The correct solution may be lying right underneath your nose

Nothing extraordinary happened today in class. I handed back their tests. Most of the students did not do well at all so I also gave them some time to work on some practice worksheets. However, a couple of interesting things happened today after work.

Today after work, I decided to open up our dryer because my clothes were coming out of it a little damp. I even went to Wal-Mart to pick up a screwdriver set with the star-shaped bits. Well I took the dryer apart and looked for evidence of an open circuit or cracked coil; something of the nature. I did not find anything. About the time I decided to put it back together, Wilmar walked into the garage and observed some of my work. I asked him to help me put it back together. When he positioned himself to help me, he noticed the heat level was set to 'delicate'. Apparently, when the dryer is set to delicate, there is almost no heat being applied to the clothes. I felt so ashamed. If I had simply checked the control panel, there would have been no need to take the entire dryer apart. However, I did get to see the inside of our dryer and clean it out in the process. Later, Marvin, my other roommate showed up soon after. It took the three of us to put the dryer back together. Four of us if you count Sarah, Wilmar's girlfriend. She showed us the diagram that helped us figure out how to replace the belt.

The other thing that happened today occured while playing squash at UCSD. I was resting in between games and overheard a couple talking about logic. The man was talking about solving problems. You have to solve problems one step at a time. If you solve a problem one step at a time, you are almost guaranteed to get the right answer. This is what I tell my students all the time. Sometimes they get lazy and try to go straight to the answer. Sometimes they get lucky and get the right answer. Most of the time it's wrong. I try to tell them that solving problems mentally is hard. I even put myself in their shoes and tell them that not even I can solve problems in my head. Anyways, I learned a couple of great lessons today and they didn't even occur at work or school.