Paper Jack had a secret: He lived on a piece of paper. You might have thought that was obvious from his name, but the truth is, his friends didn’t know. They thought his name was some sort of clever, hipster nickname. Like Two Fingers Tommy or Rick the Knife. Two Fingers Tommy didn’t really have…
Author: Clio
i am
i am devoured i am exhausted i am denied that which i have been i am relegated to the edges i am devoted i protect my charge and when she whispers i elevate her voice until it shimmers and shatters and tears itself asunder i am legion i am nothing i am left to scrape…
the name that i have been given
the name that i have been given speaks to a child that doesn’t understand the cruelty of the world as if it is a given as if that is how the world must be as if the child is the one that is broken because they cannot understand you might say it in the space of a heartbeat…
Functions and Domains: The Other Shoe
I have taught high school mathematics for nearly a decade. I have a BS in Mathematics. The Algebra II curriculum, which I largely built for my school, is based on “the story of functions”. And yet, it was only the other day that I noticed something that was woefully wrong about the way that I’ve…
i have a poem
i have a poem sitting on my tongue like the eucharist and it melts into my skin even as i try to expel it i want to let these tears go but they stick to my cheeks like icicles that crack with my forced smile these words used to matter but they’ve folded into themselves…
Rate of Change and the Power Rule
I’ll keep this one short. Also, it’s on calculus, for whatever that’s worth. The Power Rule for Differentiation says that the derivative of a monomial \(ax^b\) is \(abx^{b-1}\). Last night I noticed a way to derive this for positive integers that I believe I’ve seen before (so I’m not claiming originality), but which is different…
Non-Binary Students and Pronouns
A Guide for Public School Educators In an earlier article, I discussed binarist language and provided some ideas for avoiding it with your students. In this article, I’m focusing specifically on pronouns. First of all, though: Thank you for taking the time to read what follows. For many people, the increasing visibility of non-binary persons and the accompanying…
Seriously, It’s Just Division
Don’t get caught up on the concept of “fractions”. There is one topic students of mathematics consistently struggle with, to the point that it has become legendary: Fractions. I teach Algebra II. Fractions don’t exist. I’m not saying, of course, that \(\frac12\) and \(\frac5{31}\) aren’t things that might occur. I mean that I encourage students…
“O Function! My Function!”
I’m going to build a simple set of functions. This set will wind up being very familiar when I’m done, but let’s pretend for a few minutes first. Function and Operators In case you’ve forgotten what a mathematical function is, there are a few quick ways to refresh your memory. A common way is to…
Summer Taylor’s Pronouns
Respecting someone’s memory includes respecting their entire identity. Summer Taylor, who was nonbinary, was murdered during a BLM protest when a driver illegally entered a closed portion of I5 in Seattle, drove around a vehicular barricade, and sped into a crowd. Summer, like many nonbinary people, used “they” pronouns. Respecting their life fully includes respecting that fact….