure what it is or even if I spelled it correctly.

In my day you could have been a slide rule but I suppose that is a bit dated. I am still asking others for ideas.

Good luck

Anonymous said...

I have been Long John Division in the past. You could just add math symbols to, or instead of the Jolly Roger. It also lends itself to the treasure hunt as a math lesson.

In High School, one of my teachers arrived as Sister Mary Hypoteneuse, with a compass in place of the crucifix on her rosary, as well as a protractor in place of the ruler used to swat children. Clearly a Catholic school education left a nasty mark on a few of my old faculty.

If I think of anything else ...

MEF

Anonymous said...

Several people have suggested some variations of pi--an apple pie with radius and circumference somehow coordinated. You could do a square pie of some sort because, as we all know, pi are squared.

Or a pie chart of some sort.

Somewhere is the perfect costume.
I have the Dean of the UM School of Information (formerly head of the Computer Science Dept.) on this.
You better let us all know what is the final choice.

Anonymous said...

Geetha:
You are good at calculus, so you could carry a calculus integration sign in your left hand and a Sigma sign on the right hand (like bow and arrow. A gown with Square root and Pi signs. A beard to show that you are a mathematician (my biases show). You will need someone to carry the goodie basket.

Anonymous said...

An irrational number--with wild hair and maybe even a straight jacket.

A proper or improper fraction. I envision a proper fraction having a little pill box hat and white gloves. The improper fraction would be more fun in a setting where you don't have to make any attempts to be teacherly.

Pi rat--A rat with lots of pi signs or other pi references.

Anonymous said...

Someone beat me to the square pie idea. Here's another: you could go as a flower that illustrates the fibonacci sequence, which all flower petals do, so you'd have lots of choices.