Double Negatives and Musical Selections

Double Negatives

The English teacher hates when students write using double negatives because a double negative changes the meaning of what is said. Although the math teacher may not have a problem with double negatives, he or she knows that when you put them together you have a positive.

The rule states that minus a negative is adding. Other than memorizing a meaningless rule, this can be a tough concept to teach. However, if you are teaching minus a negative to seventh graders, you'll probably do better than when I taught this concept to gifted and talented fifth graders.

Let's think of minus a negative as taking away debt! Suppose a student borrowed a dollar from his friend's mom to get a goody at the bake sale. When the student went to pay the friend's mother back, she told him not to worry about it. So in a sense, the boy made a dollar.

$0 - (-$1) = $1

She took away the dollar debt, thus giving the boy a dollar.

Let's look at this another way, from the viewpoint of the English teacher. If I held a pencil in my hand and said, "I don't have nothing in my hand," would this be true?

Yes. I don't have nothing in my hand. I have something . . . a pencil!

The big question, however, is whether or not this argument works in an ethical debate. If I did a wrong and apologized for it, did I take away the wrong? Maybe or maybe not.

Good luck explaining this to your students. The older they are, the more likely they are to understand because once again, this is a Piaget sort of concept!

If you are interested in a resource for teaching middle school math, check this out!

Positive and Negative Integer Operations with Word Problems

Tune in next week for my last math post, multiplying integers. 

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Monday Music Moves Me

Since I mentioned the ethics of taking away a wrong through an apology, I decided to post these songs about apologizing

First up is Linda and Paul McCartney with Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey. I actually had an Uncle Albert; but if anyone should apologize, I'd say it should be him. He was awful to my Dad . . . but that's another post. I'm glad Paul McCartney has fond memories of his Uncle Albert and is apologizing for his generation's treatment of the older generation.

Here's another great song. Elton John with 

Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word.

What's even more important than the apology is what someone does to change. That's why I chose this next song, Man in the Mirror, by Michael Jackson.