Was it unbearably hot today, or was I just extremely nervous about the test? I was going to ask Mr. Mitchell to open the window, but I looked around and saw my classmates bundled up in sweaters and coats. Yep, I was nervous. Today was the big lines test and I hadn’t studied! You are probably thinking big deal, but you don’t know Mr. Mitchell. When you fail a test in his class, he helps you study! Oh well, my weekend was shot, I was going to be writing my linear definitions ten times each and probably completing some Math6.org assignments.
“Your test is simple today children.” Mr. Mitchell began. I sat up straight and hoped that I could fake knowledge as his eyes scanned the room for squirmers. “I have been nice enough to write down eight definitions and all you will need to do is write the correct word on the line.” His eyes lingered on me! He knows!
The first definition was the only one I knew. “A is an exact location in space.” When I saw the second one, I began to think I could pull off a miracle! “A group of points that follow a never ending straight path would be called a .” Maybe I had done such a good job listening in class… even the third one was easy! “A part of a line that has two end points is called a .” Wow! I was sure to make a 50% because the fourth one was easy too! “A has one end point and continues forever in a straight path.”
That’s when the hard ones began. “When lines cross at any angle they are called ________ lines.” I thought about x’s and y’s and all the other crossed lines I had ever seen. Then, I remembered Mr. Mitchell telling me that roads crossed at all kinds of angles and I knew the answer! I just had to change the word lines to roads. “When roads cross at any angle they are called roads!” Five down, one more correct answer and I could make a 75% and he might not help me study. I skipped the next two and went straight to the last question. That was easy, because it was the only definition that didn’t have lines in it. “An endless flat surface that is named by any 3 points is called a .”
Now all I had to do was remember whether parallel or perpendicular lines were the ones that intersected to form 90^o angles. I looked on the floor and the answer was there! I didn’t cheat on purpose so I didn’t feel guilty. When I looked on the floor, I noticed that the lines that made the tiles intersected at right angles. Mr. Mitchell told us to associate parallel lines with railroad tracks and lines with the right angles made by the tiles on the floor. I answered the question then looked at the last. “When two or more lines are equidistant, they will never intersect. We call lines that will never cross, lines.”
When I looked up, Mr. Mitchell was looking at me. I blushed a bit and wondered if he knew I had cheated. I wanted to tell him it was an accident, but he smiled at me and said, “Was the word written on the floor?”
I shook my head no and felt much better. But I promised myself that the next time I have a big test, I was going to Math6.org to make sure I was ready!