Back to school!

[reminded]

Who: Teachers, students, anyone dropping in for the open classes, gatecrashers, etc.
What: First week of school, post-winter break
When: January 7th-10th
Where: The school
Summary: The new year has begun, so school must follow! Raine gets back to teaching, the school gains another professor, and students learn things. Or else.
Rating: A+

[It's the week of January 7th, and that means winter break is over and school is back in session! Students will notice a couple of staff-related changes upon their return: first, that Raine is back to teaching after being absent and bedridden since late November; and second, that there's a new teacher in class who wears a top hat and introduces himself as Hershel Layton.

In addition, the end of winter break means three articles of schoolwork are due in their respective classes:

1) a take-home math test;
2) an essay on what students learned about cultural winter traditions over the break;
3) a short scientific paper on the formation of snow crystals.

Otherwise, school life goes on according to the usual schedule with the usual roster. Students can chat as they come into class or use the playground during lunch. Passing notes, sleeping, and eating in class are all prohibited, of course, but when has that ever stopped students from trying?

Classes this week will start off relaxed as they ease back into the school rhythm, and Raine steps back for the first few days to let Layton settle into teaching. His calm but well-paced lecture style isn't a huge departure from Raine's, but the smile common on his face throughout lessons might lend him a different air.]

(( Of course, feel free to request or set up any threads you want in addition to the catch-all threads below! What's here is only a guideline and far from the only interaction that can take place. ))

Comments

lunch

[heartisabattleground]

[Sora has fallen behind so much in school. He hasn't really been keeping up. He's not used to be back in school so he's trying to make up for the school work that he didn't do.

He kind of needs Raine's help right now.]

Uh, Professor? Think you can show me how to do this equation again?

[wise_maiden]

Hm? All right, lets take a look at it. Do you have the examples we went over in class in your notes?

[heartisabattleground]

Oh, yeah I do!

[And Sora will pull out his notes...and they're poorly written. He probably dozed off in class.]

[wise_maiden]

Hmm... [Well, the state of the notes is no surprise.] Here, you'll need to rewrite your examples clearly, to start with. Factorization can look harder than it is, but the goal is to break the numbers down until they're easier to work with.

[heartisabattleground]

Factorization?

[Oh God.]

I thought we were doing multiplication.

[But, he'll start trying to rewrite everything nicer.]

[wise_maiden]

That's the opposite, I'm afraid. [She takes a look at his rewriting of the problems, correcting a number or two that had been copied down wrong originally.]

There. Now start from the basics. Do you know the difference between the numerators and the denominators?

[heartisabattleground]

Aw maaaaaan.

[He really is out of practice.]

Numerators are the one on top, right? And the denominators are on the bottom.

[wise_maiden]

That's correct. And what does the denominator represent?

[heartisabattleground]

The bigger number, right? Because it's always on the bottom.

[wise_maiden]

That's not always the case, though that's another lesson. However, I suggest you write this down neatly.

In normal fractions, the numerator represents a number of equal parts and the denominator indicates how many of those parts make up a whole.

So if you have a pie that is divided into sixteen parts, and eight slices have been eaten, which number represents your numerator, and which is the denominator?

Why am I finding learning fun in this tag, water u doin to me?

[heartisabattleground]

It's not? Aw man, really?

[He's going to smack his head against the desk. Why can't he just solve these problems with his keyblade?

But he'll raise his head up as he begins to write down what Rain is saying. ]

The 8 slices that weren't eaten shows the numerator and the denominator was the whole, I think.

[wise_maiden]

That's correct. Now, look at the composition of that fraction you just wrote down. Eight out of sixteen. Now, is it possible to reduce those to smaller numbers?

[heartisabattleground]

Um...I think so. You can reduce them by half until you can't do it anymore. So, you'd get one over two in the end, right?

[wise_maiden]

That's correct!

Keep in mind, however, that it's not reducing by half, it's reducing them by what they would have in common. Take three over nine, for instance, or four over twelve, and, fifteen over seventy-two. In all these matters, you'd want to get it to the lowest number.

So in our example problem, you'd look at the eight and sixteen and then think "well, two goes in to both, four goes into both, and so does eight", and go by that.

Now try the others.

[heartisabattleground]

It is? Aw man, I thought I had it!

[Sora will now just ruffle his hair in frustration. But, at least he's half right. That's something. So, when Raine is done explaining he looks at the paper. Okay, he can do this. Math problems, face the wrath of the keyblade wielder! Another ten minutes go by and Sora finishes the sheet.]


Okay, I think I got them all right! What do you think, Professor?

[wise_maiden]

Let me take a look.

[She brings her finger down the line. So far so good, from what she can tell. But how did he deal with the tricker ones at the end?]

mm, if you want to drop this anytime I won't mind.

[heartisabattleground]

[And Sora will just wait in anticipation for Raine. Did he get it right? He oh so hopes he got it right.]

[wise_maiden]

It looks like you've handled this well after all. [She nods in approval, putting a checkmark to the page.] Now do you understand the importance of taking better notes?

[heartisabattleground]

Awesome! [He nods a bit though.]

Yeah, saves me the trouble from having to relearn it all. And I can finally go eat!

[wise_maiden]

That's right. Better hurry up before we run out of time, now.

[heartisabattleground]

All right! Thanks again, Professor! See you next class!

[And woosh, off he goes for delicious food.]