the key is to factor

[Deleted]

Cassian F. De Fiore
@emma
Fionn Paquet
@neighneigh
Kallistos Rolleston
Marguerite Girardeau
Martijn van der Berg

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One class done, two more to go. Not returning to his desk, Phillip moved directly to the board and erased the pre-algebra information that littered it before writing what his next class would be focusing on, Factoring Algebraic Expressions, it was a wonderful topic. He wrote the heading off center of the board and moved over to the other side and began to write more Polynomials, Monomials, Binomials, Trinomials, the four most common words used when talking about factoring algebraic expressions. Again he wrote this time in the center of the board but below his previous words, x²+4x+3 He finally capped the marker and placed it back on the tray. He sat down in his chair and took a sip of his Dr. Pepper, he was addicted to caffeine, but he didn't care.

Soon enough his students started filing in and finding their seats, some of their faces twisted in horror when they looked at the board. When everyone was seated and the bell had begun classes Phillip stood in the front of the room and cleared his throat. "As many of you know I'm Mr. Mackenzie, you can call me Mr. Mack or Mr. M, it doesn't matter to me but do not address me as Mr. Teacher or "Hey you" I will not respond, if I can learn all of your names, you can take time to learn mine. So if you are looking for Algebra One you are in the right class and we are going to get started."

He turned to face the board and pointed at the first thing he had written. "Factoring Algebraic Expressions, it is not as scary as it sounds nor is this expression as scary as it looks." He said pointing to the expression he had written in the middle of the board. He highly doubted it but he had to ask the question, "Have any of you factored an expression before today or have seen or heard this before?"

[Fionn Paquet]

Finn yawned as he made his way out of one class and down to the next. He really needed to try and manage his time a little better and get to bed earlier so that the early morning's didn't wipe him out so much, but he'd worry about that another day.

Walking into the Algebra classroom, he flashed a grin toward Mr Mackenzie and found his seat quickly, pulling out his folder and copying down everything on the board. After being here for a year, he'd worked out that his father didn't call the school every day to check on him, but he still made sure that he was a diligent student so that there was no chance of his academic record reflecting badly on the Paquet family name.

He rolled his eyes at the teacher's introduction, but he could understand how rules in a classroom were important. He bit back another yawn as he tried to look interested in the class, knowing that he was going to need to fix his exhaustion quicker than he earlier thought, but he'd worry about that between this class and the next.

Had he factored an expression before? Probably, at some point, but he couldn't think of anything off the top of his head so he remained silent.

[Kallistos Rolleston]

As the boy made his way from one classroom to the next, he realised that he probably should have made more of an effort, when he arrived a couple of weeks earlier, to make some friends - other than Sina - he probably should also get to know the head cheerleader before tryouts too, but that could wait for another day.

Walking into the classroom, he gave the teacher a tentative smile and made his way to an empty seat. He'd never really been a maths person, but he knew enough to be able to handle the class that had been picked for him - as his mothers believed in their son pushing himself academically as much as he did in his sports - though he could think of a million other things that he could be doing rather than sitting in a classroom counting sheep. He cracked a smile as he pulled his book out of his bag at that thought, as he knew that algebra had nothing to do about counting sheep, unless of course sheep=X.

Once he was ready, he turned his attention to the board and copied down what was written there and while he waited for the man to start the class, he began to work through the number he'd written down.

He raised his eyes as Mr Mackenzie asked if any of them had factored and expression before that day, and pursing his lips together, he shrugged his shoulders and turned his attention back to his book.

[Martijn van der Berg]

Tijn didn't know what he was expecting from math class. He had of course met the teacher the previous year, but he had moved up a level, and who was to say what he could expect from algebra, as opposed to pre-algebra. As he walked into the room, Tijn nodded to the teacher and then looked around at the classroom until he spotted a seat. He nodded briefly to Finn, knowing the boy from around the house, but he didn't have much interaction with the boy, and so didn't sit next to him.

After copying down the title and the other information from the board, Martijn put down his pencil and then folded his hands as he waited for the teacher to begin. He didn't have to wait long, though, and after the basics of introductions on the teacher's side, they actually began talking about the lesson. As he looked back at the board, he remembered seeing his sister's schoolwork, with Xs drawn across the whole page. It had been related to that, he was sure. Since no one else was raising their hands, Martijn frowned and then tentatively raised his hand. He'd at least heard of factoring, even if he didn't know much about how to do it.

[Deleted]

Jenna walked into the room and rubbed her eyes. They had began to twitch annoyingly for the last 10 or so minutes of her previous class. Jenna slid into a seat in the third to back row and leaned back into her seat. She put her bookbag around the back of her seat and fished out a pencil from it. She also grabbed her notebook and flipped to a new page, titleing it "Notes" and writing the date neatly in the courner. She quickly copied the large, hard to understand words of the board and left room to write descriptions of each. Then, Jenna copied down the problem on the board and under it, wrote "an algebretic expressing." Mr. Mackenzie got to work by announcing himself and saying he refused to be called 'hey you' or 'teacher', then asking them who had done a problem like the one on the board. Jenna had done something before like it, and tried to work out the problem.
x2+ 4x+ 3 = x2 (4x + 3) = x2 + 7x, which Jenna beleived was as far as she could go. She swiftly raised her hand in answer of the 'who has done something like this before' question. Jenna waited a moment, and looked around the room. None of her classmates had their hands up, making Jenna shift uncomfortably in her seat. She knew she most likely would be called on, but desperatly hoped she could just put her hand back down. Jenna gave a small smile. Usually she was the type to just keep her hand down, but not today.