I got to speak at Ritter Elementary's (K-5) Career Day yesterday. A friend of mine works as a counselor there, and recruited pretty much whoever was willing to take the time and brave enough to face the kids.
The morning started off with a performance from the school orchestra -- lots and lots of violinists, mostly in their first year playing -- you know, a Gaussian in the time domain is also a Gaussian in the frequency domain!. (Not to mock the kids, quite impressive for relative beginners on a difficult instrument. I just won't lie and say it sounded "good".)
I spoke to three classrooms over the course of the day. Fortunately, the AP who organized the event scheduled me to speak with the 4th and 5th graders -- I think I would have been completely lost if I had to try and explain what I do to kindergarteners.
The second of three classes was the toughest, so I'll get that out of the way first. I was only able to keep their interest about half of the time, and there were some minor confrontations between the teacher and a few students. For a stretch the kids were only interested in talking about action movies and robots. One of the girls asked about some pictures she saw of the DARPA Grand Challenge (autonomous vehicle race), and so I got to explain a little bit about that, and finally find my way back on topic. That was the hardest part of the whole day, and it still managed to be a good time at that.
The fifth graders, who I spoke to last, were horribly disappointed when I walked in the door. You see, Chuck E. Cheese was also supposed to be there at some point, to talk about exciting careers in cooking pizza. The kids, naturally, were suckers for anyone in costume. Needless to say, they wouldn't be thrilled getting Tim the Scientist instead...
Or actually...
They warmed up to me pretty quickly, and even asked a lot of good questions. Seeing them actually interested was great, and I even got to make a good example of myself, and did a bit of storytelling re: how I ended up getting interested in what I do, "stay in school kids" (only less cheesy), that sort of thing. The kids also got a big kick out of it (and I especially loved the irony) when they asked when/what was my first job. "When I was 15, I got a job cooking pizza." Who's the pizza man now, huh?
The very first class of the day, when I was the most nervous, probably went the best. The teacher definitely helped -- he seemed like a nice guy, had a great rapport with the kids, and they actually listened to him (well, about as much as 4th graders listen to anyone...). Once or twice near the start the teacher helped out when I didn't know what to say next, but once I started interacting with the kids, with questions back and forth, it was really easy.
At any given time, anywhere from a third to a half of the class wanted to ask me questions -- good questions. Even if the questions seemed silly, they were almost all earnest questions from curious kids. My absolute favorite was asked by a quiet boy after I mentioned I used to work for a bunch of astronomers: "Have you ever been to the moon?"
The kids in that class were quite impressed with me by the end -- a few of the cool/loud kids (you know the type) loudly declared that I was "pretty cool", and the rest of the class agreed.
The highlight of the day, though, and a moment that I'll probably cherish for the rest of my life, came right after that. They thanked me for coming, I thanked them for listening, then started to gather my stuff to go. A little girl -- a quiet geek in training who wants to study Biology someday -- walked up to me. She held out her notebook (with ponies!) and a sparkly pen. "Can I have your autograph?" A couple kids behind her chuckled at that, so she spun around, hands on her hips, and declared, "I'm not embarassed!"
Almost immediately, the rest of the class rushed behind her and lined up to ask me to sign whatever scraps of paper they had handy. Okay, it was only really a line after a bit of helpful prodding from the teacher, but they rushed up nonetheless. Thinking about it again on the way home, I almost cried.
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4 comments:
The autograph thing is really sweet (for multiple meanings of the word 'sweet'). I totally forgot that this "field trip" was what you were doing today -- I though the dance party on campus was tonight, which was part of the reason I asked about Buffy/Angel for the late afternoon. (The other is that I had plans for the evening.)
I actually have been asked for my autograph before, but it was at a conference and by people in college. It didn't have the extra awesomeness that you had today.
You know what would have been even more awesome? If one of the kids had asked you about random cracks. I would have cherished that!
Anyway, going back to being seriousness, what you did today is extremely valuable and rewarding, so I'm glad it worked out very well. The nerves for things like that go away with practice. (It's amazing how I can be so calm and collected in some areas of life and so nervous in others. I understand there's this whole experience thing, but it's like the confidence meter from one thing doesn't adapt at all to the other even though for some people I think it does.)
Hey Pizza Man -- I love this post; it's great hearing about your day at the school and your take on it! Mason's right, this is a really important thing you did. I hope you will continue to have opportunities like this!
Yes, Tim, I understand why one would be biased against leaving Pasadena, especially as you are embedded in a uniquely small and interactive research environment for graduate students interested in exploring the mathematical properties of systems in physics, chemistry, biology, geology, astronomy, materials science, fluid mechanics, and any number of other disciplines.
On the other hand, given that you looked into 4th grade, you may have noticed that the Pasadena Unified School District is in hideously intense need for people who can really teach Math. PUSD has to import its teachers from Cal State L.A. and more distant parts of the manifold, as they aren't growing their own next generation. I'm not mentioning several of the fine private schools, such as Poly, joined at the hip as that is to Caltech. The "white flight" and "bright flight" from the public schools is in positive feedback with the plunging performance of the dysfunctional system.
So, with letters of recommendation from Gary Lorden and former Caltech provost Steve Koonin, I'll be teaching Math at one of PUSD's high schools this summer. If I do what I think I can, having taught hundreds of college and university students, and thousands of senior citizens, then I'll branch out in the Fall to also teach some of those cool "properties of systems in physics, chemistry, biology, geology, astronomy..."
Wish me luck. Be willing to give my boys and girls a tour of your environment. I want them to see why we LOVE the computational cosmos!
-- Prof. Jonathan Vos Post
Best of luck to you -- not only do I think teaching HS math is a noble task, I also think it's a particularly challenging one. Moreso than in any other educational domain you will have to fight to keep many of them motivated. On the other hand, it's every bit as rewarding as it is challenging.
So, again, best of luck!
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