Last night I had a strange dream. I was a contestant on a game show -- think Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? or something like that. Here was the question:
In order to avoid errors, atomic clocks must sync up every minute of Daylight Saving Time. How many minutes is that?
Well, I knew that a year is 525,600 minutes -- think Rent song. We are on DST for slightly more than half the year, and slightly more than half of 525,600 is about 300,000. So I choose the only answer choice that's in the 300K range, and I get the correct answer. Then the dream ends.
Why my subconscious mind produced this dream, I don't know. And it's likely inaccurate -- atomic clocks don't really have to sync up every minute of DST, do they? All they have to do is move an hour forward once in March and an hour back once in November, right?
Here, by the way, is the exact answer to the question: DST is observed for exactly 34 weeks. Each of these weeks has seven days, with 24 hours in each day, and 60 minutes in each hour. But notice that we set the clocks forward from 2 AM to 3 AM in March and set it back from 2 AM to 1 AM in November, and so we are actually in DST for one hour shy of 34 weeks. So the answer is 34 * 7 * 24 * 60 - 60, which is 342,660 minutes. I doubt that this exact answer appeared in my dream though -- I suspect that my mind just placed a 3 in front of the Rent number, 325,600 minutes. (This number clearly isn't a multiple of 3, much less a multiple of 60 -- a whole number of hours.)
If this were a real Millionaire question, it might be worth $342,660 -- OK, it might be the quarter or half million dollar question. But it was all just a dream, so my actual prize amount is $0.
Today's spring break post is all about calendars, and so I add the "Calendar" link. Let's start with a quick note on Reform Calendars. Last week, the NFL made it official -- there will indeed be a 17-game season this year. Last year, I wrote that this is the first step to making the Andrew Usher Calendar into our actual calendar. (Unlike the Eleven Calendar, which I know is just a pipe dream, the Usher Calendar can become a widely-used calendar.) The next step to implementing Usher can occur in 2027 -- in that year, the longer season will push Super Bowl LXI back to February 14th, which is both Valentine's Day and the day before Presidents' Day. A three-day weekend for the Super Bowl proves to be popular, so that the NFL extends the season to 18 games. Then Super Bowl LXII can fall on February 20th, 2028, which is Presidents' Day weekend again.
The next calendar to discuss is the calendar in my LA County district -- the district where I've worked since the earliest days of this blog. The last time I blogged about this district, I wrote that according to the district website, the schools there would reopen on April 6th. And that's exactly what happened. The district did indeed reopen on April 6th -- but not April 6th, 2020 (after a short three-week "flatten the curve" closure), but April 6th, 2021, after LA County finally moved into the orange tier.
In fact, I subbed in the district twice that first week -- during spring break in Orange County, it was Day 141 in LA County, with in-person learning during the last 40 days of the school year. On Tuesday, I subbed in a wood shop class -- a class that I typically wouldn't describe on the blog anyway since it's too unrepresentative. On Thursday, I covered a freshman Biology class. Recall that this district has chosen the 4 * 4 Plan (actually 4 * 3), where students attend only three classes per quarter.
The song I performed on Tuesday was "Archimedes" from Square One TV, mainly because the Greek scientist is mentioned on a video that the students watched today on the history of tools (as in the Archimedes screw). On Thursday, I performed my usual science songs -- "When the Scientists Go Marching In" (first verse on cells only) and "Meet Me in Pomona." In one of the classes, I finally completed one of my old songs that has been waiting for a new tune -- "Diagrams." I'll describe the tune later in this post.
It's pointless to do the wager for these classes, since that wager counts students who opt out, but such students aren't indicated on the roster (except via some arcane code, instead of the letter "O"). The three classes I saw on Thursday had only three in-person students combined -- but that doesn't mean that I would have won the wager. Here in Level 2, each student attends only one day per week. Thus there are essentially four cohorts, with three of the cohorts online. (It's possible that the district may upgrade to Level 3 -- the traditional hybrid -- very soon.) In fact, I'm officially ending the wager -- by now, it's served its purpose.
But at least by returning to work in this district, I can finally say that I've worked in this district for more than five years -- I worked here from fall 2014 until now, minus one year when I worked at the old charter school. It's the longest that I've ever worked at any single job. I finally get to scratch my own personal five-year itch.
Today's post is all about the coronavirus and the reopening of schools across Southern California. It's a good time to revisit my COVID "What If" scenarios -- what if the pandemic had occurred years earlier, back when I was still a student?
A Political Example
This is a spring break post, and so it's OK to mention politics in this post. I only give a political example of a COVID "What If" here because political events are well-known to most readers, as opposed to the personal events in my early life that I really wish to discuss. So I'll start with this political example.
Presidents, in recent decades, usually win a second term -- and then after his second term, the opposing party wins the White House. The exception of course, is Donald Trump -- and the common wisdom is that Trump lost, at least in part, because voters blamed him for how he handled the pandemic. That is, had COVID-19 not occurred, Trump likely cruises to a second term. So in our COVID "What Ifs," we might assume that if we place the pandemic in anyone's first term, then that person is blamed for the pandemic and loses the election to the opposing party.
Thus if instead of COVID-19 we had, say, COVID-95 (that is, the pandemic begins in China in 1995 and spreads throughout the world in 1996), then Bill Clinton loses his second term. His Republican opponent that year, Bob Dole, is elected instead.
Then, once the pandemic ends, the usual two-term pattern resumes. So President Bob Dole wins two terms in the White House, and then in 2004, the Democrat who runs that year is elected -- and that Democrat, if you recall, was John Kerry. President John Kerry wins two terms in the White House, and then in 2012, the Republican who runs that year is elected -- and that Republican, if you recall, was Mitt Romney. President Mitt Romney wins two terms in the White House, and then in 2020, the Democrat who runs that year is elected -- and that Democrat, if you recall, was Joe Biden.
And now the COVID-95 timeline matches the original timeline of COVID-19. (I leave it to others to decide whether Biden -- without having been Obama's running mate in this timeline -- would really win the White House.) The important thing to note is that Biden is a post-pandemic leader in both timelines, COVID-95 and COVID-19, while Bill Clinton is a pre-pandemic Prez in both timelines. It's only the leaders between the pandemic years of '95 and '19 who differ in each timeline.
That's the detail I wish to draw attention to -- it's possible that if I place the pandemic in a different year in some timeline, that year would be dramatically different, but if we extend that different timeline all the way to 2021, it might end up matching much of this year in the original timeline.
Some readers might point out that I could have used California instead of U.S politics -- after all, our Governor Gavin Newsom has been blamed for the way he handled the pandemic, and indeed a recall petition has been distributed. OK, in that case, consider COVID-01 -- Governor Gray Davis is blamed for mishandling the pandemic. So he's recalled in the n+2 year, 2003 (comparable to Newsom being recalled in 2021 in the original timeline) and replaced by -- Arnold Schwarzenegger. Oh, that's right -- Davis was recalled that year anyway for non-pandemic reasons. Thus there's no reason to explore this timeline much further -- the state leaders from this point forward match in both timeline.
This concludes my political COVID "What If" scenarios for now. Besides -- COVID-95 and COVID-01 aren't two of our focus years anyway. Instead, we'll revisit the six "What Ifs" that I mentioned during winter break -- and I'll stick to personal, not political, details. (I'll leave it to you to figure out who wins or loses elections in these timelines.)
Updating What If? COVID-86
The first What If that I discussed in previous posts was COVID-86. This means that the pandemic starts in China in late 1986, the schools close in March 1987 (when I'm in kindergarten), and then the schools reopen in early 1988 (when I'm in the first grade).
In previous posts, I estimated a possible reopening date for my elementary school. But in order for this What If scenario to be more authentic, the reopening date after COVID-86 in 1988 should match the reopening date after COVID-19 in 2021. In fact, this is one reason why I chose '86 as one of the pandemic years -- March 13th (the day the schools closed) was a Friday in both 1987 and 2020, so that I can match the dates without thinking about them.
But with the schools not reopening until March or April a full year later, suddenly two unexpected factors come into play -- Leap Day and Easter. For example, February 1988 had 29 days, but February 2021 had only 28. This means that dates in spring 1988 fall one day of the week later than the corresponding dates in spring 2021.
And Easter makes a difference as well. We know that Governor Newsom set April 1st, 2021, as the target date for schools to reopen. But the actual date that schools open depends on spring break and whether they close for the week before (Holy Week) or the week after Easter (Bright Week). Luckily, Easter was on the first Sunday of April in both 1988 and 2021 -- the only difference is that the holiday Sunday was April 3rd in 1988 and the 4th in 2021.
OK, so now I check the website of the district I attended in Grades K-8. As it turns out, this district is really taking Newsom's schedule literally -- the date that students returned was April 1st itself. And this is a district that closes for Good Friday and the week after Easter -- in other words, students returned to school for just one day before closing the next ten days for spring break!
It's easy to imagine why the district chose April 1st -- it took some time for the district and union to come up with a reopening agreement, but the district wants to avoid the 1% per day funding penalty for not reopening by April 1st. If they had waited until after spring break on Monday, April 12th, then that would be an 11% penalty. Thus the only solution was to have students return on April Fool's Day, the last day before spring break.
If we map this reopening date back to 1988, note that back then, our district didn't close for Good Friday, but only the week after Easter. Thus Good Friday, April 1st, 1988, corresponds readily to Maundy Thursday, April 1st, 2021 -- it's the day of the reopening deadline and the last day of school before spring break. In both timelines, students attend school for just one day before the holiday.
(Don't forget that I'm not doing politics in this What If scenario -- we're assuming that April 1st is the date that the state leader chooses for reopening in all timelines, no matter who he is or which party he comes from.)
We know that after COVID-19, many elementary schools have developed a hybrid schedule where one cohort attends school in the morning and the other in the afternoon. As it turns out, my K-8 district will not be dividing elementary schools into cohorts -- thanks to the new 3-foot (not 6-foot) rule. Instead, all students attend four days per week, with Wednesday as the full distance day. The bell schedule is to match the usual minimum day schedule at each school.
Thus under COVID-86, my school reopens on Friday, April 1st, 1988. The bell schedule I follow is the minimum day schedule, which back then was 8:45-12:45.
Since there are no cohorts, I assume that my first grade class in the COVID-86 timeline matches my class from the original (that is, COVID-19) timeline -- so all the kids I knew from first grade are the same on both timelines. My first grade teacher was an older lady, so it's possible that she might have retired earlier had there been a pandemic that year. For simplicity, we'll assume that my first grade teacher remains at the school even during the COVID-86 pandemic.
Wednesdays under COVID-19 remain distance only, and so the same is true under COVID-86. Recall that due to the limitations of '80's technology, the "distance learning" that occurs from March 1987 to March 1988 consists only of completing and submitting packets, and so the same is true in April 1988 -- teachers make sure to give students work to do at home on Wednesdays. In first grade, we usually took our homework folders home on Mondays and brought them back on Fridays. Thus most likely, our first grade teacher would have included extra work for Wednesdays in said folders.
As a young first grader, I took a special reading class with the second graders and a special computer class with Grades 5-6. Most likely, I don't get those opportunities under COVID-86. I independently studied fourth grade math back then. This is still possible under COVID-86 -- fourth grade math worksheets can be included in the distance packets from September 1987 to March 1988, and so I can continue to study them independently in April 1988 (especially on Wednesdays).
We first graders enjoyed the "Big Toy" on the playground. Even on the original timeline, there were restrictions regarding who could play on it -- I believe that it was odd-numbered classrooms on odd dates and even-numbered classrooms on even dates. Under COVID-86, use of the big toy would likely be even more restricted.
One of my favorite games to play as a young first grader was tag. I suspect that during a pandemic, games like tag would not be allowed. Indeed, it's difficult for me to imagine what recess would look like for a first grader during a pandemic when touching is to be minimized.
First grade is the year of the traditional Day 100 party. With school not reopening until April 1st, this takes us right past Day 100. That year, our teacher also held a "Wild Rumpus" party, based on Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are. I don't remember what month our Wild Rumpus was -- it very well might have been in the spring, but then again, we must ask whether throwing a Wild Rumpus for first graders is wise during a pandemic.
Updating What If? COVID-91
For this timeline, the pandemic begins in China in late 1991, the schools close for the pandemic in March 1992 (when I'm in fifth grade), and reopen in April 1993 (when I'm in sixth grade).
Since this is exactly 4 * 7 years ago, the Leap Days and days of the week match in both years. The only calendar-related issue to worry about is Easter -- in 1993 it was one week later, on April 11th, than it was in 2021. Thus students return on Thursday, April 1st, and attend that Thursday, Friday, and the entire week of April 5th before spring break.
Unlike the COVID-86 timeline, where I get to keep my first grade classmates and teacher, we must make several changes here in the COVID-91 timeline. That's because on the original timeline, 1993 was the year my K-6 elementary school implemented the Path Plan, which replaced grades K-6 with "paths" and had students attend different classes throughout the day. I was placed on the "Preparatory Path," which is for normative Grades 5-6 with a few advanced fourth graders thrown in there.
I strongly believe that a Path Plan would be awkward to implement during a pandemic. So on the COVID-91 timeline, I'd be placed in a traditional sixth grade class, and I'd stay in homeroom for the entire minimum day, which was from 8:25-12:25 that year.
But this raises two questions. First of all, who would be my classmates? We'd have to replace my Preparatory Path classmates in Grades 4-5 with actual sixth graders. Second, who would be my teacher that year?
Let's consider the second question first. In the original timeline, my Prep Path homeroom teacher taught fifth grade the year before the Path Plan began. Thus it's logical to assume that she would have taught only fifth grade under COVID-91, and so we sixth graders would've had another teacher.
On the original timeline, one of the classes I had after lunch was math. I attended a Math 6 class (although I was independently studying Advanced Pre-Algebra at the time, in preparation for Algebra I the following year as a seventh grader). Most (if not all) of the other students in the class were sixth graders, and this teacher's room was next door to my homeroom. So it's possible to assume that on the COVID-91 timeline, this math class would have been my homeroom class/teacher. (This was her first year at our school, so she didn't have a pre-Path grade.)
But this is not how I prefer to write the COVID-91 What If scenario. Instead, I'd rather take the two homerooms -- my own teacher's and my math teacher's -- and combine them. One of them takes the fifth graders and the other takes the sixth graders, and that becomes their new homeroom. Again, it's logical to assume that my original timeline math teacher becomes my COVID-91 teacher, so that my original homeroom teacher can remain fifth grade only. I like this because I still have my old sixth grade yearbook, so I have a record of who would be in my COVID-91 homeroom. (I still recognize most members of my year, so it's safe to assume that anyone I don't remember is a fifth grader to be placed in the other class.)
My Math 6 teacher -- now my Grade 6 teacher under COVID-91 -- was the teacher who had us play the stock market simulation game. If I recall correctly, she placed me in a group and had me participate during math class (even though I was independently studying APA). She was enjoyed chess -- she often told us that she'd show us how to force checkmate in four moves, if there was time. There was almost never time -- she only played chess once with us during math class. But perhaps there would have been more time for both the stock market and chess if she were our teacher for a four-hour homeroom instead of a one-hour math class.
As for my new classmates, my school had an apparent rule -- two students can be placed in the same (homeroom) class at most four out of the seven K-6 years. After all I can name several students who was in my class four times, but no one who was in my class five times. Most of the students who shared four homerooms with me were quite close, and so I like to refer to them as "four-year friends."
My first four-year friend was a boy who was in my class from Grades K-3. One girl sat next to me during Grades 3-6 -- she was the only four-year friend for whom sixth grade was one of the four years we shared. This was because of the Path Plan -- under COVID-91, we no longer have younger students taking up over half the class, and so I expect there to be more four-year friends in this timeline.
And this is exactly what happens. One guy -- who invited me to Chuck-E-Cheese for his eleventh birthday -- is in my new COVID-91 class. He becomes a four-year student -- but of course, that pizza party is cancelled by the pandemic. And the K-3 boy would also be in my new class -- but that would make him a five-year friend. Perhaps the school would lift the four-year rule and allow students to share classes in five different grades -- especially considering that we don't see each other for a year. If not, then we must assume that he's placed in another class.
I'm not sure what would happen to end-of-the-year activities such as sixth grade camp (which I don't attend in the original timeline) or elementary school graduation. I'll keep watching the website of my old school to see what's going on with these.
Updating What If? COVID-93
For this timeline, the pandemic begins in China in late 1993, the schools close for the pandemic in March 1994 (when I'm in seventh grade), and reopen in spring 1995 (when I'm in eighth grade).
Recall that this timeline was chosen since I wanted one where the pandemic occurs at some point during my middle school years. The days of the week definitely don't line up in 1995 and 2021. In fact, April 1st was a Saturday in 1995, and April 16th was Easter Sunday that year.
Thus we assume that the deadline for schools reopening would have been Friday, March 31st -- and so our district chooses to reopen that day. After that Friday, the schools are open for two full weeks before Easter and spring break.
Unlike the elementary schools in this district, the middle schools do have a two-cohort hybrid. Thus we must ask, in which cohort would I have been placed? I can't be sure -- the cohort placements aren't posted on the district website. The most logical answer is that the cohorts are alphabetical by last name, and so I, as a Walker, would have been placed in Cohort B. Then I would attend odd periods on Thursdays and even periods on Fridays (including that first Friday, March 31st). For this timeline, I'll assume that the cohorts go A-K and L-Z by last name.
As for Cohort A, the district has decided that they will attend in-person on Mondays and Tuesdays, with Wednesdays as the fully online day -- more like the elementary schools in this district than the schools in all my current subbing districts. Other than Monday vs. Wednesday as the online day, the schedule is very similar to that at my first OC district -- classes from 8:30-12:20, then lunch, followed by some sort of online tutorial/academic support during the 1:00 hour. (The LA County district I sub at this week has a similar bell schedule -- the only difference being that it's a 4 * 3 school with classes switching at the quarter rather than day by day.)
In previous posts, I've alluded to how my social life would change under COVID-93. The most obvious change is that the suspension I get on the original timeline for hitting my P.E. teacher in November 1994 never occurs, since schools are closed from March 1994 to March 1995. I might miss some of the classmates on the other cohort and get more acquainted with those on my cohort.
My academic schedule on even days -- including that first Friday -- is easy to figure out. I have second period Advanced History, followed by fourth period French I, and then sixth period Geometry. But the odd period schedule is trickier -- I know that I have fifth period Advanced English, but the other two periods are filled with classes that aren't yearlong.
I wrote in previous posts about several issues regarding my science class. Science was the only eighth grade class I had that wasn't Honors/Advanced that year. But main reason I didn't qualify for Advanced was the fourth quarter C that I got in Science 7 -- a C grade that's wiped away by the COVID-93 closure, as instead I get to keep my third quarter B. I'd like to believe that on the COVID-93 timeline, I get into Advanced Science 8.
Notice that first-year French was my elective, but there was an issue with electives that year. I discussed this in previous posts -- 1993-94 was the final year that middle school science was only one semester, with a "Success" class filling the other semester. Then in 1994-95, Success was eliminated -- Science 7 was extended to a full year, but Science 8 remained a semester class. Instead, we eighth graders got an extra semester elective. Then I explained what happened with that elective -- it was supposed to be Typing (Keyboarding), but then my schedule changed after the suspension. On the original timeline, I was dropped from third period P.E. (to have Independent Study P.E) -- that period was replaced with Library Aide, and then I remained in the library the rest of the year (placed in another teacher's P.E. class for first period) instead.
It's difficult to say what my first and third period classes would look like under COVID-93. I might be in either regular or Advanced Science. I might have Keyboarding as an extra elective -- or perhaps it might be decided that touching a shared classroom keyboard doesn't make sense in a pandemic, so that elective is cancelled. Or perhaps the decision to eliminate middle school Success is never made during COVID-93 (just as the Path Plan isn't implemented in COVID-91).
Well, here's my final decision for my odd-period schedule. First, I have Advanced Science 8 since my C grade in Science 7 is gone. Then I'll say that Advanced Science 8 is a second semester course (perhaps even taught by the same teacher who taught me regular Science 8 during first semester back in the original timeline). That way, I don't have to think about whether I have Success/full-year Science 8/Keyboarding/another elective first semester (full distance learning) -- we know that during the only semester that I attend in-person, I have Advanced Science 8. The order of classes never changes, and so I have first period Advanced Science, third period P.E., and fifth period Advanced English.
If we assume that I indeed have the same science teacher on both the original and COVID-93 timelines, then here's one thing I remember about that class. As was common back then (all the way up to the adoption of the NGSS), Science 8 was physical science. The teacher wanted to do a "HALO's" project, as in "Hand Launched Objects" (a basic physics lab with throwing balls), but our science class was always misbehaving, and so the lab never occurred. (That is, unless it occurred during my suspension on the original timeline, since I definitely don't remember it.)
In an Advanced Science class with presumably better behaved students, the HALO's project can now really happen. Oh, and if you're wondering whether a project that involves touching and throwing objects is possible, I'll say this -- if Bio can still have a strawberry DNA lab, then our class can still throw our HALO's.
The kids in my Advanced Science class are likely the same as those in the other advanced classes, and so I end up mingling with the same students for much of the day. This is helpful during a pandemic, as I avoid meeting different groups of students.
As for my report card grades, notice that since school started after Labor Day back then, March 31st was still the third, not fourth quarter as it would be had school started in August. It's possible that the teachers would all give a whole bunch of tests from March 31st-April 7th and then include these tests in our third quarter grades. Instead, I'll assume that the school will just declare March 31st to be the start of the fourth quarter. Then third quarter grades are based only on the distance packets (just as the first and second quarter grades were). All in-person work affects only the fourth quarter grade.
On the original timeline, the only C that I earn on my Grade 8 Quarter 4 report card was Library Aide -- I earn A's and B's in all my other classes. I like to believe that in my Advanced Science 8 -- considering that I'd now be distraction-free, and that I prefer physical science to life science -- I'd earn an A or B in that class as well.
Like COVID-91, the COVID-93 timeline involves a graduation -- this time, it's middle school rather than elementary school graduation. On the original timeline, I often think of eighth grade as only "real" graduation of my life. It's the one I have the fondest memories of, since it involves all my friends I knew from K-6 along with the new acquaintances I meet in Grades 7-8. Oh, and it's the only graduation for which I attend the actual grad trip -- to Disneyland.
Notice that under COVID-19, Disneyland plans on reopening April 30th. If we map this to 1995, then yes, the theme park would open in time for my eighth grade graduation. But unfortunately, I doubt that coronavirus protocols would allow classes to take field trips there in June. Sadly, I must assume that the Disneyland trip is cancelled. Still, I'm hoping that we get some sort of in-person graduation.
Updating What If? COVID-97
For this timeline, the pandemic begins in China in late 1997, the schools close for the pandemic in March 1998 (when I'm a high school junior), and reopen in April 1999 (when I'm a senior).
As it turns out, 1999 is the perfect calendar year for our What If because Easter is on the same date in both 1999 and 2021 -- April 4th. But my high school is in a different district, and so the timing is different from our K-8 What Ifs?
This district has declared a reopening date of April 19th for seniors. Notice that this is a Monday -- the hybrid schedule follows the current block schedule. When I was in Grades 10-12, our school had a typical block schedule with all classes on Mondays, odd periods on Tuesdays/Thursdays, and even periods on Thursdays/Fridays. But as a freshman, my school had a pure block schedule, alternating between odd and even periods with no all-classes day or any connection to the day of the week.
And right after I graduated, the school returned to a pure block schedule -- that's the schedule that it's followed ever since, all the way up to the pandemic. Therefore under COVID-19, Cohort A attends for two in-person days (one odd day, one even day) followed by two online days, while Cohort B attends the opposite. Since there are no all-classes days, there are no full distance days. But under COVID-97, I'd rather follow the block schedule that our school followed from 1996-1999. Thus Cohort A attends Tuesdays and Wednesdays and Cohort B (including Walker) attends Thursdays and Fridays, with Monday a day for picking up and turning in packets.
Academically, there's not much difference between my schedules on the two timelines. In both cases, my odd classes are Piano, AP Government, and AP Physics C, while my even classes are AP Calculus BC followed by two English classes (needed to satisfy magnet requirements).
For COVID-97, I've been closely following the Cross Country season. In previous posts, I surmised that even though I was the 12th fastest runner on the team in the original timeline, under COVID-97, enough runners quit the team for me to make it to the top 7 -- that is, Varsity. After all, the real XC team at my alma mater lost about two-thirds of its runners this year compared to 2019. Then as a Varsity runner, I could advance to the big postseason races, such as CIF Section Prelims/Finals -- the races that lead up to the State Meet.
But due to the post-holiday coronavirus surge, the State Meet -- at first targeted for March 27th -- was cancelled, as were the CIF Section races. Instead, the season was reduced to several league dual meets, with League Finals scheduled for March 27th instead of State.
Recall what a "dual" meet is -- think McFarland vs. Clovis, just us and them. Dual meets have fallen out of favor in recent years (to be replaced by the league cluster meet), but due to the pandemic, they're making a comeback. On the other hand, dual meets were still common during my senior year, and so our racing schedule wouldn't have differed much from the original timeline.
The one thing I remember about my senior XC season is that I began the year in the mid-18 minute range for three miles, and then I gradually improved throughout the year until I finally broke 18 in my last race, League Finals, in early November. I'd like to believe that under COVID-97, I'd still break 18 in November so that I can run the entire rescheduled season sub-18. But this is unlikely -- after missing much of my junior Track season and enduring a long summer of uncertainty, I'd fall out of shape. I'd be lucky to return to form and break 18 by the rescheduled League Finals on March 27th.
Most schools in our league, including my own, had their home courses at local parks. But due to county pandemic restrictions, the races were held on the high school campuses. Interestingly enough, my school created a 5K course on campus rather than three miles -- 5K is slightly longer. (So even if I did break 18 early for three miles, I'd still be over 18 for 5K.)
On the original timeline, League Finals -- the course where I finally break 18 -- was held on the campus of a local university. (Years later, I'd earn my teaching credential from this college.) I'm not sure where our league could hold Finals under COVID-97 -- hopefully it's on a course where I can break 18. If I do break 18 in my final race, then it would be just three days before I receive my letter from UCLA telling me that I've been granted admission.
It's still possible that I make the top 7 Varsity team, but Varsity status now loses its luster with no postseason races to look forward well. After League Finals, there's one week of distance learning (packets, under COVID-97) left before spring break. Then we return from break -- and go straight into Track season. (After all, Track usually starts well before March 27th in non-pandemic years.)
The first Track meet, scheduled for the week after spring break, is a nonleague dual meet. While dual meets in Track never disappeared (as opposed to XC duals), nonleague duals are unheard of. Only twice have I ever participated in a nonleague dual meet -- they were my first two XC dual meets as a freshman runner. This was in my K-8 district (before I moved in November that year), which was also in a different league. I've never participated in a nonleague dual in Track before -- but with schools scrambling to fill their schedule with meets and multi-school invitationals/relays unavailable, if two schools in different leagues can agree to have a dual meet, why not?
The second dual meet -- that is, the first league meet -- is scheduled for the week that we seniors return to campus. League Prelims/Finals will be just before Memorial Day. Like most XC runners, we continue to run distance races (800/1600/3200 meters) for Track.
Unlike XC, it appears that there will indeed be CIF and State meets for Track. So perhaps I should set this What If up so that I make the Varsity team and CIF Prelims for Track.
But making CIF Prelims will be difficult. The whole idea behind my making CIF Prelims for XC is that XC is a team sport -- the top six runners can stay on the team, and then runners #7-11 all quit, leaving me as the #7 runner on Varsity. Or perhaps only three of #7-11 quit, making me the #9 runner -- an alternate for Varsity. With me as the #7 runner or an alternate, the actual talented runners do the work of advancing our school into CIF, while I just gain the status of being a Varsity XC runner.
(This isn't as farfetched as it might seem -- Varsity runners are more likely to stay on the team through the pandemic than the borderline runners. For years after I graduated, when I continued to follow the team online, I noticed that I was the rare non-Varsity senior who actually ran a PR -- personal record -- in XC. Senioritis seems to kick in for most Grade 12 runners, except for Varsity. Thus I can see our top 6 all staying through the pandemic while some of #7-11 quit.)
But Track is more individual -- I can't just leech off of the top six runners to make it to CIF. I won't advance unless my own time is good enough to move on.
So I might continue to follow Track in my league to see what sorts of times in the 1600 are good enough to advance to CIF Prelims. I believe that the 1600 is my best shot of advancing to Section Prelims -- the 3200 will be populated by the real Varsity, and the 800 will have many middle distance runners who didn't run XC. My 1600 time was just over five minutes -- normally this is nowhere near good enough to advance, but it might be if enough faster runners quit due to the pandemic. If the last qualifier is within a few seconds of 5:00 then it's plausible that I can be that last qualifier, but if it's closer to, say, 4:30 then there's no way I make it. In any case, I don't see myself advancing to any race past CIF Prelims, because I know there'll be enough runners throughout the section to beat me.
Just two weeks after CIF Prelims (June 5th under COVID-97) will be graduation. (Again, all three grad years -- elementary, middle, and high school -- are n+2 years for these What If scenarios.) On the original timeline, I don't attend the long overnight grad trip -- although I go on a senior picnic and take a trip to the San Diego Zoo with my fellow magnet seniors. I suspect that these special trips would also be cancelled during a pandemic. But just as the Class of 2021 is hoping for a more-or-less normal graduation after COVID-19, it's possible that I could have a normal graduation under COVID-97.
As for now, UCLA is committing to have mostly in-person instruction this fall after COVID-19. Thus it follows that my university will have mostly in-person instruction for my first year under COVID-97.
Updating What If? COVID-08
For this timeline, the pandemic begins in China in late 2008, and the schools close for the pandemic in March 2009 and reopen in April 2010. It's the other year with Easter on April 4th, and so the 2010 and 2021 calendars match perfectly.
As we've seen before, this timeline is tricky. Our focus at this point switches from me as a student to me as a teacher. I've mentioned that on the original timeline, I began student teaching in spring 2009 but get in an argument with my master teacher, and I leave my position on Friday, March 6th. I'm then placed at a new school in LAUSD for fall 2009, and at last I complete student teaching and earn my credential.
We've seen that if the schools close for COVID-08 on Friday, March 13th, then I don't make it -- I leave my student teaching about a week before the pandemic. This is maddening because all student teachers in good standing at the time of the pandemic are granted their credentials -- all I needed to do is make it one more week and I get my credential. And changing the date of the pandemic closure to March 6th or 5th is pointless -- the whole reason for choosing '08 as a pandemic year is that the dates line up.
The other problem here is, OK, suppose I don't get my credential in spring 2009 due to leaving my master teacher before the pandemic. Can I be placed in a school for student teaching in fall 2009 if that school is closed for distance learning? Here we assume that there's enough technology this year to have some sort of online learning -- if not Zoom or Google Meet, perhaps Skype.
The problem is that I have no way of knowing whether full distance learning schools (that is, those in Level 1 of the reopening plan) are accepting student teachers. The only student teachers I've seen since the start of the pandemic were in Orange County, after those schools returned to "Level 3" hybrid.
And so it's logical to assume that there are simply no student teachers at any schools until they open for at least some in-person teaching. So under COVID-08, if a candidate is in the middle of student teaching in spring 2009, that that teacher is given a credential. But if a candidate is on track to start student teaching in fall 2009 (or like me, they begin student teaching in spring 2009 but drop out before March 13th), then that candidate must wait until schools reopen for at least "Level 2" hybrid.
Also, if a school isn't open for in-person on the first day of a semester, then that candidate must wait an entire semester before student teaching. So in Orange County, the schools aren't open in September 2009, so they can't take student teachers until February 2010. And in LAUSD, the high schools don't open for students until (checks the website) April 26th, and so they wouldn't take student teachers until fall 2010, a full year after I student teach on the original timeline.
It's possible that my university might simply place me in an Orange County school for spring 2010 -- perhaps even the middle school where I completed my long-term in the original timeline. If they insist on placing me at the same LAUSD high school in fall 2010, then I'd be a year behind.
For the purposes of this What If story, I'll do another compromise. We'll say that the university places me at the same LAUSD high school -- that I'm allowed to be placed there if the district anticipates that there may be in-person learning by the end of the semester. Then I can be placed that the school right when the second semester starts on February 8th, even though no students attend until April 26th.
If I recall correctly, after I finish my student teaching on the original timeline in fall 2009, my master teacher takes another student teacher for spring 2010. So we must ask, during COVID-08, would she be willing to take both of us as student teachers in spring 2010? That year, my master teacher gave up her conference period and so she had six periods, and student teachers must cover three periods. And so it's theoretically possible that she could take both of us as mentees simultaneously.
While my school hasn't posted a hybrid schedule yet, information from the LAUSD website suggests that it will be similar to most other districts -- odd periods on Tuesday/Thursday, and even periods on Wednesday/Friday. Then one of us student teachers can take odd periods and the other the evens. In the original timeline, I student taught periods 3, 5, and 6. so it's more logical for me to take the odds. Of these classes, third period was Algebra I, and the others are all Algebra II.
There's one more thing I want to say here about life as a teacher during a pandemic. In order to avoid having many people in school cafeterias touch cash, schools now treat all students as low-income students and give them a free lunch. The tricky is what to do about teacher lunches, since teachers don't qualify for free lunches. As a sub, I've seen that many schools are split -- some schools, including the middle school where I subbed long-term, just gave teachers free lunches too. The other schools have declared that teachers simply can't get any lunch, period, in order for the cafeterias to remain cashless.
When I was a student teacher, many teachers still bought lunch in the cafeteria. But in the decade since then, teachers have gradually been purchasing school lunch less. I suspect the main reason is the sharp increase in price. Staff lunches were around $2-$3 when I was a student teacher, but now they've been rising to around $4-$5. For nearly $5, many staff members have decided that the price isn't worth it -- they can just buy a high-quality lunch off-campus for around this amount or a little more.
When I reached the old charter school, with lunch around $4-$5, I might have been the only teacher at the charter who still bought school lunch. A few students were sorry for me that I had to pay so much -- and sometimes on days when they didn't need the school lunch (because they brown-bagged it), they took the lunch (for free, since they were low-income) and gave it to me!
That year was the only year when I lost weight. I credit it to the school lunches I ate -- sometimes the only healthy meals that I ate in a week were from the school (alas, I am not a cook). Once I left the charter, I would try to eat school lunch at least once or twice a week for self-care reasons. Often I'd time it with conference period -- if when subbing, my conference period was either just before or just after lunch, then I'd have time to leave and buy off-campus lunch. Otherwise I'd buy a school lunch.
This worked until the pandemic. While I ate three times per week on campus during my long-term (which gave me free lunches), once I returned to accommodational (day-by-day) subbing, I often find myself at schools which don't allow teachers to have any cafeteria lunch. Not only did I lose my only healthy meals of the week, if it's a day when I don't have a conference period, I'd be forced to go off, buy lunch, and then just barely return before the tardy bell with no time to eat what I purchased.
On the COVID-08 timeline, teacher lunches on-campus are still common during the pandemic. And so I suspect that on this timeline, the schools find a way to sell lunches to teachers while remaining cashless (such as some sort of account). It's only because teachers rarely buy school lunches in 2021 that schools can now say that they won't provide any lunch to teachers.
Updating What If? COVID-14
For this timeline, the pandemic begins in China in late 2014, and the schools close for the pandemic in March 2015 and reopen in spring 2016. This timeline does require us to pay close attention to the calendar -- while March 13th was a Friday in both 2015 and 2020, the years 2016 and 2021 don't line up well at all. Like 1988, 2016 contained a Leap Day -- but 2016 had a different Easter as well. That year, Easter fell a week earlier, on March 27th.
Back then, I was a substitute teacher in two different districts -- actually, you should already know this, since I had already started this blog by then. One of those districts is the LA County district where I subbed earlier this week. The reason that it waited until April 6th, 2021 to open is that it was waiting to get past the four-day Easter weekend. With Easter on March 27th, 2016, the district reopens after COVID-14 on Easter Tuesday, namely March 29th.
My other district was where I received the most calls, although I no longer work there today. Here's how that district is doing hybrid now in 2021 -- the fully online day is Wednesdays (just like the district that I attended as a young K-8 student). The cohort schedule is more like that at my long-term school -- odd periods are Monday/Tuesday while even periods are Thursday/Friday. And so Cohort A attends school on Monday/Thursday and Cohort B attends Tuesday/Friday. (This is what I called Hybrid Plan III in previous posts -- it's just like Plan II except that Wednesday is the distance day.)
The reopening date this year was set to March 29th, 2021 -- in time to meet the gubernatorial April 1st deadline, but with a full week of school before spring break. With Easter earlier in 2016, we should set the reopening date after COVID-14 to March 21st that year.
Let's go back to my blogpost dated March 21st, 2016. I described the class I subbed in that day -- under COVID-14, this would have been the first day after the pandemic:
Meanwhile, today I subbed for a special ed class. The teacher I was covering observes two sections of English and then teaches two sections of math herself.
Officially, the class is labeled as Integrated Math I, but naturally these students were working well below grade level. They were working out of a McDougall Littell text -- Algebra Readiness. Now "Algebra Readiness" is the name for an old pre-Common Core math course in California. As its name implies, the class was for freshmen (and eighth graders, since the old California State Standards encouraged Algebra I in eighth grade) who were not yet ready to take Algebra I. (The text is dated 2008, just before the dawn of the Common Core.)
The students were working on Lesson 2.7 of the text, Divide Fractions. In fourth period, many students tried to use a calculator to solve these. I noticed that these were labelled "CASIO fx-45 FRACTION" -- that is, they could handle fractions! But none of the students knows how to enter fractions into the calculator -- and of course, I'm not about to tell them, since they are supposed to learn how to divide fractions without a calculator.
Because of this, there are some students who try to simplify 6/9 as 3/4.5 -- that is, they feel that they must always simplify by dividing by 2, and since they have a calculator, they try dividing 9 by 2 to obtain 4.5 in the denominator. And so for the sixth period class, I make sure that the students understand when to cancel, and that if they get a decimal, they're dividing by the wrong number!
(Oh, and under COVID-14, we'd need to change "fourth" and "sixth" to odd periods.)
It's also possible that the district might have waited until after spring break to reopen, although it's after the deadline. In this case, the reopening date would have been April 4th, 2016 -- Square Root Day.
Now that I have a credential going into the COVID-14 pandemic, I wonder whether I might have landed a long-term subbing job in either of my districts, similar to the the one I had in Orange County after those schools reopened in 2020. In particular, it's possible that there might be teachers who are uncomfortable with having in-person students, and so they need me to cover their class.
In fact, right now I was wondering whether I would get a second long-term during the 2020-21 school year -- the second one being in my LA County district now that it's reopening. Obviously, no such position opened for me -- so we won't place such a job in that district on the COVID-14 What If either.
Perhaps I might have been hired for such a job in my other district where I had the most calls. Recall that I had a multi-day assignment in May 2016. This is what I wrote in my May 6th, 2016 post:
Today I subbed in a high school math class -- in fact, this teacher is scheduled to be out for a full week, up to and including this upcoming Thursday. So I will have plenty of things to say about this class here on the blog.
This teacher has three sections of Algebra II (1st, 4th, and 5th periods), as well as two sections of Honors Integrated Math I (2nd and 6th periods).
The Algebra II students are taking a quiz on statistics. But according to the plans for next week, the students will be working on trigonometry. I'm actually surprised that I'm seeing trig in a regular Algebra II class (as opposed to Honors). Then again, these worksheets appear to be the simpler trig of Chapter 14 of the U of Chicago Geometry text. We'll see how these students do on these Pizzazz worksheets next week.
Now the class I want to focus on here on the blog is Integrated Math I. The students in that class are starting a project that involves geometric constructions.
A teacher who would need to take a full week off for an illness is likely to take even more time off had there been a pandemic. And so it's a strong candidate for a COVID-14 long-term.
While teaching this class makes for an interesting COVID-14 What If, there's another long-term that makes for an even more intriguing story. Instead of teaching in my main subbing district, suppose I get a long-term position at my old charter school.
Recall that on the original timeline, I start working at the old charter in August 2016. In fact, I had an interview with them on April 19th, gave a demo lesson the next day, and then received an offer of employment the evening of the 28th (and blogged about it on the 29th). Under COVID-14, this is one month after my two districts reopen, and right around the time that LAUSD reopens.
On the original timeline, my predecessor math teacher leaves at the end of June. It's possible that if there were a pandemic, he might have left right when the students return in-person. And so when the charter hires me, they ask me to start right away as opposed to beginning in August.
Let's check the timing of this. We know when various districts reopen after the pandemic, but it's unclear when charters are reopening -- especially my old charter that no longer exists. But considering that my school shared campuses with two LAUSD elementary schools, it's reasonable to assume that they would have reopened right when those district schools did.
LAUSD has announced that some elementary schools will open the week of April 12th, while others will reopen the week of April 19th. The two schools that shared campuses with my old charter aren't on the April 12th list, and so we give April 19th as the reopen date. LAUSD schools will reopen a few grades at a time, so Grades K-1 return Tuesday, Grades 2-3 on Wednesday, and so on.
OK, so let's place this on the COVID-14 calendar. On Tuesday, April 19th, I'm interviewed for a math position, just like the original timeline. The next day, I give a demo lesson, just like the original timeline -- except that right after the lesson, I'm asked whether I can start the next day. And then I begin working at the charter on Thursday, April 21st -- when Grades 4-5 at the district school and Grades 4-8 at the charter return to in-person instruction.
It's tricky to determine what a hybrid schedule might look like at the old charter. For one thing, this is a K-8 school, not a pure elementary or middle school. As we've seen at K-8 schools in my Orange County districts, K-8 schools are still treated as separate schools for hybrid purposes -- so elementary students still attend five half-days (either AM or PM) while middle school kids attend twice a week. We can assume that our charter will choose Wednesdays as the online day, since Wednesdays were short days on the original timeline.
The other issue is science. We know that there was a science teacher during the 2015-16 school year, but she also left in June. It's possible that both she and the math teacher leave in time for in-person learning, leaving me to try to teach both subjects (just as on the original timeline). Of course, it's much more appealing to assume that she would have stayed through June, so that I only have to teach math when I'm hired. Then I don't have to worry about science and all the problems it entails. I won't need to figure out how to get my seventh graders to extract DNA from a strawberry.
So for now, this is how I'm writing the What If for COVID-14. I'm hired as a math teacher to replace my predecessor, while the science teacher remains through June. Things go easier for me, since at least I don't have to worry about science. Also, I use my predecessor's lesson plans as a base -- for example, instead of a "Warm-Up," I call the opening activity by his name for them, "Do Now." Perhaps due to the pandemic, I don't need to cover all parts of the Illinois State text -- perhaps some STEM projects, die cut, and DIDAX lessons may exist, but we're not expected to teach all of them.
As for classroom management, perhaps the worst-behaved students opt out of hybrid completely, while with fewer kids in the class each day, there's less opportunity for misbehavior. The worst-behaved class from the original timeline -- my seventh graders -- are still only sixth graders at the time. I'm still likely to struggle with getting them to work, but at least I'm not yelling at them.
If schools get back to normal in fall 2021, this corresponds to fall 2016 on the COVID-14 timeline. But even if my first full year of teaching looks very much like the original timeline, at least I've learned something from April, May, and June. I know a little more about the Illinois State text and have implemented parts of it, and so it's easier to add the missing parts, including science. I know which of the now-seventh graders are troublemakers, and I'm prepared to work with the incoming sixth graders to prevent them from becoming new troublemakers like the seventh graders.
And so I take advantage of this crisitunity on the timeline -- I make it past March 2017 and don't need to leave the school. In fact, I complete three successful years at the charter before it's shut down. But even then, with the school closed, I'm scrambling for a new job in 2019. It's possible that 2021 ends up looking much like the current year on the original timeline -- to that end, it's just like the political COVID-95 timeline -- the White House has three new members, only to end with Biden in 2021. The only difference is that the pandemic is completely in the rearview mirror, and while I search for a new job, I have a stronger resume with three successful charter years on my record.
But no -- just like my playing of Millionaire this morning, it's all just a dream. I didn't win $250K or $500K this morning, and I didn't complete three successful years at my old charter school.
Updating Spherical Trigonometry
Yes, it's been a long time since I thought about spherical trig and Glen Van Brummelen's book. The reason I'm bringing it up now is that in my first spherical trig post of summer 2018, there was one problem that I had trouble with. Well, on April Fool's Day/Maundy Thursday, a commenter wrote:
I suspect that you are having difficulties with Abu Nasri 2 because
the formula in Van Brummelen is incorrect, And yes the corrected formula can be derived from Menelaus directly exceedingly easily
To which I reply, thanks for letting me know! That question had bothered me that entire summer!
And so let me repost that entire problem -- Exercise 4.3 -- with the correct equation:
Prove Abu Nasr's second theorem using Menelaus.
Abu Nasr's Second Theorem (corrected): sin DF/sin EF = sin AD/sin AB * sin AC/sin CE
Here are the givens (in Figure 4.1): both BD and CE are perpendiculars to ABC that intersect at F. It's been a while since we've thought about spherical geometry, so now's a good time to remember that perpendiculars to the same line aren't parallel on the sphere -- indeed, no lines are parallel in spherical geometry. So this is how both BD and CE can be perpendicular to the same line yet intersect at F. In fact, we call point F the pole of line ABC.
Let's review how to get from Menelaus to the Rule of Four Quantities, since Van Brummelen implies that the proof here is similar. The Menelaus Conjunction Theorem for this problem is:
sin CF/sin CE = sin BF/sin BD * sin AD/sin AE
Since we're going to be finding the sine of everything, let's agree to abbreviate sine as "s," so we don't have to keep writing "sin" over and over:
sCF/sCE = sBF/sBD * sAD/sAE
Now since F is the pole of BC, both BF and CF are 90 degrees, and s90 (= sin 90) = 1. So we have:
1/sCE = 1/sBD * sAD/sAE
We multiply both sides by sBD to obtain the desired result:
sBD/sCE = sAD/sAE
Now we attempt to prove Abu Nasr 2. We recall that there's a second Menelaus theorem -- often known as the Disjunction Theorem:
sCE/sEF = sAC/sAB * sBD/sDF
Since the desired theorem has sDF/sEF on the left side, we multiply both sides by sDF and then divide both sides by sCE:
sDF/sEF = sAC/sAB * sBD/sCE
And we have sAB on the right side, so all we need to make appear is sAD. If we could somehow show that sAD = sAC * sBD/sCE, then we're done. Let's return to the Four Quantities and solve for sAD:
sBD/sCE = sAD/sAE
sAD = sAE * sBD/sCE
Oops -- we needed sAC there, not sAE. In fact, we can multiply the previous formula by sAE/sAE:
sDF/sEF = sAC/sAB * sBD/sCE * sAE/sAE
sDF/sEF = (sAE * sBD/sCE) * 1/sAB * sAC/sAE
sDF/sEF = sAD/sAB * sAC/sAE
Thus completes the proof. QED
Conclusion
Let's end this post with the songs that I performed in my LA County district. I've posted a video link to the Square One TV song "Archimedes" before, but never the lyrics:
ARCHIMEDES
1. A mathematician and scientist
Born in 287 BC
He lived in the city of Syracuse
On the island of Sicily
He said he could move the world
If he only had a place to stand
A fulcrum and a lever long
And the strength of an average man
Refrain: He solved the problems of his days
Using math in amazing ways
His great work lives on today
Archimedes! Archimedes!
2. The Archimedean Principle tells
Why things float up or sink down
He found it when he needed to prove
The value of the King’s gold crown
His pulley system lifted weights
When the heavy loads got rough
His inventions saved the day
There wasn’t any job too tough (to Refrain)
3. He watched the stars and planets move
He built a planetarium
To illustrate the Universe
The Earth the Moon and shining Sun
With circles and with cylinders
He was busy calculating pi
This really was remarkable
For a man who lived in early times (to Refrain)
Now let's get to the other song I performed this week -- "Diagrams," in 20EDL. I'm still trying to come up with a quick way to compose new songs in our EDL scales.
It's tricky to make the COMPOSE randomizer program that I wrote for the TI-83 work properly. As far as rhythms are concerned, I like the idea of including sixteenth notes, but sometimes too many sixteenth notes are produced and the song is too hard to sing. It might be better to have our randomizer produce no note shorter than an eighth note, and then sing sixteenths only when they fit the lyrics (especially for the songs that already have lyrics but no tune). But whenever I try to lengthen the notes, the song keeps producing too many half, dotted half, and whole notes, and then I can't sing lyrics over these either.
In the end, I just chose random 20EDL notes and then create a rhythm that fits the lyrics. I combined the randomly chosen notes (which game me lots of Degree 17's and 19's) with notes that match the lyrics (for example, the first line is "sixteen notebooks," so I sing Degree 16).
Here are the lyrics, followed by the song written in Mocha:
DIAGRAMS
Sixteen notebooks,
They cost 88.
Tape Diagrams!
What's the unit rate?
Draw 16 boxes
So you won't get lost.
Four for 22 dollars,
Five-fifty unit cost.
Or you could write an equation...
Tape Diagrams!
Three-fourths of an hour,
To travel 12 miles.
Line Diagrams!
What's the speed meanwhile.
Draw a double line
For distance and for time.
Four in a quarter hour,
Sixteen M-P-H on the line.
Or you could write an equation...
Line Diagrams!
Don't forget to click the Sound box before you RUN the program.
I admit that I quickly wrote this song before I performed it in the last period I saw that day. Perhaps I shouldn't have tackled this 20EDL song first -- maybe trying 10EDL or 12EDL first. (Actually, since most of the Degrees here are even, this song is basically in 10EDL with a few extra notes from 20EDL thrown in.)
Still, I promised on the blog that I'd complete and post a song over spring break -- and I declared that this particular song would be written in 20EDL. And so I had to deliver on that promise.
Since it's in 20EDL, it isn't playable on the 18EDL guitars that I discussed earlier. It might be possible to play a 20EDL song if there's no Degree 19 (which can't be fretted on an 18EDL guitar), but this song includes Degree 19. (Notice that I chose to skip Degree 11 instead of 19.)
This concludes my spring break post. My Orange County districts will resume on Monday, and so I'll post Lesson 14-3 from the U of Chicago text then. This lesson will be on trigonometry -- and yes, that's ordinary plane trig, not spherical trig.
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