Author Archive

Desmos Art Functions Card 2018

https://www.desmos.com/calculator/7vxds94ok4

I found the Christmas card a fun experience overall, but it took a longer period of time than i would have liked. I figured out which equation to use by deciding on what i wanted the picture to look like and what equation worked best for each segment. It took a bit of time to get into a rhythm with translating the equations.A strategy i used was to get the equation into a place pretty close to what I wanted before going into specifics, like decimals. This assignment helped me understand transformations of functions and relations better by visually showing me how each graph moves based on the equation. It was cool to see the graph physically move across the grid.

Childhood Trauma – Synthesis Essay

Childhood trauma has been found to have a lasting effect on the person. Whether it be good or bad, the way a person is treated as a child can be reflected in the road they follow in to adulthood. In the short story Long, Long After School by Ernest Buckler, Wes is an African American boy going to an all-white school. Even though he is bullied by his peers, a teacher always stands by him when he needs help. He grows up to live a peaceful life. On the other hand, in the short story A Teacher’s Rewards by Robert Phillips, Raybe is from a poor household and is deemed a troublemaker by his classmates and teacher. Bullied and beaten by his teacher, he grows up to be a criminal and return to the teacher’s house to finally “finish something.”

 

Whether it was racial or social, Wes and Raybe both faced discrimination in their early childhood. In Long, Long After School, Wes’s race is never outright stated in the text but can be speculated from the way people talk about and treat him. A girl will not hold his hand during a game because “[his] hands are dirty” (Buckler 50). This was insinuating the color of his skin, not his cleanliness. When Wes was hospitalized after punching the window he says, “nobody felt like taking chances for me, anyway” referring to the fact that the hospital will not want to use their plasma bottles on a black person (Buckler 52). In A Teacher’s Reward, Raybe is an orphan living with an aunt who’s barely able to support herself, much less another person. Since his “aunt [cannot] keep [Raybe] in clean shirts”, most assume he’s a troublemaker based on his shaggy appearance (Phillips 386). These assumptions made “the other kids [leave] [Raybe] out of things” (Philips 386). Even the teacher chose to assume his personality based on appearance. Discrimination is the unjust and prejudicial treatment of a person based on appearance. Both Wes and Raybe faced this regardless of who they were as a person.

 

Being bullied as a child can lead to lasting effects in that person’s behavior towards other people and the world. As a child, Wes, from Long, Long After School, was constantly teased by his classmates because he was black. They would make fun of the fact that he cannot blush stating, “Wes is blushing” every time they would say something about him (Buckler 50). Wes was able to handle the boys who made fun of him, but “you cannot hit a girl. There just was not anything [Wes] could do about the girls” (Buckler 50). Wes did not get discouraged by these people and instead chose to spend his time becoming a better student. Wes’s teacher, Ms. Tretheway, was the only person willing to stand up for him. Raybe from the short story, A Teacher’s Rewards, was placed in a similar situation, except his teacher was also bullying him. Raybe was poor off compared to the other students and was deemed an outcast for it. Nobody gave him the chance to become their friend. The teacher, Miss Scofield, would call him names like “Baby-Raybe”, which the other students would then copy (Phillips 381). When she saw him, “[Raybe] was no good to start with” (Phillips 385). This was an assumption she made based on his appearance. She treated him like a criminal before he was one. The students respected Miss Scofield and her opinion and treated him the same way Miss Scofield did. Raybe chose to hang out with sketchy people and outcasts because that was the way he was being treated and ultimately led to his downfall. In each case, the child was bullied for being different.

 

A good teacher helps us to become a better human being in our society and member of our country. Wes and Raybe had an adult figure, in this case a teacher, that played a significant role in their upbringing and choices later in life. Wes, a positive one, and Raybe, a negative one. Wes often thought “[Miss Tretheway] was so beautiful” (Buckler 49) because “she was a real lady” (Buckler 52). Miss Tretheway was a supportive, forward-thinking woman who would not stand for the racism Wes faced. She was constantly willing to help him and never looked down on him. Wes looked up to her for advice and guidance, never hating school regardless of the bullies he faced because he knew Miss Tretheway believed in him. This gave Wes the confidence to pursue good grades and a career. Raybe, on the other hand, was not placed in a learning environment where he looked up to his teacher. He would have his knuckles rapped “dozens of times” simply because the teacher, Miss Scofield, “made [Raybe] out worse than [he] was” (Buckler 384) (Buckler 386). Good teachers that believe that their students can achieve great things are able to motivate and encourage improvement in the student. A teacher with positive behavior and high expectations influences students to perform better. Raybe did not get this kind of teacher and was evident in the fact that he ended up in prison in his adulthood. Constantly being bullied by not only his classmates, but his teacher who was supposed to be his mentor encouraged rebellion. A teacher is in a student’s life to further their growth as an individual and become the best person they can be.

 

 

The things we face as children effect who we become as adults. As evident in the short stories Long, Long After School and A Teachers Rewards, Wes and Raybe both are affected by discrimination, bullying, and a teacher’s influence. Faced with the same bullying and discrimination, it was the role the teacher played in the student’s lives that truly effected their future. A teacher should teach to be a positive mentor that pushes a child to be the best version of themselves as possible, not a jailer who decides who is worthy of the teachers praise.

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The Other Side – Identities Paragraph

People always see news articles about police shootings with an innocent bystander as the victim, and automatically side with the victim. Yes, they are innocent, and it is a misunderstanding, but no one ever wants to hear what the police officer has to say. The short story Identities by W.D. Valgardson tackles a similar topic. The story tells of a man who goes for a Saturday drive through a seedy neighbourhood unbeknownst to societies stereotypes. During a misunderstanding the man is shot by a police officer who thinks he is reaching for a weapon opposed to his wallet. The policeman is justified when he kills the man because the officer tells him to “halt,” the officer feels threatened, and the officer is not trained properly. In Identities, the police officer shoots the man because he believes the man is reaching for a weapon. This comes about when the officer tells the man to “halt,” and expects the man to automatically freeze. In this case however the man decides to reach for his wallet that is hidden in his shirt pocket. In the neighbourhood this takes place, it is assumed that the man is of the troublesome type which only adds to the assumption that the man has a concealed weapon. Police officers are trained to stop a person before they can hurt anyone, and the man looks to be reaching for a weapon he will use to harm others. People will argue that he should not shoot him even though he moves his hand towards his pocket. If the officer waits a split second longer and it is a gun, the officer will be dead. Furthermore, this officer should not be stationed in that neighbourhood. The officer “is inexperienced, [he] is nervous because of the neighbourhood, [he] is suspicious because of the car and has been trained to see an unshaven man in blue jeans as a potential thief” (p.3 paragraph 4). Already faced with the pressures of having a new job and being positioned in a high crime area alone would make any person nervous. Seeing as this story takes place in the 1900s, this officer does not have the stress-relief and profiling training that officers of today receive. This training would have helped the officer stay calm under pressure and not assumed the man’s identity. This officer has not received proper training from his station and is not to be blamed completely for the station’s faults. The officer is not at fault for the shooting of the man and is justified because the officer tells the man to “halt” and stop moving, the officer feels threatened by the man, and the officer does not have proper training.

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My Poem – Enough by Sarah Lilley

Enough 

by Sarah Lilley

Why are girls beautiful until they’re stronger than you?

Ashamed to be around her

Once she’s able to do it better than you do

You refuse to be called anything less than sir

Since her IQ is higher than the mountain

That you’re forcing her to climb

In order to be an overflowing fountain

That you make her struggle for every dime

It’s nothing short of cruelty

Your sympathy is less than treacle

It fails to see her beauty

Because she is less than equal

And the path ahead is rough

But she is enough

This poem is by author Sarah Lilley, addressing the growing case against the enforcement of gender roles. The author sends a clear message that she does not agree with the stereotypes that are placed upon women to submit to men as the more dominant gender.

The poem is written in the form of a sonnet (abab cdcd efef gg) to create a rhyme scheme that fits her poem. The poem’s tone is very judging, almost challenging the reader to contradict the idea. To prove that what she’s stating is wrong. In line 10 it states “your sympathy is less than treacle” meaning that unless you, the reader, make a stand for equality among genders your sympathy will not make a difference.

A metaphor is used in lines 5-6 comparing the woman’s IQ to a mountain that she’s being forced to climb. This means that society has placed many obstacles in front of her goals that she must overcome before moving forward, like a mountain for instance. She must “climb” a difficult mountain of social hierarchy before she’s able to reach her goals as a woman. No matter how smart she may be, it does not matter to people who believe there’s a man just as capable.

The theme of the poem is very feminist. It addresses the underlying problems that our society has placed on the backs of women to carry. It’s made it that much more difficult to get a woman to the same level as a man in the work force because “in order to be an overflowing fountain you make her struggle for every dime”(line 8).

Women are not able to reach their full potential unless they are treated with the same respect as men.

Week 18 – Top 5 Things I Learned

Over this semester of Pre-Calculus 11, we covered many units. But the most important thing I learned, was how to work smarter and not harder. There’s always an easier way to do every problem, and a catchy little acronym to go with it. Each unit we covered brought new insight and challenges into my world of math and problems that stretched my brain as far as possible. But I didn’t hate it. Can Divers Pee Easily Underwater? I know the answer to that question. Does Ms. Burton love Slurpee’s as much as we do? Absolutely. Pre-Calculus 11 had it’s many ups and downs, but i learned so many new things that I’ll take with me into the future. The top 5 lessons I learned this year were:

Arithmetic Sequences:

Arithmetic sequences are a group of numbers (i.e. 4, 9, 14, 19, 24…) that increase by a steady amount. In this case 5. Using the equation t_n=t_1+(n-1)d we can find any number within the sequence, with t_n representing the unknown number, t_1 represents the first number in the sequence, d represents the difference between numbers, and n being the number we’re trying to find. The plugged in equation would look like t_n=4+(n-1)5 which in turn is t_n=5n-1.

With this equation you can implement any number of the sequence into the equation to find it’s value.

Graphing Quadratic Equations:

If we factor a quadratic equation, we can find the roots, as well as the axis of symmetry. With this information, we can draw a quick graph depicting what our parabola would look like.

 

ex. Graph the equation y=-2x^2-6x+20

graphing the equation with only the factored form won’t give us a complete parabola, but it will give us enough information to get a rough idea.

y=-2(x^2+3x-10

$latex y=-2(x+5)(x-2)

replace the “y” with 0.

0=-2(x+5)(x-2)

rearranging the bracketed “x’s” will give us our roots

 

(x+5) -> x=-5, (x-2) -> x=2

with the x-intercepts, we know that when graphed will be in the format (x,y). But since the x-intercept is where the parabola crosses the x-axis, the y-intercept will equal 0. The x-intercepts will be (-5,0) and (2,0). The axis of symmetry is half way between both roots, so the AOS will be x=-1.5.

Using the Discriminant:

The discriminant is the area under the square root in the quadratic equation:

if you have a quadratic equation (equation equal to zero with 3 distinct parts), you can use the quadratic formula to solve. Depending on the answer, we can figure out whether the equation will have 1,2 or 0 solutions. With a quadratic equation in the format ax^2+bx+c we can substitute the a, b and c values into the discriminant equation to find out how many roots.

Parabolas:

Graphs of quadratic functions all have the same shape which we call parabola, that can be graphed to give us information such as the roots, y-intercept, axis of symmetry, etc. In order to find this, we have to first graph it using some of these easy tricks.

A translation is an image of the original parabola, but moved either horizontally or vertically from the original parent equation y=x^2

Depending on the equation, you can determine where the parabola has moved on the number line.

If the coefficient of x^2 changes, the parabola will either stretch or compress. A coefficient less than 1 will cause the parabola to compress, while a coefficient more than 1 will cause it to stretch.

If the coefficient x^2 is negative the parabola will open down, while if it’s positive it will open up.

In the case that your equation looks similar to y=(x+3)^2, with your numbers in brackets, then the “c” will effect whether your parabola translates left or right. If the number is positive, it will translate left, and if it’s negative it will translate right. It does not follow the general idea that negatives go left and positives go right.

Sine and Cosine Law:

Sine and Cosine Law are used to solve for angles and sides of a triangle that isn’t a right triangle.

Sine Law is used when you’re able to use the formula \frac{a}{sin A}=\frac{b}{sin B}=\frac{c}{sin C}. In order to use the formula you must have all values of one fraction, and half of 1 other. This way, you can solve for an angle/side you’re missing. It can be any part of the formula, as long as one + half of another is given.

Cosine law is used when two sides and one angle are given to you, but you’re trying to find the missing side. The formula used is a^2=b^2+c^2-2bc(cos A) for finding a side, or cos A=\frac{b^2+c^2-a^2}{2bc}.

Week 17 – Sine Law and Cosine Law

This week we learned how to use Sine Law and Cosine Law to find the angles and sides of triangles that aren’t right angles.

Sine and Cosine Law are used to solve for angles and sides of a triangle that isn’t a right triangle.

Sine Law is used when you’re able to use the formula \frac{a}{sin A}=\frac{b}{sin B}=\frac{c}{sin C}. In order to use the formula you must have all values of one fraction, and half of 1 other. This way, you can solve for an angle/side you’re missing. It can be any part of the formula, as long as one + half of another is given.

Cosine law is used when two sides and one angle are given to you, but you’re trying to find the missing side. The formula used is a^2=b^2+c^2-2bc(cos A) for finding a side, or cos A=\frac{b^2+c^2-a^2}{2bc}.

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