Joy of Math is taking shape
Over the last couple of days, I’ve started putting up files from my favorite class to teach, Joy of Math. I am proud of this class above any other because I conceived of, developed, and taught it. I also spent a semester improving the materials with the help of my advisor in second language studies at the University of Hawaii, Dr. Richard Day.
This class was surprisingly popular when I taught it in the Hawaii English Language Program–in fact, I had the opportunity to teach it four times while I was there. It changed based on each group of students, and I added to it each time I taught it.
I came up with the idea for this class because my undergraduate degree is in math, so I had a good idea of all the interesting things that could be done with it, in terms of both language and content. I was lucky that my boss, Steve Jacques, gave me the freedom, encouragement, and access to resources that I needed to make it happen!
If you are familiar with the “Joy of Math” series of books by Theoni Pappas, you will immediately recognize where the title of this class came from. I did use a few resources from those books, but obviously, I don’t have the rights to republish those here. Even without those, however, I have more than a course’s worth of material, and it will slowly be appearing on the page.
