What do those who can't teach do?

Is it bad of me to not want to do something I'm supposedly good at?

In the Fall of 1998, I was in my first semester as a graduate student instructor when I was observed for the first time. The observer said I was a born teacher; that day changed the path of my life. The thing is, I never wanted to teach before that day, and there have been many days since then when I have felt I was not in the right profession, somehow. Like there is some other Sliding Doors version of me doing something different.

I don't really want to teach while in Oxford, but everyone keeps saying "you shouldn't have a problem finding a job teaching math(s). Math(s) teachers are needed everywhere". Because of this, I have applied for some teaching positions.

One school asked me to come in and teach on Friday for 20 minutes, followed by an interview. Because of the lack of real interest I have of teaching in the UK, I didn't prepare very much. I figured I would use compound interest to develop the number e (non-math people can ignore the last sentence).

I taught, had the interview, found out the job starts in mid-April, when I'll be in the U.S. So I said I hoped they found someone good, but if they needed a volunteer to help out in the school, let me know.

They offered me a teaching job. One of the teachers who observed me said she was "blown away" by my teaching. To be honest, I don't see how anyone could be blown away by teaching I did that day.

Apparently, a relatively inexperienced teacher had to take on some additional classes several weeks ago and had been overwhelmed. They wanted to know if I could take over 2 of his classes (12 hours a week) for the last 2 weeks of the 12-week term. Most of the time would be spent reviewing what the students have covered during the term.

I was offered the job less than 48 hours before they wanted me to start at the school. I should have said no then and there, but I didn't. Instead, I took the 7 small textbooks they gave me and said I would look through the material.

A few hours later, I realized I should have said no earlier. One of the classes was filled with physics formulas that looked familiar; I had seen them in my physics classes - 15 years ago. In addition problems were worded very differently from what I was used to, leaving me wondering what some questions were actually asking the student to do.

I then looked through the materials for the other class. It had material ranging from what I learned in middle school, to 2nd semester calculus. While I can teach all of this, it was unclear how in-depth one could possibly get covering this material in 12 weeks - much less review all that material in a week and a half before a big exam.

I decided then that I didn't want this job. Students were going to be taking exams in two weeks that would have a lot to say about what universities they go to. I don't think the American with no experience teaching mathematics in this country should be the one to lead their review for these exams, when he had less than 2 days to prepare.

I emailed the school, letting them know that I would simply need more time if I were to try and wrap my head around the English mathematics curriculum. Part of me felt bad for the students - maybe I would have been a better teacher than the one they had, but I can't believe that someone in my position would be any better than the teacher they have been working with for the past several weeks.

I also felt, I shouldn't put these students (who I don't know) ahead of myself, to do something I don't really want to do, just because I'm supposedly good at it.

The Oscars

It's Oscar week again, and like I have done for the past several years, I'm ranking the nominees.


One of my favorite scenes of the year
It's a little tougher this year, because the Academy has upped the best picture crop to 10. Needless to say, seeing 10 movies is more difficult that seeing 5. Amazingly, I had seen 6 of the 10 before the nominations were announced, but had to figure out how to see the last four in Oxford without spending money. I used somewhat illegal tactics to see the last 4, and thus didn't see them in the theater.

Here are my rankings, from first to worst.

The Hurt Locker was my favorite movie of the year. I would have felt that way, even if it didn't get a best picture nod. It was kind of buried in the early summer crop of movies, so I was somewhat surprised to see it receive the accolades it has at the end-of-year awards. I usually am not a big fan of war movies, but this one really got to me; the tension the movie creates was great, but what I liked even more was the love the main character had for his job. It kind of reminded me of me (except the whole bomb defusing part that I don't have to do on the job).


Inglorious Basterds wasn't on my radar for some reason, until my friend Jason raved about it (I'm sure it's his favorite movie of the year). Another summer movie that was very good. If you don't like violent movies, don't see this, but if you like phenomenal acting, Chrisoph Waltz can't be beat. He gave the performance of the year, in my opinion. If he doesn't win the best supporting actor Oscar, the entire academy should be shot by Nazis.


Precious brought me to tears. This was a tough movie to watch because it reminded me of a few of the students I've had over the years. While Christoph Waltz gave the performance of the year, Mo'Nique gave the female performance of the year. A scene where she confronts her daughter's social worker was fantastic. While the movie as a whole was very good, the ending of the movie did leave me a little bit disappointed.


Avatar is the most technically amazing movie ever made. The special effects blew me away, but I just didn't like the story. It was too simplistic of a story, but I guess when you're spending gazillions of dollars on special effects, you can't expect a spectacular story also. Still, I was impressed with the special effects enough to say it did deserve a best picture nomination.


I liked District 9 a lot more than I thought I would. I liked the story, which I didn't think I would going in, I liked the acting of the title character, who starts and ends as two completely different people, literally. I kind of think he should have gotten a best supporting actor nod, even though he was clearly a lead actor. I don't think this movie would have gotten a nomination if there were 5 nominees, but it was in my top 5 of the list presented.


Up in the Air was over-hyped. Was it good? Sure, but not as good (in my opinion) as all the ads made it seem. I had read the book a few weeks before seeing the movie, and that may have tainted my view. The story diverged enough from the book, even introducing a major character that doesn't exist in the book, to leave me disappointed. I did really like the scenes with the people, many of them non-actors, reacting to losing their jobs and how they have survived since. I would love to see a movie of just those interviews.


Up was cute. Cute movies, in my opinion, shouldn't be nominated for best picture. Was it good? Yes, but it didn't have an affect on my like other movies. I happened to see this on my birthday last June, but it just didn't stick with me. I'm sure it will win best animated picture, as it should, but it's out of it's league in this crop.


So I have to admit, I liked The Blind Side more than I thought I would. It was the last of the 10 nominated movies I saw (I just saw it a couple of days ago) and I had been putting it off because it just seemed like a sappy "based on a true story" movie. It was that, but it was good. Should it win best picture? Absolutely not, but it was better than I expected.


I didn't realize that A Serious Man and A Single Man were two different movies until a few weeks ago. A Serious Man got the best picture nomination, and it was just alright for me. It had it's moments, but I'm sure I won't remember much about it in a month. Like some other Coen brothers movies, I thought it was trying too hard to be cool, like you needed to be in to get it. I guess I didn't. As odd as this sounds, the ending of this movie reminded me a little of the end of No Country for Old Men (another Coen brothers movie). I loved that movie, I didn't care much for this one.


I think the premise of An Education kind of creeped me out; 30-something man going after a 16 year old is not really my idea of a movie I'd want to watch. I know it got a lot of accolades, but I just didn't think is was more than "good", except for Alfred Molina, who was very good. I was somewhat disappointed, because I thought I would like it more than I did.