Issue link: http://latinschool.uberflip.com/i/837825
Around School My Story Around School L ast year, I taught calculus for the first time to a class of 12 eager mathematically bent sophomores and juniors. Less than two class periods into the subject, my understanding of calculus came into fundamental disagreement with section 1.1 of our textbook. "e limit does not exist" declared Anton, Bivens, and Davis via the bright yellow, 8-pound behemoth named Calculus, 10th Edition. "e limit is clearly infinity!" my brain confidently whispered, as I visualized the function accelerating northward on both sides of the vertical asymptote. I waited a moment, and then uttered three words that 1871 CEO Howard Tullman abhors: "I don't know." "I don't know." ree powerful words I use dozens of times each week in the math classroom. It's a phrase that I think good teachers embrace. "I don't know" doesn't necessarily mean I haven't thought about a concept. Rather, I might know enough about that topic that two or more ideas feel in conflict. Given a question from a student that either has the answer "6.3" or "I don't know," I'd pick the latter every time. "I don't know" is the beginning of a conversation, returning the pursuit of learning to the entire class. "Why don't we all look into it tonight and compare ideas tomorrow?" Asking great questions in math is as much a skill to develop as methods to finding solutions. Questions that don't have clear answers, questions that make you work for their answers, questions that lead you to learn something new as you explore their answers, those are the questions I want students to ask. "I don't know" doesn't mean I won't know. Over the last few years, we've learned much about growth mindset at Latin and that we can develop our abilities through care and hard work. Mr. Tullman's banning and belittling of the phrase may be his blunt way of communicating to employees to do the grunt work of seeking out answers, but it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth as an educator. We teachers try to model lifelong learning, and saying "I don't know" is a simple way to present that mindset. It's important to follow up those words with actions that demonstrate ways to find solutions – talking with colleagues, watching YouTube videos, reading books, etc. To me, saying "I don't know" most often means "I don't know, but I will do my damned best to figure it out." ough I respect the culture of grit and perseverance Mr. Tullman is trying to create at 1871, the outlawing of "I don't know" and calling its users "lazy" feels too broad a stroke and symbolic of an aggressive, know-it-all culture. at "I don't know something" is because I am human, and even though I love and am relatively good at mathematics, there is always more to learn. "I don't know" is also a completely valid answer to many questions, even in mathematics, a subject in which many think there is always a correct answer. e higher the level of math, the more you focus on investigating conflict and nuance. In my Algebra 1 class last fall, we had an animated discussion about the value of 0 divided by 0. Does it follow the pattern of x/x = 1? Some students focused on the numerator: "0 divided by anything is 0!," they confidently proclaimed. Or does the 0 in the denominator mean the expression is undefined? e students who were able to hold these three individually persuasive yet incompatible ideas in their head at once came to what I believe is the best understanding of the value of 0/0: "I don't know." is conclusion is far from lazy, Mr. Tullman. It is a product of number sense and years of math education. On a pre-calculus "I Don't Know... Yet!" – Zach McArthur, Upper School Mathematics Note: The line x=0 is a vertical asymptote 20 Around School