What are your plans and how do you spend the holidays?

In my family its a tradition to spend the holiday the whole family together. Normally on the first weeks of December we put up a Christmas tree on the living room where we give the gifts, the same day we put a "Nacimiento" which is a tradition in my house, we normally had two a little one for the main table and a big one, but unfortunately the big one is incomplete after all its years of use. The tree was decorated is decorated as a family, some people put the lights and then the ornaments. When school is over and my aunts jobs have holidays, we do the "Hayacas" and "Boyitos" which are the traditional Christmas plate in Venezuela. This is also done in a family reunion that weekend when we are all free. That takes up about two days to do. Normally there is a week between the day we get out of school and Christmas day. On that week, we all go out to do our Christmas shopping, which is done pretty quickly. Some years we decide to do a kind of Secret Santa, where someone buys a big gift for their person, and then a little gift for the rest of the family. On Christmas day, we all come to my house, and start giving out the gifts. The youngest of my aunts lives outside the country, so now, we put one of the laptops that have a camera, and have a skype conference with her while we give out the gifts, so she and her husband can see us. Afterwards there is normally a party in which we invite close family members and friends to have a good time and eat, we sometimes serve hayacas, pernil, and chicken salad, but lately it has only been chicken salad and pernil, because of time and space. This year, we already put up our Christmas tree, our Nacimiento, and are planning on doing the Hayacas this next weekend to follow the family tradition. We will do the same as every year because we like to have a tradition on Christmas. I love Christmas and I think its one of the most beautiful holidays.

Have a nice Christmas and enjoy!

Reflection on the process of the Project

This project for me was kind of a last minute thing, I knew that I had to do the project since months ago, but I always thought oh I have lots of time still so I left it hanging for a couple of weeks. At first what I did was to choose my topic, which was how to classify triangles by their sides, that part was very easy, because there is a general explenation everywhere, and we were just studying that in class, so that part was very easy. Afterwards I got stuck on the secon part of the project which was to find two people who contributed on the dicovery of it, this part was very hard, because I coulnt find any information anywhere, and I got stuck. I then asked Mr. Davis what should I do with this part, and he told me to be creative, by being creative I found two things that were made out of triangles and had a good explenation on how they were made and why. So thats how I did the part of the research. Then the part of creating the web page came, I am very bad with the computer, I only know how to do the basics. Creating the web page was easy because it is a simple process, but then when I pasted the project there, like from a word document to the page, it moved, and the images didnt appear, it was a mess. So I had to save the images, copy it again and then put the images back into the actual page of the project. Then I had another problem with the page, which was that I had two because of the first one that I did that hadnt worked and the second one, so I spent a good 15 minutes figuring out how to take the page that didnt work from the site.
In general this project was very easy at the end, only that it needed like very small pieces of information, that in some topics were hard to find.

What Am I Grateful For?

With Thanksgiving coming this week, I think that I am grateful for everything that I have in my life. Im grateful for having a family, that loves me and that is always going to be there for me when I need someone to talk to, or even ask to be picked up at school, I know I can count on any person from my family to do me a favour. I can also be grateful for the house I have, it is actually a big house, and I am grateful that I have a place to live and can be comfortable every day that Im in it, and that I have everything that I need in there. Im grateful for being able to go to school because many people dont have the oportunity to have a proper education, and Im am very grateful to be studiying in a school like CIC, because for me, its been an oportunity of a life time. I can also say that I am very grateful for the food that is served in my house, because even though I sometimes dont like it, I at least have something to eat and there will always be something that I can eat if Im hungry. I am aslo grateful for the friends I have, and have made in the past couple of years, because truthfully they are some of the best people I have known in my life, thay have always been there for me, when I need it, and will support me no matter what. Finally Im grateful for all the things that I have, and must say that I am very priviliged to have them, because many people just dont have the oppportunity to buy the things we have. I think that im grateful for everything that has come in or out of my life, because there must be a reason that Im getting or not getting the things I want.

The Project

Well for my project, I am very behind, because the information is never clear. I am doing the three types of triangles by the measure of their sides. Finding the classification is very easy, because it is everywere, but, the part that has not been clear or easy to find for this project, is the people who have contributed in tthe discovery of thsi problems. I think that I have to sit with patience to find it, but I have lots of work, so it has been even harder for me to actually sit down and do the project. I will probably have time to finish it this week and turn it in on time, but I have to take one day of the week to do it so I can find all the information and write about it. In general I am really behind in this project because I cant find the information I need in order to complete it.

What has been the most difficult topic so far this year? Why? Do you understand it now?

I think that as far as this year has gone, the hardest topic that I have encountered in class, has been the things about the interior and exterior angles. I think I have problems with this topic, because I quite dont get the trick in where you can determine whether they are Alternate Interior Angles and Alternate Exterior Angles, because I really dont get the concept. I think I also have problems with them, because I can't picture the interior or exterior angles in my mind, and because of that it makes it be harder for me. I think that if I work on it, a little while longer, and practice it, I will be able to do it, with no problems. But I still need to work on that. Another thing that has come hard on me, are the two column proofs, I just can express what's going on in statements, Im more of a written proof because I can describe it and give the reasons in my own words without the statements, that are like steps.

What is the best way you learn in the math class and why?

In math class, the best way I learn, is when I have my notes from the book done, and the teacher explains things to me. I think this is because when I have the notes done from the book I can refer to the theormes and concepts that I dont know what they are or what to do with them. On the other hand I like having a teacher that explains things to me, because I can actually understand what they are explaining or teaching me, because when you reffer to the examples of the book, they explain to you very mathematically but when you are being taught by a teacher they can twist the situation, and make it easier to understand. Another way of understanding things easily, is when I have other people to ask to, because when you can ask other people what they think its the answer and they know how to explain it, its easier to do anything, because you have what I would cal "Moral Support". This is important to me because sometimes I need to ask other people what they think the answer is because I want to make sure I have it right, or because I want to understand the concept better.

Explain ways you have used math recently in your life....math class doesn't count :)

I normally use math in my life, even when I'm outside math class. For example, I am currently working for a show of my aunts, and get paid by weekend, so I now have to keep track of the money I win or that I spend, just to make sure that is always complete. Another example is when I have chemestry and I have to figure out how many protons are in an atom or things like that. Or in the same case of chemestry, when we do labs and we have to measure the quantities of water in the test tubes and beakers, and you have to make sure you have the right quantities so the lab actually works. Another moment when I use math, is when I'm trying to figure out what time is in Spain so I can talk to my best friend that's living there, its not much but you have to add 6 hours to your current time, so its a little bit of math still. We use math everyday even when we dont really notice it, like when you are counting the days left for something, or counting the days back to figure out what time it is, you do math almost every second of your day, because you are thinking of the time, days, number of people, and things like that.

My perfect math class would be.....

My perfect math class would be a day, when during the class we learn a lesson that is fun. It would also be the perfect class if we did more activities, like of interacting with classmates, like a little bit of free time I guess.

For me Geometry class, makes itself long, and sometimes boring, because even though when we do problems and things as a group we talk, sometimes I think that we get stuck at some point, and we cant think anymore, so having a couple of free timed minutes, would make class better. Another thing that would make math class better, is that if we had more space to work, because like we have a new student the space is more limited, this is not an issue, because I can actually work with enough space, but probably the person next to me has little space or something, and itas uncomfortable.

I think that math class overall is better than last year, because the "schedule" in class is more relaxed than last year, but we still could improve a couple of things, like the time, and space in class.

Pretend you are a shape. Which shape would you be and why?

I think that if I could be a shape, I probably would be an oval, because it has a rounded shape, but is not completely round like a circle. I think I would like to be an oval, because it would be easier to go around, this is, because when you are rolling around, you can stop, because its easier to stop because its not completely round, so you have a little bit of support for stopping. I think that being a shape may be hard, because all of them have their pros and cons. I think that the best shape to be is the oval, because you can roll around easily, and stop easily too. But on the other hand, there are also a couple of cons, because even though stopping might be easier, the first time you roll to start "walking" must be very hard to do, and will require a lot of strenght.

What Math Did I Use At Home, and Surgery?

Well, I didnt use that much math at home, or eve during the surgery, because I was very lazy during those days. But even though I was lazy, I had to do a couple of things that required a little bit of math. I had to do jello, so I had to measure the quantities of water and sugar, because I did two packages of jello so, the quantities had to be modified a little bit. During the surgery, I tried to distract myself with something, so what I did was see the clock a couple of times, that made me think about the last time I had seen the clock, and added the time... Afterwards I did one more thing of math, that was count the hours in between the antibiotics, I had to count 12 hours before I could take that one, and also had to count anout 6 hours to take the pain killers.

As I said, it wasnt much math, because really I was asleep half the time, and wasnt paying much attention to anything those days.

The Data for My Project

This week I dedicated myself to find the data for my project. First of all I found a good website, http://countrystudies.us/united-states/weather/, which helped me to find the average temperatures for all of the US cities, I wanted to use for my project. Then I listed a couple of the cities I wanted to use for my project, each one with its High and Low average temperature. After doing that, I need to know the longitude and latitude of each city, so i searched in google for a good website, http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001796.html, this one listed a couple of the cities I needed, so then I had to do a specific search and found this website, http://www.infoplease.com/atlas/latitude-longitude.html. In this one, you could search for the city you wanted to, and it would tell you the exact longitude and latitude. When I had all the data for the project, I went into word and created a Data Table with all of the numbers, and names. For now the project has been easy, and Ive been able to do it quickly but efficiently.

About The Project

I think that the project would be something cool to do, because I would actually learn about the climate in the united states, because mostly all I know is that there are four seasons, and that in summer its really hot, and in winter its really cold. It woiuld also be nice, because we would be involving math, with another subject, like humanities, because of the location of the states, and the longitud and latitud of each city.
On the other hand, it might be a little boring too, because its not that interesting, or motivating, like the project we did last year. Like i think its going to be nice to learn about the weather in the US, but I also think that we will get to a point were it will get boring, because climate might not be the most interesting thing to research of.
This project would also help me review some of the lessons, I have learned this year, like conjectures, and even from last year, like making data tables, and scatter plot points.
In general I think that this project would be nice to be done, because we would be mixing subjects, and reviewing. We would also be learning about the climate of different cities from the United States. But I also think that it might be a little not fun activity to do.

Ask me three questions, with a reason as to why you want to know. One may not be related to math :)

OK, so I really dont know what to ask you...

1) Am I going to get the same privileges as the people in my class? like when they watch a movie or something, am I going to be able to see it too, or do I have to work?

2) Are we doing a project this year? like last year we did the project at the end of the semester, of how we could improve the popularity of the school?

3) Who is this years soccer coach? Because last year you said we were getting a new one.

How do you best study for math exams and what grades are you expecting in math this year?

I think that I study better for my math exams, when I take the book home, and get to see the examples directlky from the book, because it explains to you everything step by step. So this is an advantage, because I can actually get the notes from the chapter in the book, and it helps me study, when I can see everything step by step, rather than remembering everything and how we did the things in class. This year I expect to get a higher grade in math class, I think that I may get higher grades than last year, because I can actually study directly from the book, and my notes are all from the book. So this will help me in the exams, because sometimes I look at my notes from class, and say, "How did we do this?" because I dont have the exact procedure. Really I dont expect to get a 7, but I hope I get a 6, because I actually think that geometry is alike to algebra, but you need to be able to visualize things in graphs, and triangles. In general I think I can do better this year than I did last year.

What Do I Expect This Year in Math

This Year in math I expect to become better in Geometry, and be able to get higher grades all year round. Last year, was a good year, but I expect to become a better student in geometry, and be able to get a grade higher than a 5, which was my last semester grade. Although this year I’m working with the text book, I find that it will teach me to be more independent, and for me I concentrate better when I’m working alone and not with a lot of people. But even though I like working alone I think it’s better to work in a group. Anyways this year I hope that I will be more constant with ALEKS (if we use it), because last year I was lazy and practically didn’t use it. So I want to be more constant and to be more focused.