Math art project reflections

    Working with Eleiah and Emily was a fantastic experience. All of us put significant amounts of effort individually in the presentation, and we met up frequently to collaborate. 

    During these meetings there were sometimes small misunderstandings because I made assumptions. I was already familiar with Truchet tilings and to me, their connection with the math curriculum was obvious. For Emily and Eleiah, the connection was less obvious. At times, I was frustrated that I wasn't being understood. They pushed back and gave me respectful feedback. I realized in that meeting that I was the one in the wrong, and in a bigger sense, I should be aware that sometimes I make assumptions about what people already know or understand. This is something which has come up in my personal life as well, perhaps a symptom of my neurodivergence. 

    If I'm going to be a reflective, successful teacher, I need to identify these hidden assumptions and make my thought process explicit. There may be times where I must intentionally obscure information, but I need to be very intentional about it, and check all of my assumptions to keep the class from getting lost. I need to thank my teammates for bringing up these issues in a respectful way. The final presentation benefited greatly from their advice and support. 

    I want to share one more photo of the build process; instead of glueing the yellow yarn on in the complex final pattern, I was instead able to produce a regular grid of circles. The beauty of Truchet tiles is that they can be transformed into any given pattern by rotating the tiles. 

I still 'burned the midnight oil' to get it done, but without this timesaving technique, I don't think I would have gotten any sleep at all. This is the nature of repetitive work. Efficiencies are discovered through the process.