Lately, many of my main roles in life (math tutor, driving teacher, media critic, board member, awards competition judge, sports scorekeeper) seem to involve numbers.
The photo above illustrates an essential aspect of this conundrum.
How can I translate directions to an inexperienced driver as to how to guide the automobile backwards at the proper angle to allow for a series of adjustments that ultimately will help her maneuver the vehicle in place?
In this case, I secured four orange traffic cones to approximate the area between two hypothetical parked cars. Then, I asked my student to back in without hitting any of the cones (i.e., cars).
She was completely flummoxed.
This experience reminded me of trying to help my kids with their math homework. Much of what I try to teach seems somehow to get lost in the translation. And, of course, I often get lost myself in the wilderness of higher math.
Every other activity of mine can be reduced to a numerical sequence. That, of course, is the beauty of numbers, and the reason for this post.
Plus, I really think this photo is funny. :)
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2 comments:
David,
Got tickled by this post. It took me back to driver's ed in high school. Looking forward to having wheels of my own, I'd of done almost anything to qualify. But no one warned us about parallel parking.
I don't know how many attempts later, but when I finally “scored” for the first time there was a real sense of, “Eureka, finally got that behind me!”. Short lived.
In driving, for me at least, the worst thing about parallel parking is that it still feels like a test every time I have to (and I go to great lengths not to). Worse, I still don't always pass the test the first time!
Tell your student for me, please, that if she doesn't enjoy this part, she's in good company.
Dan
Dan, thank you so much for the support. I am the student. Though David is a patient, excellent instructor, parallel parking is confusing!
But I do think the photo is funny. :)
J
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