Teachers act as if student interest will be generated only by diversions outside of mathematics. (page 89 of The Teaching Gap)
Some of my recent actions on social media can probably be directly related to reading the above words right before "pi day." For example:
I understand the desire to "make math interesting" but putting a decimal point between the month and the day of a certain date seems a bit of a stretch. I want people to have fun with math each-and-every day. This resulted in my creating a series of signs with this online generator.
While walking with my wife yesterday, we had the following exchange:
Kathy: How long are you going to do these signs?
Me: I don't know. How long does it take for something to become a meme (pause) or to become annoying?
Kathy: So you want other people to start making the signs?
Me: That was the idea. I want people to find math interesting daily.
Kathy: How many signs have you made?
Me: Three; so when does it get annoying?
Kathy: 3.14 (pause) and look at that, we're back to talking about pi.
Me: You might say we've come "full circle."
Today, I shared this sign.
