Chasing Pavemaths

Should I give up?
Or should I keep on chasing pavemaths?

(Thank you Adele for that very beautiful song,
of course, minus the math part)

For the record,I am not a Math major.
I was trained to be a Reading and Language teacher.
Back in college, I took only two Math subjects
(Math 1 and 2) for my general education subjects
and a "handful" of English subjects.

But that did not made me lose my heart
for Math,
okay, grade school Math.

So when our Math point-person asked for teachers
who'd coach MTAP contestants, I volunteered.
I volunteered to train Grades 3 and 4 pupils,of course.
I so love grade school Math.

After weeks of training,and straining my vocal
and brain chords (if ever the latter exist),
my pupils' scores did not make it to the cut.

Now, I'm starting to doubt my Math powers.
Is it I?Is it they?
Should I give up? Or keep on chasing the direct object?

Should I jump ship now?

10.10.10

When I was a child, I was a numerologist.



I always believed that my class number had a greater effect in my over-all class rank. That my contest number would determine the result of the contest. I would then add, subtract, multiply and divide just to come up with the result I wanted.



I am not just a lover of words, but of numbers too. Have I told you that my first choice in college is not education (a very wrong decision)? It was B.S. Mathematics. And I guess the Lord was putting me to a test when he put my name in the wait-listed students.



That happened for a reason. God didn't let me win (once) third in MTAP when I was in grade six. He wouldn't let my teachers give me the Best in Math award when I was Grades 3,5 and 6. And He wouldn't let my Grade 4 classmate Jonathan Sy transfer to another school the next year after getting the Best in Math when we were in fourth grade. God never runs out of a plausible explanation why things happen the way they do.



I guess I have somehow established the fact that I have (a bit of) inclination to numbers. And perhaps this reason is enough for me to have the confidence teaching Math to fifth graders.



Warning: Digression Ahead



Today is October 10, 2010. 10.10.10. Today, I am no longer a believer of numerology. Jesus Christ has erased all those fancy, mundane beliefs. I am a God's grace dependent now. Yet God made sure that I'll remember this "seemingly cryptic" date when the news from Kuting reached me.



He also let me realized that it's possible to be a word-lover and number-lover at the same time.



P.S. Thank you God for giving me my first computer.