What's in a name?

A carefully chosen value of one.  Whaaaat?

Relax.  It's a math thing.  I'm going to explain.

What number can you multiply by that won't change a quantity's value?  

You know this--it's 1, of course.  

But what if you need a quantity to stay the same but "look" different so that it will play nicely with its other little math counterparts?  You need common denominators?  Maybe like numerators?  Rationalizing a radical expression?  

You still must multiply by 1... but you choose that value of 1 to suit your needs. ¹⁰⁄₁₀ or perhaps ^[3x(x+2)]⁄_[3x(x+2)].   A carefully chosen value of one.  Sneaky, isn't it?  Math gives you the power over appearances.  Choose wisely!

I suppose every math classroom develops some "language" of its own.  I try to be very careful that my kids know when we're using universally accepted math language (which is most of the time) versus when we are creating our own semantics.  I don't want my students leaving our cozy Ballard family to discover they've been misled for some time (like Matt and Socrates...but that should be a story in somebody else's blog and I digress from my main point).

'Adding the opposite' is universal; 'double slash' is Ballard math talk.  The repeating bar, or vinculum is more or less universal (the delightful Oklahoma blogger, Sarah, at mathequalslove.blogspot.com prompted me to research vinculum); 'Jake bar' is definitely Ballard math talk.  'A carefully chosen value of one' is Dr. Debbie Bosch math talk.  And I couldn't get too far into this writing adventure without giving credit where credit is due.

Dr. Debbie is a dear friend of mine.  But first she was my math professor and degree advisor at Oklahoma Baptist University.  Oh, the stories I could tell.  Oh the stories SHE could tell!  Debbie helped a sometimes-insecure, most-of-the-time-pain-in-the-backside, small-school farm girl learn that we are not created to try to shoulder everything on our own all the time (Galatians 6).  She cared deeply and took the time to find out what I was about.  She and college roomie Martie taught me to laugh at myself.  Debbie was the paragon of support who knew when I needed a swift kick in the pants and when I needed a shoulder to cry on.  She helped me temper excellence with practicality. 

I love to pass on her "carefully chosen value of one" phrase because every time I do I am happy in my mind's eye to have Debbie visiting my classroom for just a moment.

There was, however, one thing that Debbie got wrong.  She wanted me to go teach in a big school.  Nope.  God chose me for a little school.  I am a department of one.  "O Lord, you have searched me and known me!" (Psalm 139).  I am a carefully chosen value of one.

I have the poster pictured above in my classroom.  "One voice can make a song.  One life can change the world."  With God, all things are possible. (Matthew 19:26)  I work hard to be His carefully chosen value of one for this moment in time, this spot wherever I happen to be in the world.  And I often fail.  Miserably.  But grace and mercy are real and they keep me eager to see what's just beyond what I can see now.  Come join me on the journey!

Everything has a beginning...

I have wanted to write a blog.  For years.  I've put it off because I don't really know what I'm doing.

Back in the dark ages, I wrote because it was a way to get thoughts on paper and in doing so, those thoughts kinda straightened themselves out.  (This was even before journals were popular.  I used loose leaf notebook paper... gasp!)  I loved writing papers for Dr. Hagen in Freshman English at OBU because writing was release.  (The passing years may have increased the enamor, but I do remember enjoying most of them!)

Beginning in junior high, when things seemed crazy complicated, I wrote.  I went to college and began to wonder if I had ever known what "crazy complicated" looked like; writing for personal clarity turned strategically sporadic.  Then I started teaching and "crazy complicated" took on a whole new dimension, so I wrote a little less.  Then I got married...

Outside of a few entries made in my Bible study and fishing journals during the summers, I haven't written much for, let's say 25 years.  

But I want to do this.  I want to have a place to reflect on teaching.  I want a place where I can throw out ideas that might be helpful to other teachers, passing on some of the inspiration that builds in me from reading others' blogs.  I want to be able to look back and say "What in the world was I thinking?" as well as "Well, that was cool!".

I want a place where I can chronicle bicycling.  I am going to ride across the US.  Lord willing, and the Creek don't rise. (That idiom intends no disrespect to my native American friends.)

I want a place where I can revel in the awesomeness of our Creator and give thanks for the creative work He continues to do in me.

I want a place to write about things I haven't even thought about writing about yet. :)

I still don't know what I'm doing.  But let the adventure begin!