AP Camp Day 2 (Final update)

Back in Great Valley at 8AM. I find that about 4 hours of sleep is the perfect preparation for this kind of thing, because a certain amount of loopiness is necessary to endure a full day of it. I like taking classes, but this is simply too long. I can't sit still that long and I don't care how nice the chairs here are, it hurts to drive 45 minutes somewhere, sit in a chair for 8 hours, then back in the car for 45 minutes. I had to go home and lie down on my stomach.

The problem with these things is that not only do you have a range of intelligence but you have a huge range of skills and experience. So the questions are far more varied than they would be in a regular class, and let's not get started on the 3 different kinds of calculators.

OK. We're now onto handout number 6. It's an excellent handout as far as its content is concerned. I just need to say, I don't care how many cute little pictures you put on the Calculus homework, it's not going to make the kids like their Calculus homework any better. And using emoticons as graphic devices is neither original nor helpful.

I walked back into the room after break and the teacher was distributing textbook #2 and I offered to help and she said she was almost done. Made me realize that offering help just as someone is finishing a task is a well-developed skill from years of living with someone.

Final Update of the day:

Lunch today was exactly he same as yesterday except that the sandwiches were on different bread than yesterday. Not exactly the variety I'd prefer. Think I may be off to Wegmans tomorrow.

Okay, it's official. The main casualty of this week is my butt. I simply cannot sit this much. At lunchtime today, everyone was making fun of me because I was standing across the lounge from where everyone else was sitting and eating, so I finally dragged a tall table over. I had never gotten the sense that my butt had gotten less resilient as I've gotten older, but I'm wondering if that's one of those signs of aging that goes largely unrecognized and is cloaked in shame.

(So what did I do this evening? Go to a Phillies game and sit for another couple of hours.)

But back to AP. The class moved very fast today and there was a clear break between the people who get it and those who don't. There are a decent number of people who are genuinely having difficulty keeping up. They're not suffering in silence, but it's clear that they're finding this an upsetting experience and are not looking forward to the task of actually teaching this class.

The people who are fine with the pace are pretty much the under-35 crew and me. This stuff comes pretty naturally to me and even if I miss a problem it's because I've spaced out and not because I don't understand what's going on. I like the teacher okay, but I doubt she'll be getting great ratings, even given that it's hard to cover all of AP Calculus in 4 days.