Mathalogical

Devastating

2010-06-04T07:43:00.000-05:00

Far too familar. I'm tearing up 2 minutes in.

Posting here because it's too much of a record of my time in South Dakota not to.

Song for South Dakota Moves

2009-09-21T22:07:00.004-05:00

July--I told Jackie and Kate I'd put this video up soon.

August--My students started school. I told myself it was a good time to put this up.

September--I'm starting school. Really, it's now or never. I'm moving on. New blog is over there. Bookmark it. Add it to your feeder. Remove this one except for archival purposes.

But before you do, a sense of what was going through my mind as I drove cross-country this summer. (With apologies to everyone who actually cares about moviemaking. I don't do even well holding a video camera.)

P.S. Sorry about using copyrighted music. It's the soundtrack of my South Dakota moves. For the proper feeling pull back your hair, roll down the windows, and belt it out. Alternatively burst into tears. I don't recommend the alternative.

Dispatch While Moving

2009-06-18T11:39:00.001-05:00

The new teachers are here. Interviewing right now. (My students are waiting for reports on what they're like.) They're asking for advice, wanting to know what I've picked up out here. The best I'll offer, build your support network. And then expand it.

Other people get by with less, but I've drawn support from across the board. Family and college friends, especially the teachers among them. Teachers at my school and the other TFAers in my state. Local people, be they from a church off the reservation or on the other side of the window at my post office.

The people who have surprised me most with their support are the ones I've found online. I would not have guessed that moving to the middle of the country, I'd connect with teachers all over. I had friends with LiveJournals, but didn't know about the edublogging world until I stumbled upon dy/dan.

Ain't that the way it goes? One minute you're trying to remember the name of that site that lets you make big posters out of any-sized picture. The next you're going through archives and blogrolls, stealing lesson ideas along the way.

I immediately started building the connections. Joining conversations in the comments of my favorite blogs and eventually writing here. I discovered this group of people eager to share ideas and experiences. They represent the variety of schools across the country (even the globe). Urban to rural. One-to-one to we have computers? Preservice teachers to retirees. Sometimes it was important for me to remember that not every school is like mine. Other times they remind me that really, kids are kids and we're working toward a common goal.

Last year, I noticed people joining Twitter. I stalked them for months before signing up so I could write back. After sharing so many stories from our classrooms, the connections formed though internet cables begin to feel tangible. Sam Shah summed it up.

Okay, I know that these people aren’t my friends. And that I’m not ever going to meet them in real life, for the most part. But I’ve actually come to care when someone’s kid is angry at them or when someone’s husband was in the hospital.

When I start talking about the online people too much, people say, "But they aren't really your friends." Like Sam, I know there's truth in the statement, and yet when I broke down and joined Facebook the first people to actually ask to be friends (rather than accept invites) are people who I might never meet, oceans and continents being what they are. I have eaten their Christmas cookies and mailed them my mixed CD. If that doesn't qualify you as a friend who helped me face the challenges of teaching, I don't know what does.

True Notebooks

2009-05-25T21:20:00.003-05:00

Since starting the class two years earlier, I'd had plenty of opportunities to wonder: What is the value of a positive experience if it is only temporary? How do you weight the advantages against the disadvantages of affection, or of aspiration? After all I'd been through with the boys--some of it wonderful and some of it terrible--all I could say was that a little good has got to be better than no good at all. That, I wrote Kevin, was my answer to his question of why I went there: not because I always enjoyed it, and not because the boys always enjoyed it, but because most of us seemed to agree that it was a good thing to do.

~page 323, True Notebooks by Mark Salzman

I copied this quote when I first read True Notebooks sophomore year of college. Found it in my journal this fall and was inspired to reread the book as a teacher. I'm finally returning the book to my friend and flipped though, just to find the quote again.

Prayer from the Last Day of School

2009-05-22T00:17:00.001-05:00

I picked up my copy during third period. There is now a photo on Bebo of me reading it to two of my Blueberry Girls.

"Two Years"

2009-05-15T08:03:00.005-05:00

Sam comes into my room early morning. She's here to have me sign her checkout form. "You're my last signature." Everything's in order for graduation.

"See you in class, Ms. Cannon."

"Really? Are you done painting your senior tile? Will graduation practice be done?"

"I dunno."

"Don't make promises then. I'll see you later."

Fourth period, last chance to attend class as a student, Sam sneaks in just after the bell. My plan this week is having students study old skills, present mini-lessons, and retake quizzes. I try to have her help some other students study a topic she's been working on, but when she ends up in a back desk, earbuds in, gazing at the word wall, I'm not bothered. Just curious what she's thinking.

"Two years this room."

From this desk to that one. From head-on-the-desk refusing to try to serious dedication getting things done. When I asked the vice principal about her two years ago, I was told stories of fights the year before. How a summer program transformed her and she was working for everyone else. I wondered how to get her to work for me.

I can't give you the recipe. It didn't work for everyone. But eventually, something clicked with Sam. After Failing my class last year (sorry), Sam made it through the first one and a half quarters this year. By third quarter she was back in the danger zone, with graduation requirements looming. I showed her exactly what she needed to do to get any grade she decided to aim for. It would take work, but we'd make it happen.

And happen it did. Up to passing in time for prom, Sam kept working. Celebrating each baby step along the way, passing wasn't enough. She wanted the best she could earn.

"Two years."

At the Wacipi that afternoon, Sam hands me an envelope. Graduation invitation. Inside is another card that says "Thank You." The note inside is exactly what I needed to hear.

"You helped me more than anything."

Stay ability

2009-05-11T23:01:00.005-05:00

If you click my profile, you'll see the Ethics of Service blog. Last year I was asked to contribute to the class blog for a class of the same name. Even though the class ended a year ago, I posted again in December about the decision to leave. Wanted to share this with you.

On Leaving

I don't know if anyone will read this, but this seems like the appropriate space for sharing my current reflection process. I'm struggling with the ethics of ending service.

I'm working on my grad school applications, planning to leave the reservation next year. Yet when the security guard asked me yesterday if I would be back next year, I said I didn't know. Although I do not feel called to teach for the rest of my life, and want to attend graduate school, I'm experiencing guilt for this decision.

They didn’t expect me to make it through my first year. On my first day of school, I allowed students to ask me questions. The most frequent question was, “How long will you be here?” Time and again they have been abandoned. By teachers. By family. By volunteers who are here for a week of their summer, leaving to tell stories of the difficulty of these people's lives.

My return from Christmas convinced some students that I would make it through the year; they never said the words, but their attitude toward me changed. Girls who had walked out of class refusing to do work, moved to the front of the room to work on the board and stayed afterschool for extra help. While I know my teaching has improved, my continued return has gained a trust that transforms my classroom. Stability--stay ability--is a gift they do not receive often enough.

When I leave, whether it's next year or 15 years in the future, I will add more instability to the system. My time here has been longer than the summer volunteers, but I wonder how much good we do. I have to believe that the benefits we help bring outweigh the cost of this unstable system. Have to hope that my presence for two years is more meaningful than the absence I replaced. Have to trust that someone else will fill in the void I leave.

TFA is sometimes said to stand for "Teach for Awhile." The program's only been at my school for 3 years. One-third of the first corps has stayed for their third year. And even leaving after two years we are more constant than the one year teachers who were here before us. Still, I'm afraid of this system that says, it's okay to be here a little while. A little while may be better than never, but some days I'm not sure.

Two Weeks Notice

2009-05-11T22:52:00.002-05:00

Face-to-face friends know it. I told people on Twitter when I clicked the button. And have been telling students through a gradual process for a few months.

I'm not coming back next year. Not to the reservation and not to teaching. At least not directly.

I'm going to graduate school.

FAQ (Minus the Q)

A1. Northwestern.

A2. Human Development and Social Policy.

A3/4. PhD program. 5 years.

A5. Interdisciplinary program. I'm excited to explore statistical analysis of schools and policy. Especially after seeing how the numbers play out in reality.

A6. I'm sure I'll keep blogging, but not here. This is my teacher blog. If I'm not a teacher at the time, then this isn't the place. There are two weeks left this school year. I'll transition to a new space online as I transition to the new place.

I made a list last night of posts before I leave, but this is your warning that a bookmark shift will be in order soon.

Song from the Mean Teacher

2009-05-03T21:26:00.002-05:00

Paul Ford's six-word description is "Perfect for prepping for your finals." Video below for easy listening, but download at SXSW.

Why I Haven't Shared More of the NaPoWriMo

2009-05-01T22:22:00.004-05:00

April 30

It's the students who tell the counselor, "Yeah she's a fair grader," even though they're still failing. (But getting better.)

It's the "I'm going to get a bunch of people to tell you to come back next year." (Followed by threats of leaving too.)

It's the dropping in and chillin'. Talking 'bout what's wrong with the rez. (Gang violence and I look at the blue shirt, the matching hat on backwards.)

It's the celebrating milestones, baby victories along the way. Asking "Who should I call to brag on you."

It's the knowledge that I will not lower my expectations no matter how who bullies.

And it's some kind of hope in those convictions that bring me in day after day.

Desperation

2009-04-25T16:31:00.003-05:00

It started innocently. A student sighed saying she couldn't wait for graduation. I asked what she planned to do next year.

The conversation quickly turned to what you're allowed do to on probation. You can go to school and do your basics. You cannot join the National Guard. Huh. Not information I was equipped with. And then I learned more.

At the mention of probation another student joined the conversation. He brought news of a classmate who's been out dealing with legal troubles.

I knew there had been a hearing, but I didn't know about the house arrest. Nor did I know about taking off the ankle bracelet. Disappearing. Running away. Becoming a fugitive. He doesn't want to make it easy for them, but I worry about making it harder on himself.

I watch the growing hopelessness, his poetry pleading with Creator. I imagine him hiding from the feds, and shake my head. Smart kid, dumb decisions.

"He had everything going for him," they say. But everything here isn't always enough.

Observers Comment on This

2009-04-19T21:37:00.002-05:00

Not that I get observed frequently. But at least two people have commented on my trick of writing on the desks. When I'm walking around the room helping students, I carry a marker and an eraser. If students want to use them to do the work, I have extras. I'm not sure how I started doing this, but it's one of my favorite teacher tricks.

Converted

2009-04-19T20:04:00.003-05:00

What do you see here?

Right angles.

Either I hadn't prepared my class for this or else I had trained them too well.

Show us. Where are those? What else do you see?

A prism.
Parallel lines.

After a few more conversations along this line.

Is that really the first thing you see when you look at this? Because the first thing I see is a boat.

Oh, yeah. I see that too.

Last week was a rough one for me. I'd done enough prepartion the weekend before that I could coast until Friday. But Thursday night I was not up for planning. Most classes needed to practice. There were worksheets I could photocopy. It wasn't going to be a day I was proud of, but I'd get through it.

I wanted to do something better for my Geometry class. We'd gone over basic formulas for volume on Thursday. The dozen practice problems felt too light to me. I flipped through the textbooks on my shelf for inspiration.

The textbook problem (Geometry Concepts and Skills by McDougal Littel)

Lake Superior is about 22 feet higher than Lake Huron. In order for ships to safely pass from one lake to the other, they must go through one of the four Soo Locks.

Water is added to the MacArthur Lock until the height is increased by 22 feet. To find the amount of water added to the lock find the volume of a rectangular prism with a length of 800 feet, a width of 80 feet, and a height of 22 feet.

How many gallons of water are added to the MacArthur Lock to raise the ship to the level of Lake Superior? Use the fact that 1 cubic ft~7.5 gal.

I've read Dan's evangelism about What Can We Do With This? and rants against textbooks enough to see a good set-up.

During my prep, I found a couple of photos of the lock. I pulled them into Keynote. I memorized a couple of numbers, tagged an animation of how locks worked for good measure.

After the class had finished listing what they saw in the original photo I flipped to the second. Same lock. No boat. And the water level was lower.

What's going on here?

The boat's gone.

The buildings are gone.

Yeah, this was last minute. I didn't find the perfect pictures shot at the same angle. We acknowledged that.

What else happened?

The ground's higher.

No, the water's lower.

These aren't classes that are usually that engaged. But all my students were involved in this discussion. Someone in each class knew what a canal was and could describe how it worked. I never used that animation.

I asked them what the math question was. They went for volume. I asked them what information they needed and provided it as they asked. Happily the numbers I memorized were in different units.

I enjoyed that different periods were more varied than I usually have while both reached the major objectives. One of the classes converted to gallons the other was happy to leave it in cubic feet. In one class we estimated the width of the boat and how much wiggle room it had in the canal, the other class didn't inspire that question.

So how did you like this method compared with the usual?

I really liked it! Look at how much we got done! It's like we've already done all our homework.

And then they chased each other around the room instead of practicing a few more problems. Guess I can't win all the time.

Dose of Cuteness

2009-04-09T22:47:00.002-05:00

Cabin fever sent me to town today. Perusing the local bookstore I discovered Norton Juster's The Dot & the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics. It's cute, cheesy, and nerdy all at once. In other words perfect for my current mood. I read the entire book in the store, bought it, and just ended a skype call with storytime.

Apparently the book, originally published in 1963, was made into an Academy Award winning short. It's on YouTube. I prefer the book, though given that the movie is the exact text I think it reveals my preference for the print medium. If you aren't familiar, acquaint yourself.

This is for Stormy*

2009-04-09T12:55:00.006-05:00

It's been five and half years since I had Stormy as a camper. It was the last week of summer my first year as a full-fledged counselor. Stormy was one of five girls in my cabin that week. One week out of the dozens I served on staff. But when I think about being a counselor, I think about Stormy.

She was the camper from hell. It was my worst week as a counselor. I didn't know how to handle her. Running away from the group (not a smart move in the woods). Language (I worked with the little kids where we didn't hear swear words). Violence (I don't think I'll ever forget the sight of her chasing another camper with a burning torch). Even now I shake my head thinking about it.

I can only imagine the hell she grew up in.

---

My mother serves on a board that offers camperships to my camp. She asked me this week about the program that sent Stormy. No hesitation. Send them. Please.

---

She told her contact from the program about my experience. Asked about Stormy. I wasn't surprised to hear that even for the inner-city kids the program works with, Stormy comes from a "compromised situation." Bouncing from home to home. If you call any of them a home. Brother in detention center. You know the story. We don't want to hear it, but we know it.

For five years I have hoped for the best for Stormy. I know it's unlikely. One week of camp cannot counteract the entirety of her situation. Camp should be an outlet. A chance to escape. As much as camp shaped who I am, I don't expect it to be life-changing for everyone else. Even now, reminded again of the magnitude of her drama, I pray that Stormy can find a long-term way to emerge.

---

And so I teach. I'm a believer in the power of education to change lives. A week at camp is a pebble in the river, but a year of school is at least a decent size rock. My students are around the age that Stormy is now. They live thousands of miles from her, but their situations aren't far removed.

I’m afraid of the times when I hear how former students are doing. I don’t want to be disappointed in them. Disappointed in me, that I wasn’t enough to launch them to some hazy vision of success. But I’m more afraid that Stormy won’t have a teacher who tries.

*Name changed. Though I did have a camper named Stormy. I hope she's blossoming into the confident young woman I saw.

Critique Needed

2009-04-05T11:25:00.003-05:00

Today's entry for NaPoWriMo. I want to write structured poems, but this one has been bouncing around my head.

Warning: this includes four-letter words I don't say around students. (Though milder than what I hear on a daily basis.)

April 5
Not metaphorical, though it could be

There’s a pile of shit in my backyard.
Crap.
Poop.
Excrement.
Waste.
Call it whatever you like,
It’s there.

Buried, for the first time, by eighteen inches of--white--snow,
I am still bothered by the thought
Of the pile three months wide.

They didn’t even dig a hole when they “fixed” the plumbing.

Other stuff is back there too.
Whatever goes down the drain, I guess.
Can’t clean inside without increasing mess.
It makes you think differently about the chemicals.
Dishwater.
Shower suds.
Spilt milk.
Listerine, twice a day.

Is this even legal?

I started collecting vegetable peels, fruit rinds, bread
Crumbs that ease my mind--
even a little--
To compost.
Way I see it my landlord, the schoolboard, can’t complain.
This is the material that is listed on the “Do” list.
Pet feces are on the “Don’t” list.
Human? Not even mentioned.
When I take my good stuff back there,
onion skins fly away.
Sure, it looks like they are blown by the wind,
but I know they’re just as repelled as I am.

Teacher Me Envies Knitter Me

2009-03-11T19:51:00.013-05:00

The new Knitty came out today. Knitty is the online knitting magazine that has been my go-to for patterns, techniques, and inspiration since in high school. The arrival of a new issue is a drop-everything-and-take-an-hour-to-enjoy event.

First click, the patterns. My ritual takes me through each of then before I savor the columns. I'll imagine the possibilities and move back to the work I was doing before.

Today I noticed a change in my routine. As I'm going through patterns, I am clicking a bookmarklet in my toolbar "Ravel This."

Ravelry is the social networking site for yarn people. That bookmarklet takes me to the site. If the pattern is already in the system (and everything I've clicked for it is) I'll go to the main page for the pattern. I can save the pattern to my favorites. Add it to my queue. Cast on and put it on my projects page.

I can see other projects from the same designer. See what other people are saying about the project. Find other people who like the project. Read blog posts from people who are making the project. Look at their photos. See their ratings. Easy or Hard? Heart or Ugh? Examine revised versions of the pattern.

When I bought sock yarn over Christmas, I entered it in my stash. I can browse projects others knit with the yarn. Buy extra from someone if I didn't have enough. Ask questions on the discussion boards. Or in one of the groups I'm in. Or by messaging one of my friends.

Where's the equivalent site for teachers?

There are so many lesson planning libraries. Resourcing sharing sites. Wikis. Nings. TFA has one, but requires I downgrade my Firefox and is exclusive to TFA people. (I'm not comfortable with that.)

I want the place I default to be THE place where teachers go online. To have access to all the conversations. So that when I add new slides to Dan Meyer's Geometry Curriculum I can upload them, write a quick comment, and know that anyone who looks at that week can see my revised version without changing the original for anyone. Or when I'm looking for a lesson on exponents, I don't end up looking through the variety of folders on my computer: "from Dan Greene," "from Kate, "from Nick," "from Sam," "Dan Greene Algebra 2"... I want to click the tags. Search within them. Browse a few links and be inspired.

Please tell me where I'm supposed to go.

(Though I feel like if I haven't found my site, it's not THE site yet. Take my ideas and run. Alternatively, I'm still flexible in my plans this summer. If someone is good at web programming, I'm willing to think more about design.)

Another Song for the February Break

2009-02-14T06:52:00.002-06:00

Keeping with Dina and Kate's theme of driving, I went to my playlist "Go." I'll see you in The Middle of the World.

Warrior from the Rez Ain't Never Gonna Quit

2009-02-09T20:07:00.003-06:00

The New York Times has a video story about a girl from the Lower Brule Reservation. It's amazing how familiar the first half of the video is*. I haven't been to Lower Brule reservation, never met Cheryl, but it captures some essence of life here.

The second half is more positive than I often feel. I see too many of my students going down without a fight. The crab story, told frequently here, doesn't quite fit. I feel like we climb half-way up the bucket, lose grip, and slide back down.

*The drums at the beginning don't sound as familiar. The ones at the pow-wow sound right.

Checking the Annual Report Off My To-Do List

2009-01-30T23:53:00.011-06:00

I really like Dan Meyer's annual report contest. (Even though I treat it more as a meme.) Despite it being a change in the calendar, January never feels like the change of year to me. My life calendar always seems to shift in the summer months. So pausing mid-year to reflect on the changes reveals interesting behavior patterns to myself.

I wasn't sure I'd get slides done this year. Last night I sketched out some ideas in my journal and created them this evening. I'm not totally happy with everything--slides aren't as consistent as I'd like--but tweaking them to perfection is not going to be the best use of my time this weekend.

So for now, here you go.

Edit: Feb. 2, 10:56 pm. Realized last night that the labels on slide 4 were incorrect. Not that anyone else will care, but the corrected version is below.

A few final reflections.

The background picture is busy. But I wanted something that fit the "Comfort" theme. I'm waiting for some slippers to arrive, but planning on spending this weekend cozied up in PJs. You don't get much more comforting than a baby blanket.

I like not having the scale shown on these. Full confession, I did not track all of this data, so some of the numbers are guessed. My personal favorite slide is the one with the least fact behind it and my least favorite is the one where I can tell you the numbers exactly. Go figure.

Thanks to Dan for putting the challenge out there. And thanks to everyone else who got their entries in before me for the inspiration to create mine.

(A note to Alice Mercer: I really liked the text as background on your slides and originally planned on adapting that idea. I had planned on using my parent's pizza recipe (I freestyle mine anymore), directions to a friend's ranch, the pattern for the lace shawl I knitted, and the text from last year's entry to the same context.)

With that, I'm off to bed and the rest of the weekend.

What We're Up Against

2009-01-29T08:02:00.004-06:00

"Ms. Cannon, how old are you?"

"Twenty-three."

"Man, if I was twenty-three, I wouldn't be teaching. I'd be living it up. What are you doing teaching?"

"Because then I get to see your face make expressions like that one."

"I'd be living it up. I wouldn't be a teacher and I wouldn't be teaching Indian kids."

"Wait. Why wouldn't you be teaching Indian kids?"

"Because we're dumb, man."

It's not a unique conversation. But it's the internalized negative stereotypes that we work to prove wrong.

Welcome Back (Part 2)

2009-01-12T22:25:00.002-06:00

Absent.

I'm beginning to hate the word. I don't care why you're not here, I just wish you were.

It's an epidemic here. Students who had 90 percent attendance were honored at last year's awards ceremony. (For any nonmath people, that's rewarding students who missed a day every two weeks.) As the first semester ends, I have multiple students with 20+ absences. They've already missed a month of school.

For today, I'm not worried about how to change that behavior. Though, if you have suggestions I'd love to hear them. I want ideas on how to welcome students back.

What I'm Doing to Cope with Absences

A list of various techniques in no particular order.

Using an adaption of Dan's concept quiz system. You need to know the material. I don't need you to make up every worksheet.
Providing two nights to complete "homework" assignments.
Listing all assignments on GCal. (So that I can see what you missed when you return. Few students have access to internet.)
Maintaining a filing system where for notes. Students are supposed to go to the folder and find anything they are missing. (Often we work on one set of handouts for two days.) They ask a friend for help or come in for...
Tutoring after school. Or before school if you make sure I know you're coming in. Or during lunch if you let me know in advance*.
Sending work home. I'm not as proactive on this as I aspire to be. But I try to have something ready for students coming by with an advanced makeup slip. Seen one student actually do the work.
Trying to remind students of what they missed. While they're doing warm-up journals I try to visit with everyone. It's a brief chat, but hopefully allows me to tell them I missed them, find out why they were absent, and let them know what we did.

Still Short

Some students do not need to be in school everyday. One of my top students was dropped over the weekend. It doesn't change the fact that he's aced all the concepts.

But most students aren't that lucky. When they miss school, they fall behind. They don't know what's going on, feel dumb, won't try the next assignment, don't learn it, miss more school... Vicious, vicious cycle.

I hope this isn't as big of an issue elsewhere. But I know very few people make it though a year with perfect attendance. What strategies work for you to help students get back to class? Thanks for any inspiration.

*The last one is rare because by that point in the day I really do need to go to the restroom/microwave food/visit with other teachers for support.

Welcome Back (part 1)

2009-01-12T22:10:00.003-06:00

I came back from Christmas break to have four of my students suspended. They'd gotten in trouble with alcohol and drugs over break. Later in the week another two were suspended for drugs, one was suspended for fighting, and one is no longer coming to my class because she's pregnant and struggling with morning sickness.

They started coming back today. It's the same old game of catch up, but with the added pressure of grades due on Thursday.

I know these problems are everywhere. I know I sheltered myself from them at my high school. I wish my students could hide from them too.

Day before break

2008-12-17T08:58:00.003-06:00

We were informed yesterday that today's first and second periods would be mentor groups. This is the third time we've met this year and we were free to come up with our own plans. I'm the cutesy-crafty type, so I figured we could make Christmas cards, write Christmas letters to reflect on the year, or cut out snowflakes. It reminded me of Dan's snowflake math last year (and Jason's redux.) I'm not pulling it out today, but might try it on a half-day next semester.

We're watching movies instead. The principal just came around, "Candy. Why wants candy?" I don't know what's happening for the rest of the day. Guess we'll figure it out as we go along.

This week's schedule

2008-12-14T21:15:00.002-06:00

Planned (for most classes):

Monday--Review

Tuesday--Quiz

Wednesday--Return quizzes, free day for the dozen students in the school

Reality:

Monday--Late Start

Tuesday--I leave in the afternoon for eye doctor (current glasses are five years old), afterschool basketball teams, knowledge bowl teams, cheerleaders, and other students leave for Lakota Nation Invitational

Wednesday--Half-day for the dozen students in the school, still waiting for announcement on the school-wide freeday

The question:

My afternoon classes should be okay with the review/quiz schedule.

My morning classes all fell behind schedule by at least two days last week. (Late start, testing, lockdown, assembly...) My tendency is to try to teach so we can be at a decent pause point as we begin the 2.5 week break. But I'm nervous about how many students won't be there. Know that I'll have to reteach anything after break anyway. Is it less wasteful of our classtime to give them the chance on previous concepts they haven't mastered?

Grateful

2008-12-11T23:12:00.002-06:00

It's not easy being a hard teacher* and recently I've been feeling worn down.

This morning my lunch buddy, who informally serves as my mentor teacher, reassured me that I am doing a good job. "No matter what you see in the classroom now, no matter how often they blow up at you, how much they hate you, they're learning something. They'll appreciate it eventually. The students who give you the hardest time now will be the most grateful later."

I've heard the platitudes before. I want to believe them. But sometimes I wonder how much this is just what we tell ourselves to make it through the day.

And then, as I was walking out the hall to the bus circle after school, D sauntered down the hall. I didn't notice him until he called, "Miss Cannon."

He gave me hell last year. Starting with the testing on day one. Only somehow I never passed. (And I'm not sure he did either.) I was relieved when he was absent and dreaded his class on mornings when I saw him at school.

So it was strange to greet him in the hallway. He's home for break. Hanging out on the rez. Somehow, despite missing most of second semester last year, he is the student who is making it at college. I asked how his classes were. What's your favorite?

Math.

He's in Intermediate Algebra. They started this year with material he learned in my class, so that helped him. He wanted to apologize for his behavior. He thanked me for what I did.

He blew my mind.

I asked if he'd write a letter to students about college. Or come in and talk to a class. He said that he's telling his friends. He think word will get around. I didn't push more.

The rest of the conversation was a bit awkward for both of us. Our relationship is fraught with tension, being friendly was almost unsettling.

As I walked away, I realized the platitudes are rooted in truth. And for once, it came years sooner than I expected.

----

* Expecting students to learn. Consistently holding them to a standard.

PSA from my sister

2008-12-03T21:15:00.003-06:00

Much as I hate it, sometimes drill practice is what students need to internalize a concept. I'd rather have the computer generate and check problems than do it myself. I'm excited that FreeRice subjects now includes "Basic Math/Prealgebra." I don't know that I'll pull it out in class, but I will use it during tutoring.

Sharing here in hopes that someone will be as excited as I was when my sister told me about it.

World Aids Day Word Problem

2008-12-02T15:38:00.005-06:00

It is estimated that 8 out of every 10 deaths caused by AIDS occurs in sub-Saharan Africa. If 2 million people die from AIDS this year, how many are from sub-Saharan Africa?

Showing this cartograph from Worldmapper was the highlight of my day. I didn't emphasize the connection between the numbers from the problem and the map as much as I could have--we worked the problem above and then I put this on the board with a "What do you notice?" Even without spinning a whole lesson out of it, we had a decent discussion. While it's not something that shows as learning on standardized tests, it felt like this was the lesson that might stick with a few students.

Claiming what's good

2008-11-20T22:03:00.002-06:00

Some days are too ridiculous to share publicly. I'm afraid tomorrow will be one of those days. I think it already is. In place of the post I want to write, a few positive notes.

My Algebra 1 class conducted a survey about student experiences in the blizzard. We've been working with visualizing and analyzing the data. I'm hopeful that we'll have a summary of results on the webpage this week.

While watching a video about classroom management at a staff meeting, I felt bored. "Don't I already do this?" Made a more conscious effort of briefly asking students "What are you supposed to be doing?" during class today. It actually made a difference with fourth period. Sixth period still had it's sleepers though.

I'm interpreting students creating a romantic drama for me as a sign that they like me. They're comfortable with me. It seems to be in good fun (and they even knock it off when I tell them that's enough).

Finally, I'm going to bed before 11:00 tonight.

The Melting

2008-11-11T09:40:00.025-06:00

I updated my post on the blizzard yesterday, but realize you who use the RSS feeder probably won't see it. A friend who worked in the area last year asked how the melt was going. The situation caused by the blizzard is bad. But in the protection of my trailer, I've also been sheltered from the news. It is rare that I feel as lucky to be where I am as I do now.

In part of an effort to convey what is happening here, I am linking to others' stories and telling my own below.

Stories from School

Nov. 11--It may not be a normal school day when:

you already have an early release planned
students haven't been in school for a week
you drop in on a conversation about how to offer showers to students
you hear that your students won't get power for another TWO WEEKS (Parmelee again)

Today's lesson plans. Opportunity to talk. Choice to review homework that was due last week. Potential project collecting and analyzing our statistics from the blizzard.

Others' Stories

Marion has a detailed account of her storm experience. Some of my students live in Parmelee which is still without power. KELOland has some coverage of the situation as well.

A week ago, I was planning on spending this weekend in Wanblee teaching my friends Kathy, Sarah, and Noah to knit. After living in the school for four days they have escaped to a hotel in Rapid City. They do not expect power in Wanblee until Thursday. The Rapid City Journal article can be read here.

Evan, Anne, and Anna also have posts about the storm.

I will continue to update this post with links to more stories as they are told.

My Story

We had Family Night after school last Wednesday. Most weeks I drive a half hour to have dinner with a friend on Wednesday evening. But I was feeling behind on my school work and decided not to increase my stress level by driving in the falling snow. When the call came at 10 pm that we would have a late start in the morning I breathed a sigh of relief, worked for another two hours, and went to bed.

I had planned to sleep in for an hour, but the howling wind got me up. Looking out the window I turned on the radio waiting for the announcement that school was canceled. It didn't look like there was much snow on the ground, but there was no way to run buses in that sustained level of wind. Vicki and I settled in for a day of cooking, reading, and relaxed work. Periodically I would open the door to marvel at the snow being blown about.

Midmorning I called my grandmother who worries about me after watching the weather channel. I wanted to reassure her that I was okay. Two minutes into the phone call my cell phone lost service. Towers were down. Cell phones would not work for the next two days. My landline and internet still worked; I was never unable to contact my family.

Thursday evening Anne told me that school was canceled for Friday and she was going over to Jen's to celebrate. Vicki and I bundled up and ventured outside for the first time all day.

When we arrived there were already six teachers there writing a song for our friend Andrew's birthday party that weekend. The power went out around 8 pm. We had candles, musical instruments, and lots of layers. At the peak of the evening, 13 teachers were hanging out in the living room. Eventually it was time to go to sleep. Vicki, Anne, and I decided to venture home where we could sleep under our own blankets. Anne promised to make breakfast in the morning and we went out into the storm.

That was not the smartest decision I've ever made. The wind pushed the falling snow in our faces. No power meant the ever-glowing street lights were off. The storm meant there wasn't a moon to light our way. We had flashlights, but could only see a few steps ahead. It was a straight shot. We knew we'd run into the fence of our trailer park if we kept going. Two steps after we considered going back Anne saw the fence and we were home again.

I woke up in the morning underneath a pile of blankets. It was light enough to try reading in bed, but my hands got cold. I put on a hat and alternated between snoozing and reading Zorro by Isabel Allende. At 10:00 I realized I was listening to the whir of the heat. I called my parents to tell them the power was back on. An hour later I bundled up to climb over waist-deep snowdrifts to go next door for brunch. By the time I left, plans were made to have dinner at 3D. The dinner party evolved into a movie viewing and eventually a slumber party. They were out of propane, so we didn't have much heat. I was impressed by the difference two space heaters can make.

Saturday I worked on digging my car out. The snow plow left a pile right behind me, but we were able to get Vicki's car to back out and mine to go in front of her's. I still haven't tested if I can actually get my car out. Most teachers left teacher housing, either to go to families in other parts of the state or to Andrew's birthday celebration.

Yesterday the school had inservice. Most of the staff was there, some after digging a quarter mile to get their cars to the road. We have today off for Veterans' Day. Tomorrow I have a half-day of school (early release for correlates) and will finally hear what my students have been through.

Blizzard

2008-11-07T10:24:00.003-06:00

I've heard the elders say winter will be hard this year.

Day two of this blizzard. I worry about how the rest of the community is doing. Teacher housing may have leaky windows and broken screen doors, but we're more protected than most. My power just came back on after being out all night. I'm sure others are still waiting.

I won't see students again until Wednesday. I pray they stay safe between now and then.

Edit November 10: Marion's post and the article on Wanblee (where some of my friends live and teach) makes me feel all the more grateful for the protection we had during the storm. And all the more worried for my students.

Rosie

2008-10-30T09:16:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I took down my poster of Rosie the Riveter.

She'd been defaced. First a black eye. Then bloodshot eyes. Now blood trickles down her lip.

I no longer have my icon to remind me, more than the students really, "We Can Do It." Taking her off the board sent the message to me, "Can't."

Morale is down across the school--I know these aren't just my issues. I'm trying to fight through this. Trying to find the motivation to pull together and push on. Today was a hard one. But I didn't call in. My car was the second one in the school parking lot this morning.

I skipped the drum song because I couldn't face people quite yet. I'd almost collected myself and caught up to the point to be on pace with my work when a knock came at my door.

Someone else had called in sick so teachers were having to sub during their prep.

When your teachers are already at the breaking point, piling more work on them isn't going to improve the situation. My attitude went kerflump.

I think my tears is what prompted the assistant principal to tell me, "Dear, you need to take a personal day," and hand me a leave slip. I briefly talked with him, the principal, and the school's teacher mentor. It was clear that I needed a breather and they'd see me tomorrow. But I don't think any one of them has a clue that it was the subbing that sent me over the edge.

I feel guilty losing a learning day. Obviously there aren't subs. They advised me not to worry about running off worksheets, my students are going in with the PE class anyway. Tomorrow we're running a shortened schedule so we can have a Halloween party in the afternoon--there won't be enough time to explore new material.

But I know I'd be a waste today too. Half-a-prep wouldn't cut it on a day when I needed a whole one.

Hopefully taking today will help me get back on track. Help me remember why I'm teaching here. Help me believe that in fact I can do it.

I can.

Word Problems Before the Election

2008-10-27T20:44:00.002-05:00

I like the idea of social justice math.

I have absolutely no training in it. I haven't found resources that can be lifted as is, though the previous link has several inspirational resources. Ideally, I'd customize ideas to my students, or better yet have them customize the ideas. Hasn't happened yet.

My small compromise is to bring up issues in the warm-up journal word problems. This week's focus is the election. If you're looking for ideas, read on. (Though they will need adapting unless you're interested in South Dakota.)

For every 23 registered Republicans in SD, there are 25 people who are registered as something other than Republican. If there are 243,524 registered Republicans, how many people are registered as something else? (Link)

Proposition 11 is the state issue that will probably get the most national attention. (It’s the law that would ban abortion in the state.) An Argus Leader Media/KELO-TV poll showed a dead heat on Initiated Measure 11, the state's proposed abortion ban: 44% said they'd vote for it and 44% said they'd vote against it if the election were held immediately. It takes one more than half the voters to decide an election. If there are 508,240 registered voters in the state, how many more people does either side need to convince to win the election? (Link)

The poll about Measure 11 talked to 800 likely voters. If 12 % of people polled were undecided, how many people were undecided?

Most people in South Dakota have 6 weeks to vote early by stopping by their local courthouse. Saturday was the only day early voting was offered on the Rosebud Reservation. How many fewer days of early voting do residents of Todd county have than other people in the state? (Link)

In the last presidential election 149,244 South Dakotans voted for Kerry and 232,584 voted for Bush. If there were 508,240 registered voters in the state, what percentage of registered voters did not vote? (Link)

Sunday Night Comes Too Soon

2008-10-05T21:55:00.004-05:00

I'm still plugging along here. Somewhere I know that I'm doing better than a year ago, I am able to take brief breaks, but I still feel overwhelmed.

One of my friends complained that I haven't taken pictures of myself recently. As a way of making myself feel better about staying late Friday afternoon, I took some shots of the classroom. I posted them on Flickr and had a request to share with a group within a day.

It's not the best time in the year for classroom set-up, but here are a couple of pictures for inspiration whenever it helps.

Phone call #4

2008-09-18T23:03:00.000-05:00

I call my parents after school daily.

It's something I started last year. I need to process the day with someone from outside the system and they're great for it.

They had a meeting this evening, so I called a friend instead. I had stories from tutoring that I wanted to share.

Because I talk to my parents so often, I forget how sensational my stories can be. I remembered somewhere in the midst of telling my friend--a friend who's on the phone with me weekly; who has other teacher friends--because I didn't want to paint too negative a picture.

The theme of today's stories was one of hope. The lightbulb moment when a student saw the connection between repeated multiplication and addition. The awe that I've become a person that students can tell me some of the problems they're dealing with. And the way that students face their challenges.

These are the moments that remind me both that I have improved since last year and of the power of being a consistent presence here. These stories hold the promise of the coming year. My friend was able to catch the hopeful rays, but there's still the shadow reminding me how different the world my students experience is from my own.

After all, I can call my parents every day.

Mathmagic Video

2008-09-17T23:07:00.004-05:00

So far as I know, we haven't set up a forum for discussion of Dan Meyer's amazing Geometry resources. (Thank you, thank you, thank you, for freeing up hours of my nights for sleep.)

My addition, comment to save when something gets going somewhere. If you want to show the Donald in Mathmagic Land video on billards, the Youtube link is here.

(And yes. We're a month into school, but I'm only in Week One of lessons. It's been a slow start of the year... Those stories that I try not to post often.)

Yesterday's warm-up

2008-09-12T08:50:00.003-05:00

It's based in fact. I don't know how much the elementary school really has, but I'm bracing for a sugar high as we let the classes have their candy. Time to go decorate floats.

Refrain

2008-09-11T22:21:00.005-05:00

I like statistics.

I love playing with data.

I believe that testing can be a good thing.

But, yet again, good in theory comes off as horrible in reality. I’m sitting with students as they take our in-house standardized test. They’re bored.

For the seniors it’s the 10th time they’ve taken it. It being this exact version of the test. Same questions. Same choices. Same order. Don’t write in the booklet, because we need to use it next time sameness.

If the data was useful, maybe it’d be worth it.

You already know it's not.

The math version has as many questions on it about Roman Numerals as questions about variables. We have one evaluate the expression, one single-step solve the equation, two plot the points, nothing about actually graphing lines. The Roman Numerals are ones I’d have to take my best guess on, though my mom could answer them.

But this is what the school board uses to judge the teachers. (Students saw their scores only once last year.) Hopefully we’ll have enough practice with fractions and decimals to “show improvement.” Because this year I’m saying, “You’re in Algebra/Geometry/Algebra II. We don’t have time to go over fractions for a month. You need to be able to use them. They’re in our problems. If you need help, ask!”*

I could teach to the test. It might impress school officials. Or I can keep looking at what we’re supposed to teach (even our vague standards are beyond what we’re testing) and pushing beyond.**

---
*I am working through some examples on the board. Trying to remind students of rules they never learned. And then enough walk me through it examples where we should do something.

**At least this time we're giving it during homecoming week. So instead of losing two weeks of instruction to whatever, we're only losing one?

Song for Labor Day Dinner

2008-09-01T20:26:00.004-05:00

We started school last Tuesday. Classes went well overall. I can tell I'm much less high-strung than a year ago--though I still wouldn't call myself low-key--and I'm connecting with students much more easily. They're good at reminding me why I'm back.

Still, I think I'd blocked how exhausting teaching here is and how difficult it can be to motivate myself somedays. This week we're actually getting into content*, but creating all my lessons for the week has not been what I've wanted to do over the long weekend. I know people say year two is easier, but I'm less than convinced. Last year, I just tried to get something done. This year, I'm much more critical of my lessons. I hope some of what's coming will be decent, but

The song in this video captures my mood this weekend. I've played it repeatedly while driving, cooking, and just relaxing. Ignore the video--I'm too lazy to try to go around Blogger's aversion to audio--kick off your shoes and dance** the last bits of summer away.

* Last week we were advised not to teach content, which makes sense because student schedules were still being shuffled. I still don't have rosters for my classes...

** Carolina shag preferred.

After I'd stopped procrastinating for the evening...

2008-08-28T21:04:00.003-05:00

Freerice has new subjects. Including multiplication tables! I'm not sure when they were added, so everyone else may know about it already. But I'm excited.

On using a dead week for introductions

2008-08-25T22:29:00.004-05:00

It's a half hour after I told myself I'd turn off the computer, but I'm still in first-day-anxiety zone. I know I have plenty of activities to do, but at the same time don't feel like I'm nearly prepared enough.

So I'm taking a moment to show off my use of Wordle. Replacing the traditional syllabus. I want to take some time during this week to discuss what we're learning this year. Took my long term plan, got rid of the numbers and distractor words, and got the pretty picture. Figure I'll toss it up once someone comments, "You're the teacher. Don't you know what we're learning?"

That's Algebra 2 for now. (It's the long term plan that's the least finished at the moment, so it's more along the lines of first semester. But I figure that's still a decent picture.)

Why I'll Keep Concept Quizzes

2008-08-21T14:46:00.002-05:00

To say M struggled in my class last year is an understatement. M failed quarter after quarter through the year. I'm convinced she hated me for the first semester, but something changed when I came back after Christmas.

In the middle of spring semester, M buckled down. Graduation was coming. She needed to pass my class to get her diploma. We had a lot of catch-up to do.

And we got it done. M was in my class for extra tutoring every chance she got. She took work home. She commented, "Man, this would be easier if I'd just done it in the fall." And while I wish she had done the work originally because I know she could have learned even more by the end, I jumped up and down in my trailer when I graded the test that brought her up to a passing grade. A week later I saw her graduate.

That's the allure of Dan's concept quizzes for me. Being able to (1) give students the chance to succeed all the way through the year (2) without letting up on the rigor of assessments. M and I focused on her lowest quiz grades, she knowing that their changes would have the biggest impact on her grade, myself trusting that they would increase her overall mastery.

M was at a parent orientation night this week. She's enrolled at a local college where she tested out of the math requirement. I'm a little sad that she won't take another math course, but I'm thrilled that she knew enough to meet their requirements.

I'm not as on top of things as other teachers, haven't yet hammered out sample questions for this years concepts. (I'm not even sure what my concepts will be.) But I'm grateful for the reminder that this method does help my students in a way that I'm not sure anything else could.

Three months later...

2008-08-19T13:51:00.003-05:00

Teachers submitted Purchase Orders for this year's supplies in May.

They weren't processed until a week or two ago.

I was trying to save the school some money, and instead of using our catalog found an online vendor that has lower prices. I especially relied on them for the materials that other schools expect students to provide. Binders. Notebook dividers. Notebook paper. You know, the basics

Think about the past three months. Gas prices are dipping now, but companies are already raising prices.

So my shopping cart of materials is more expensive now than it was then.

School starts next Tuesday. Hopefully, I'll be able to get this processed so the supplies will arrive to an (empty) school on Monday.

At least I didn't try to save too much money and ordered extras of many supplies. Maybe those 30 bumper binders will save enough money to help this go through.

The question: what supplies do you find most necessary for your students?

End of Summer

2008-08-11T07:46:00.001-05:00

I report to inservice in 40 minutes. Two weeks and then students.

A photo I took on my walk last night. The brightness of the flower against the incoming storm sums up how I'm feeling right now.

Knitting and Goals

2008-08-10T22:25:00.004-05:00

Or How I Don't Work

I’m a knitter and, when I get the chance, I like to hang out with other knitters. Overall, knitters have two ways we approach our work.

There are the knitters who are project oriented. The ones who ask, “When are you going to finish that?” or “How long did that take you?” These are the people who know the techniques to speed up their knitting so they can finish one project and move on to the next. And they always seem to know what they’re going to work on next.

Then there are the process knitters. The people who will work on something for a while, just enjoying the process of creation. They experiment with techniques for the effects they have. They have more works-in-progress than planned projects, because if something looks interesting then they should try it out now.

I’m a process knitter. Currently there are two major projects I’ve almost completed, but finishing--joining pieces, weaving in loose ends of yarn, blocking a project to define it’s final shape--bores me. Completing the project isn’t enough motivation for me. I want to be able to really experience it. When winter comes and I’m ready to wear that wool sweater, I’ll find the time to finish it. I’ll block my shawl soon, but there’s no way I’m wearing it mid-summer.

As such, I hate being pushed to give an end-date for a project. My senior year of high school, I worked on a sweater jacket.* As the bag carrying the sweater became fuller, the question, “When will you be done?” came more and more frequently.

My answer? “By the time I graduate...
...from college.” **

I have a similar attitude toward goals outside of knitting. I understand that some people need them. I hear that they help you more if you define them specifically. But they feel more constraining to me.

It’s a bit of a lie to say I don’t have goals. I do.***

I just don’t like spelling them out. (Despite my tendency to plan ahead. And my apparent tendency to make other people spell out their goals.) I don’t like sharing them. (Despite my frequent conversations with friends.) I don’t respond well to people asking me how I’m doing with them. (Though it doesn’t stop me from inquiring on how other people are doing.)

I don’t know. Maybe my GPA would have been .15 points higher, if I had more explicit goals and found some extra drive during my worst college classes, but I still wouldn’t have graduated summa. Maybe that sweater jacket would have finished 8 months earlier, but I wouldn’t have worn it any more. The fact is, I’m perfectly happy being a process person.

But, I face a dilemma at school. The beginning of the school year is ripe with goalsetting. I’m told I should do it, but it just seems so forced. I believe in the end-product, but the process fails at motivating me. Student goal-sheets never did anything for me as a student. How do I convince students of their benefits when they’re not something I get genuinely excited about?

Because most people aren’t process knitters, I understand that setting goals is a useful skill for most people. In a region where kindergardeners give you a blank stare when asked “What do you want to be when you grow up?” and high schoolers think it’s okay to tell their teacher that they’ll sell drugs, I do believe it’s crucial to create visions, to repeatedly go through the process of defining action plans and following them to an endpoint.

But I haven’t found an overall method that’s comfortable for me. I didn’t have much buy-in with my pep talks and personal conversations last year, perhaps because they felt trite even to me. I’m realizing I need to try something else.

How do you bring goals to the classroom? What do you set for students? What do you have students define for themselves? How do you motivate anyone to set honest goals, and not follow my habit of filling in the answers I expect people want to hear?

----------

*I was, and often still am, that girl who knit during class. It helps me concentrate.

**I had the pieces completed and pinned together by the time I graduated high school. A friend convinced me to sew them together in the fall of my first year at college.

*** A personal goal for this school year is to take the pictures necessary to create a calendar of hay--because my phrase last year was that I was living in said calendar. But I classify it as a project rather than a goal.

Building My Motivation

2008-07-26T20:44:00.002-05:00

There are moments where I find it difficult to believe that I am going back to a second year. When the stress of school is overwhelming, even in the midst of summer.

In an effort to improve my outlook, some things I'm looking forward to this year.

Being more prepared than last year.
Already having established favorite resources while planning. (If you want more, look at my del.icio.us account--it's listed over to the side.)
New math teacher.
Greater motivation to collaborate with new math teacher. (We'll be living together, so my guess is it will be hard to avoid.)
Introducing class blogs. (Planning to be a teacher-centered list of resources. I can't count on students having a constant phone, never mind internet access. But I can publish websites where you can practice and set students to work on them when they come in for tutoring.)
Hope that as a returning teacher, I'll have better relationships with students.
This year's precalculus class--I already know most of the students who will be in it and they know me.
Word-problem warm-up journals.
Teaching organization skills through notebooks.
More groupwork for discovery lessons.
Having actual discovery lessons.
Knowing more about how different manipulatives work.
Hearing back from last year's seniors. (Though I'm afraid they'll be like campers and not really keep me updated as much as I'd like.)
Creating studentwork that can decorate our classroom.
Being more of a stickler about teaching what the class should be, not falling back to where students were left behind. Running with them to catch up.

I've got some of my motivation back for the moment. At least, I'm feeling positive enough to make it through the rest of the night.

I'll be out of town celebrating my grandmother's 80th birthday for the next week. After that, I'll drive back across the country to start in-service. Here's to savoring the break of summer so that there's energy enough come fall.

A Month’s Worth of Reflections in One Post

2008-07-24T14:14:00.004-05:00

Excerpt from Conversation Type A

Setting local cafe (or library. This time it’s the cafe). I’m sitting at a table with my computer and a textbook.

RANDOM GUY: What school do you go to?
ME: Oh, I’m a teacher in South Dakota.
RG: Wha? You never…
ME: Yessir, just finished my first year. Working on planning some lessons right now. Holds up textbook to read cover. Algebra, teacher’s edition.
RG: South Dakota? What are you doing down here then?
ME: Visiting family over summer vacation.
RG: Okay...When do you go back?
ME: Well, I’ve just got a few more days in town before I go on a trip with my family.
Awkward silence
ME: I’m working on writing my “Welcome to Algebra” letter to students. What would you have wanted to hear from you teacher on the first day of school?

I hear other people talk about how little time they took to write and reflect during their first year teaching. The end-of-year comments on blogs that started enthusiastically in the fall only to be pushed aside by October. Compared to some of the people who are dedicated bloggers, I’m an irregular presence here. But between my writings here and elsewhere online and my actual journal, I wrote more details about last year than I remember at given moment.

Then summer came and I stopped.

Few entries here. Fewer there.

During my writing sabbatical, I’ve been talking more.

Excerpt from Conversation Type B

Setting Stitch and Bitch at a yarn store (or book club at the library or local church. This time it’s the S&B). I recently joined the conversation and made everyone else introduce themselves.

CONVERSATION LEADER: So what school do you go to Sarah?
ME: I just finished my first year teaching.
CL: What do you teach?
ME: High school math.
CL: And where do you teach?
ME: I’m teaching on a reservation in South Dakota.
CL: Wow. How’d you get here?
ME: I’m visiting family in town for a few weeks. My parents moved here after I left home, so I don’t really have connections in the area. I found your website and came here tonight.
CL: And what’s it like in South Dakota?

I’ve been telling stories. Trying to convey my experience truthfully, but hopefully. Trying to separate my experience of the place from my experience as a teacher. Trying to keep teaching separate from first year teaching.

I don’t know how to do it.

Instead, I talk about students. I talk about the weather. I talk about teacher housing. I talk about the drive to the grocery store. I talk about the insanity of not knowing whether a student has dropped out or just isn’t in school for a month. I talk about the student who threatened to get me kicked off the reservation in the fall and invited me to his confirmation in the spring. I talk about how far behind they are. I talk about how much progress we made. And sometimes, sometimes, I talk about how uncertain I am.

Excerpt from Conversation Type C, Part I

Setting local farmer’s market (or book club at the park or wherever I find people closer to my age. This time it’s the farmer’s market).

CUTE GUY: How’d you end up in South Dakota?
ME: Well, I joined Teach for America and wanted to go someplace rural and not in the South, so there I was.
CG: I’ve been thinking about doing a similar program. What’s it like?
brief pause
ME: South Dakota’s pretty different than other regions, so I can’t say what it’s like elsewhere, but... lots of the aforementioned rambling...

The thing is, my identity this year has been framed by being a math teacher on a reservation in South Dakota, not by being TFA. The program is very much present, but it’s not what I name first. For this year at least, I think it’s claimed me more than I’ve claimed it.

It has shaped how I teach. But so have the education courses I took in college and the people I’ve found online.

Excerpt from Conversation Type C, Part II

Farmer's market. The conversation draws to end. I scribble on a piece of paper and hand it to CG.

ME: Here’s my e-mail address if you have any more questions. I’ve also included the address for my teacher blog. You can find some links to other people in my area there. Get a larger sense of things. I haven’t updated for a while, but I will once school starts again.

 This blog has suffered for lack of definition. Any guidelines I tried to impose on myself here disappeared pretty quickly. I’m going into the next year with a different approach--an approach that I think I’ve already taken, so I don’t think anything will change. I’m stating the guidelines more for my benefit than yours, but writing them here so you know what we’re getting into.

I’m going to let this be my space to share what I feel comfortable about my life. About being a math teacher on a reservation in South Dakota. It will have stories from the classroom, both student anecdotes and reflections on teaching. It will almost certainly will have requests for help (which may well be accompanied by comments on others’ blogs so you know I’m asking). Posting will probably be irregular, so if you have a feed reader go ahead and subscribe. We’ll see how much I reflect about my second year.

Docent Doe

2008-06-13T00:01:00.002-05:00

For what it's worth, I highly recommend other first year teachers take an extended road trip during the summer. It seems impossible for me to tell how much of my isolation is geographic versus job focused, but I hadn't realized how distant the rest of the world had become.

I'm currently in DC and am loving the opportunity to play tourist. Hitting museums right and left.

In Feburary, I saw this article and resolved to visit the American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery. Seriously, I saved it to del.icio.us tagged to a friend in the area with the note, "Can I visit this whenever I make it out to visit you this summer?"

I did not visit with that friend, but with another friend. We arrived just before a docent tour of the portrait gallery started and decided that would be a good way to start off our day. The tour was wonderful. Our guide took a route where she stopped in every room that we walked into. She would tell us about a portrait, giving all sorts of fun facts. (Which president had a rubber jaw? And where was the secret surgery performed?) And she kept us moving. If there was something else in the room that you wanted to see (for instance when I saw a Lakota cradleboard), that was fine. She kept everyone else moving through. The style was so exciting that I wanted to keep up and find out what else was going on.

After that experience, we were eager for the next docent tour this time of the Art Museum side. Maybe our expectations were raised so they had farther to fall, but we were not impressed. When we were given the out (another docent tour starting now) we jumped for it. And were thrilled to find our first guide doing a different tour.

The thing is, the second docent did the things that good teachers are "supposed to" do. She started out telling us where she would take us. When we were touring she asked us questions about the paintings. She waited for us to stop looking at other pieces in the room before she started talking. She got out the special docent gloves and showed us things that most visitors won't get to see.

And I was BORED.

If I wanted to talk about the pictures I would go through with my friend. I was there to learn more. I wanted the action-packed excitement. And the docent gloves weren't it, no matter how much she liked them.

I keep thinking about how this applies to my classroom. I fear I'm too much of the second docent. Too much of the following the rules. Too much of being excited about myself. Not enough contagious excitement about the material.

I'm not always sure of what makes the excitement contagious, but I think having the deep knowledge of the material. Having the confidence to say, "I don't know the answer to that. Let's look it up." Having the knowledge to be comfortable asking what students want to learn. Where do you want to go from here?Being able to say, "Oh this museum is confusing. I came up a different direction than normal and now I'm lost. You enjoy in here while I go find the picture I really want you to see."

Hopefully I'll have a bit more of that confidence in year two.

And lesson for anyone visiting DC, on Docent tours at the Portrait Gallery, Library of Congress, and the other museum where she works, try to get Madonna as your guide.

Note to self past

2008-06-11T23:15:00.003-05:00

It's interesting how I remember so much of each individual day from this time last year. Today, for instance, I sat with a new friend, who had agreed to be my housemate for the coming year, as she made the call to resign from TFA.

10 schooldays since I turned in my keys for the summer and I may be ready to reflect on the year.

Dear Me '07,

Congratulations! You've made it through the whirlwind of finals/induction/graduation/packing-up-and-saying-goodbye/putting-stuff-in-storage-and-meeting-everyone-new
/9-hour-drives/flights-galore! Doubtless you realize that the whirlwind is just beginning. Take a moment, however brief, to savor these moments. They will be the last ones you have for a year without the pressure of lesson planning, grading, or just thinking about students.

During the fall, a friend will ask you, "If you could go back a year ago, would you still do it? Would you still check the box signing up to teach?"
My answer? "I don't think I could have talked myself out of it."

Claim it for what it is. The confession that you wonder why you agreed to this despite the warnings. The acknowledgment seeing the achievement gap from the student side is a different story than seeing it from the teacher side. All the more so in a strange and foreign land.
This accompanied by the optimistic hope that you can help the education system in some small, albeit stopgap, way. The determination that what is happening is not right and that doing something is better than not. The faith that, at least for now, teaching is your calling.

Because no matter how much you hear the stories, you don't know it until you live it. And even after living it, yes, especially after living in it, you realize you still don't know it.

After two weeks visiting friends in cities I've realized that when I'm in one world, I can't really imagine the other one. On the reservation, the neighborhoods of the suburbs aren't even a dream. The stores of downtown might as well be on the moon. The fifth-graders on a scavenger hunt at a museum are a sight to take pictures of, never mind that I have no connection to them.

As I drive farther from the reservation, it becomes ever harder to describe. When asked about jobs in the community, should I avoid mentioning the 85 percent unemployment rates? As the force of the number is reflected in people's face, should I remind them that this is among the poorest places in the states. I feel guilty for falling back on the deficit model--there is a rich heritage, my favorite tradition is the morning flag song--but there is truth that in other, larger areas there is wealth nearby. That wealth symbolized by something more than trailer-park teacher housing. Meaning not only is it existent, it's visible.

Given that I fall short of describing the reality you'll face, offering wisdom of how to prepare for it is beyond me.

My general advice?
Take advantage of your ability to ask for help.
Be amazed at how much you can keep in touch with people when you really need to.
Retreat to the edublogosphere when you need to passively plan for the future (or just not plan for tomorrow quite yet).
Take a mental health day when necessary and hope for conveniently placed snowdays.
Get out of town to remind yourself of the different worlds when you need to.
Own the successes of each day as they happen (too many will still feel like failures at the end of the year).

And remember, you couldn't talk yourself out of it. There's something here you believe in. In the students. In the community. In yourself. You may not know what it is, but it was strong enough to get you to check the box. And for what it's worth, it's strong enough that you'll be back.

Love,

Me '08

Little bit of politics

2008-05-26T22:26:00.003-05:00

President Clinton was in town campaigning this weekend.

Not my town. But the town where many of my students live. The town with the closest grocery store. Best gas prices in the area, because its large enough to have more than two pumps at one store. He was there. Where the tribal college is. That's actually where he spoke. On the steps to the museum. Drum group and tipi to the left*.

I found out less than 48 hours before the event. I wish I'd known sooner. School ended on Thursday. (And most students stopped coming before then.) I would have encouraged them to go. I don't want to promote one policital agenda before another, but I do want my students to feel empowered in national politics.

I saw my politically active student at the event. He's already clear on his candidate of choice. (More so than I am of mine.) He came to school about three weeks ago telling me about a rally he'd attended in a city 4 hours away. But he was the only one.

I hadn't attended political rallies before this year. At the campaign events I've attended this year, I've learned that I get snarky when listening to political schmooze. I'm not sure that they've really influenced my vote in the primary. Still, it's the type of live-it education that I want to offer my students. When it comes so close to us, is so accessible to us**, it's so frustrating that the school can't do anything with it.

* It was interesting to classify the people at the event as locals or coming from elsewhere for the event. Racial sterotyping? Oh yeah. I say this knowing that I look like an outsider. Then again, after only living here a year, I am an outsider.

**I arrived three minutes before start time and still got to shake hands before leaving. Totally different from waiting outside in the cold for three hours to see a speech in January.

Word Problems

2008-05-22T09:21:00.005-05:00

I knew I wanted to do some sort of warm-up this year. Finding one that worked was a bit more of a challenge. I finally settled into doing word problems. The requirement is that you have to show your work, write a complete sentence answering the question, and ask another question that could be answered from the information we have.

They're all handwritten on chart paper. I went through and typed most of them up. See them here if you need some sort of inspiration. (Or in your feedreader. It took me a bit to figure out how to get it up with blogger.) Warning that the quality of the problems vary.

I'm leaving the last warm-up word problem on the board. It's a reminder to myself of the situation here.

This year’s graduating class is 1/3 the size of this fall’s freshmen class. If we had 45 freshmen this year and assume that the seniors entered SFIS with a similar class size, how many students are not graduating this year?

Edit: Hrumph. Link not working yet. I'm leaving for my summer travels in the morning and need to pack. I'll update when I figure this out...

I know it's not just about the grades, but at this point it is.

2008-05-20T10:02:00.003-05:00

Can someone give me a good reason why students should come to school on Wednesday and Thursday when grades are due at closing bell on Tuesday? I didn't have a convincing one for my students today....

Departmental Differences

2008-05-15T20:37:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, we skipped seventh period to hand out academic awards. The school left it entirely up to teachers to do their own awards, though they did provide stationary to use for certificates.

The math department gave a couple of students to the top students. (I gave awards for "Most Concepts Mastered" and "Most Persistent.") The English department spoke about how proud they were of everybody and made sure that every student in the school received something.

Nerves

2008-05-15T09:55:00.000-05:00

It's final exam day for the algebra kids. I think I'm more nervous about it than they are. Too many have checked out (classes are half the size they're supposed to be). Too many have given up. Too many just don't care.

I'll take some of the responsibility for it. I have some plans of what I'd like to change next year, but at the moment I'm feeling afraid of my shortcomings.

Letter to my students

2008-05-13T22:51:00.000-05:00

I'm grading my first batch of final exams. Newsflash for you, worrying does not equal studying. Thinking about the test is not going to help you prepare if your thoughts aren't intentional.

This class got screwed over. Everything's interrupting them this week, so the final got moved up three days with very short notice. It cut down on the time when we explicitly reviewed as a class, but after all the talks about needing to prepare, I'm lacking sympathy. If you have to stay back from next week's field trip to a theme park (that was just announced last week) in order to really prepare and learn the material, so be it.

Stop worrying. Or, if you're going to worry, do so productively.

Such a rebel

2008-05-09T11:38:00.000-05:00

I got written up yesterday.

For letting students come in for tutoring.

They came to my window to ask me to open the door. My phone rang at the same point, hall monitor saying the doors were locked and she would not open them for the students. I walked to the entrance, escorted them back to my room. I figure explaining that I got written up for trying to give students extra help so they could graduate would not look bad on my record.

Thankfully, I think my assistant principal agrees.

Ignore the snowflakes

2008-05-03T23:07:00.000-05:00

It must be spring.

It's the only way I can explain going from this*

to this**

in the course of one day.

*my first branding

**my first time chaperoning prom

6 days until grades are due for seniors

2008-04-28T21:55:00.000-05:00

18 more days of school total.

But I'm sorry, I'm not staying after school for tutoring today. I'm here twice a week. And the last time I stayed after for you, you didn't show up. You know the extra credit work you can do to bring up your participation grade. I'll be here tomorrow if you want to retake any concept quiz. If you want to come in before school, let me know. And if you absolutely CANNOT make it on the days when I'm scheduled, talk to me in advance, so I can adapt my schedule. (Yes, it needs to be at least two days in advance, even though you don't think this is a business.)

Yeah, it's pretty miserable you were suspended for school this late in the year. Sure, it's legal for you to chew. It's still against the rules to have tobacco products on school grounds. Maybe it's not fair for them to "just search your locker" like that. But if the drug dogs found it, and you know that the dogs do come to school, I'm not feeling much sympathy for you.

I understand that your favorite student want to go to college. But that's one of the reasons why I don't feel comfortable passing him. He really does not know the material. He gets mad and gives up if the idea doesn't click with him immediately. I'll keep working with him, and I'll be glad to help you so you can help him too. If he wants to go into a career that requires lots of math courses, then he needs to be able to tackle the math courses. We're here to help him do that now, but I can't pass him based on a desire that's not matched by effort and understanding. If he's frustrated in this class now, we'll all be even more frustrated if he's in a more advanced class next year.

It's great that you all made it to class today. Your work was amazing. Look at how much you're learning! Make sure you come back and make-up the quiz you missed when you were absent for four days last week, I don't want your grade to suffer. I'll have you in the next class next year? We're going to be awesome.

Hey look! By taking the quizzes that you hadn't done anything for, we've brought you up to a passing grade. We can get that even higher if you keep studying some of those concepts that you didn't do so hot on. Get those checked out and let's move your grade to the level where it should be.

2008-04-24T21:30:00.000-05:00

Anyone have a clue what's happening with ilovemath? I actually had a lesson (coordinate plane battleship, so nothing too new, just a decent powerpoint) to upload. When I visit the site, I'm coming up with this.

I Got Observed Today, Part II

2008-04-24T14:36:00.000-05:00

A Lesson the Day After a Test

Algebra kids had a concept quiz yesterday. I scored them last night, put them in the gradebooks, gave them back today. But if I want students to learn from the quiz, I figure they need a way to go back and review the quiz.

The method for today was to give them just the answers to the problems. They had the rest of class to work with a partner/group to discuss any problems missed. (I answered questions by turning them around, pointing them to their notes, the filing system of old notes, or a poster on the wall.) Half-way through the review time, I gave them each a post-it with a problem from the test. Yes, the problems were strategically chosen to be one they missed, even better if their partner missed it too. If students were working, I assigned a problem that I knew they were discussing. If they were slacking, that's when they got the "harder" problems.

In order to get your participation credit for the day, you needed to put your problem on the board by the end of the review time. You didn't have to explain it to the rest of the class (my students really shy away from talking). You weren't going to embarrass yourself by getting it wrong (you have the answer and you have people helping you).

It's a decent way to review. I like it better than me working all the problems on the board. It has the perk of getting students to the board (they tend to stay away from it to work, but will doodle and tag their name all over it otherwise). They were more likely to ask questions of a single peer than they are to ask questions to me in front of the class. They were also more likely to ask questions when they knew they needed to do this again and soon. I'm not knocking this method. I'll use it again.

But there must be other ways to review tests. What are they?

I Got Observed Today, Part I

2008-04-24T14:32:00.000-05:00

Dear people who observe me,

It's not that I don't like good reviews, having someone pump up my ego is fun. When you actually name things that I'm doing well, I appreciate it more than just hearing "That was great."

But, I am still new at this.

I am nowhere near perfect.

I can tell from how poorly students do on tests that there's a lot they don't get, meaning I'm not doing my job as well as I should.

So please tell me what to do better. Please give me some concrete ways I can improve.

Thank you,

Sarah

Spring is here!

2008-04-14T08:37:00.000-05:00

Today's warm-up word problem is awkward, but I couldn't find information about the rate of snowfall.

By 8:45 Thursday morning, it was snowing in St. Francis, but not in other parts of the state. It wasn't until 2:45 in the afternoon that it started snowing in Pierre, 114 miles away. Find the speed of the system to approximate the average wind speed.

Half-days

2008-04-10T10:13:00.000-05:00

Once a month, our school has an early release so that teachers can have special correlate meetings. (Originally they were scheduled afterschool, but people didn't come so we decided that they were more important than actual class. I don't know.) The best thing about them is that they make me appreciate full days more.

For the most part, half-days seem to be a weird balance of fulfilling a requirement to be in school and just a waste. I only remember having them the day before holiday breaks. In those cases it's easy to attribute the rambunctiousness to the excitement over the break. But really it's hard to get anything accomplished on days when students are just excited to get out. The question, "how much time is left?" is asked triple the normal frequency. Classes are still long enough that I feel like we should be able to do something, but focus flies away.

I wish I knew what happened yesterday. Because they worked. I left school feeling better than I had on Tuesday.

Of course, school's been canceled today due to snow. (Which I prefer to going in and being dismissed at 10. If half-days are usually bad, days when we know we're getting out but don't know when are INSANE.) My frustration with trying to plan lessons in this situation continues.

My Group is Done Testing

2008-04-07T08:59:00.000-05:00

Revised plan for the day: Spiderman Marathon.

If you're done with testing, it's a free day. Apparently I'm not supposed to offer tutoring, but if you want it, stop by. We'll take over the back corner of the classroom, no problem.

Edit: Tutoring took over the back half of the classroom. Stuff was spread out, so there weren't that many students. Still, I didn't watch more than 5 minutes of any of the movies playing.

Follow-up on Testing Lessons

2008-04-04T22:27:00.000-05:00

Memories of My Test Prep

# 1

When I was in high school, South Carolina was desperately trying to improve its SAT scores. (And something must have worked because I remember a headline proclaiming that we had moved up, "We're 49!") One of their strategies was to have an annual SAT competition.

Each school would have a team that would compete against the same schools you played sports against. Three rounds of competition.

Round One (district): Everyone on all teams takes a mock SAT test.

Round Two (regionals): The top teams from each district take another mock SAT test.

Round Three (state): The top teams from each region take another mock SAT test. And a state champion is declared!

Yeah, I was one of the nerds on the team. For three years. We would have practice before school, going over strategies and taking practice tests. It may have helped me some, but really it was something I did because I was invited.

I attended two high schools. The first one had a policy requiring that every class begin with a standardized test question or vocabulary tests. I don't remember them being related to the subject at all. They got on my nerves then, which is probably why I haven't used anything like them this year.

Bringing us up to date

I wasn't planning on doing formal test prep this year. (This goes back to my frustration of not having a released test; though, based on what I saw the seniors take, it's just as well that I didn't.) But then testing was scheduled for the first full week after two short weeks. There wasn't enough time to move into the next unit, so testing strategies it was.

The way the four-day week played out.

Tuesday was flop day.

Wednesday went a little bit better. I gave a 10-minute multiple choice test and tried talking about general time-saving tips. Most students seemed to be at least somewhat interested in the ideas we went over. (Then I found out this week that the tests we're taking aren't timed. Oh. At least I was lazy and just stole my ideas from the College Board?)

Thursday, I took on H.'s idea of having students generate possible choices. I took questions from released multiple choice tests from elsewhere that related to topics we have done in class. Each section of Algebra had 8 questions to come up with answers. We spent the end of class reviewing the problems and choosing which answers to use. I put together a quiz that night using their answers.

Friday I gave them the quiz. I allowed them to refer to their worksheet from the day before. Students were to choose the correct answer (1 point each) and to explain what mistake the other answers made (1 point each). I tried to make it a competition between classes, so that the class with the highest average would be allowed to watch a movie during the two class periods of testing week.

One class really got into it. One class really did nothing. I think it has more to do with my connection with the student leaders in each room than the lessons themselves--the troublesome class has been so since one student transfered in.

Plans for next year

If I were doing another mini-test-prep-unit next year, I'd start off the week with a quiz. I'd want to time it where there wouldn't be quite enough time (exactly one minute per question, no bumper time). I would include a few questions just a half-step beyond what we've done. Hopefully this would help students get the message that timing is important and good guessing strategies are important.

I'm not sure whether I'd review guessing strategies and then have students generate questions or the other way around. I do like ending the week with the competition.

I almost hope that the scheduling doesn't work out for this unit (unless I find some amazing ideas in the meantime). Maybe it was just overdone for me when I was in high school, but if SAT team competition wasn't exciting...well then, testing is not exciting.

The Idea that is Brewing

I'm beginning to love the "Are you smarter than a fifth grader?" theme Jackie suggested. Students complain all the time, "We've seen this before," or, "My little sister could do this." They have. I hope she could.

But.

They did not really learn it. Seniors had to refer to the multiplication table on my wall during testing. The usual suspects are problematic. Fractions. Decimals. Negative numbers. Order of operations. Division. Addition. Subtraction. Basically anything you should have learned in elementary and middle school math. Students think they know it, resist learning it, and continue being wrong.

My current thought is to use a released test (probably California, New York, or Texas) from an elementary grade level as a diagnostic at the beginning of the year. Give it back to students as a basis for where they are.

Then to have a powerpoint file of questions from different strands and grade levels. Throughout the year, when there's the extra time that needs to be filled, whip out the file. Take a question. Maybe say what percentage of the class is smarter than a 5th grader. I'd need some sort of end of year test to see where they are. Again, pulling from released questions could make this manageable. I think the challenge may be to keep moving with the high school math and not just try to create the missing pieces. At least that won't be a new challenge.

"Didn't we take this test already?"

2008-04-04T22:04:00.000-05:00

"Yes. But they want to give you the same test so they can see how much you've learned."

I hate saying it. I don't believe it.

The same exact test. Three times a year. For at least four years.

I don't blame the senior who just bubbled it in. (Though, I still wouldn't let him move on to the next section until a convincing amount of time had passed.) When I did the "listening comprehension" section with him, he would tell me the answer before I read the sentence. I asked what the sentence was; he knew the key words.

Between not trying and being completely bored, it doesn't sound like a valid measure to me. But this test is just for the school and the biggest impact for students is that is helps determine if you can be in the Gifted and Talented program. Really it's the time out of class that bugs me the most.

Never mind that it's not aligned with my standards. (Which is impressive given how general they are.) So I rebel. Teaching them Roman Numbers could improve their standing. Instead I teach them algebra, because that's the class name, even though there are only three questions that the test categorizes as algebra.

*Sighs*

At least it's done for this year?

And really, outside of the Super Bowl and European Kings, Queens, and Popes, when do you use Roman Numerals?

Honestly, I'm going to bed soon

2008-04-03T22:28:00.001-05:00

In the last sweep before turning off my computer, I discovered the work of Stefanie Posavec on NOTCOT.

Infographic design that I love meets my English teacher housemate.

The title of this one is Literary Organism, but I misread it as Literary Orgasm. That amazing. Honestly, go look at her stuff. NOW.

All I need now is a good printer

2008-04-03T21:58:00.000-05:00

Frazz this week is great for math. I think today's comic in particular needs to be printed up as a banner for my class next year.

I need the right motto to go with it. Suggestions? (The best I'm coming up with is "Be smart for your age.")

To remember when students hate on me

2008-04-03T21:16:00.000-05:00

Subtitle: Like when I ask the student who's missed one-third of the school year what he wants from this class and am told "for you not to be my teacher"

At the beginning of year T was one of my nightmare students. I don't know why we butted heads, but it was bad. The "at least I don't have to kick you out of the classroom this time because you walked out on me" nightmare situation. I couldn't motivate her to do the work. At the end of the first semester she had a solid failing grade.

I'm not sure what happened, but this semester has been much better. T's still not passing, but is much closer.

Today we went over grade reports and had a chance to do extra credit or makeup work. T's conference:

Ms. C and T are standing beside each other by T's desk.

Ms. C: Okay, so here's your report...

T: Shh, be quiet so other people can't hear.

Ms. C lowers voice even more and leans in close.

Ms. C: These are your absences, obviously they're hurting you.

These are your quiz grades. You're doing well recently, but here were some rough ones.

Here are your participation grades. I know you've been doing them, but make sure to turn them in to get the grades. Remember when you miss school that hurts you too.

Now you can do either of these assignments to bring up your grade up....

T: flipping through binder Hey. Those worksheets that I didn't finish earlier, could I turn those in for credit?

keeps flipping to some material from the beginning of the year

Remember last year when I didn't like you and wouldn't do the work? Can I make that up?

Ah. Last year. I love the implicit message here that something really has changed since then.

Or I'll just be a lazy bum

2008-03-31T22:32:00.000-05:00

My plan of working on blog posts was not fulfilled today. But I did catch up on reading your blogs! So many new posts in my reader; I only missed four days. Other activities from the day (listed so I don't feel like the complete slacker, even if I am one).

Got more sleep
Finished reading One Hundred Years of Solitude (Also, after a friend asked if I understood it, I scanned the wikipedia article and took the Sparknotes quiz. I didn't get a perfect score but 88% isn't bad for a "whatever I get out of it" read.)
Tried a new tofu recipe for lunch. (Hot lunch that I want to eat on a weekday. Luxury indeed.)
Half-watched LOTR: The Two Towers
Took time to go through links and check out some new blogs (because there wasn't enough new material coming in through the reader)
Read the early posts of teachers who have made it past the few years to reassure myself that you felt like miserable teachers at one point too
Baked pizza for dinner
Attempted to build snowman
Read up on fractions in Elementary School Mathematics: Teaching Developme ntally by John Van de Walle (suggested by Dan, who I still owe a huge THANK YOU for talking with me in January)
E-mailed my principal my plan of study for the year

On the one hand I feel like I should have "done something productive" with the time off. On the other hand, I'm continually learning that I have to take time to myself. It may have been low-key, but today was definitely not a waste. (Except for the whole learning time thing. I'm not sure how this will mess with our testing schedule. Joy to find out in the morning.)

First official snowday

2008-03-31T10:03:00.000-05:00

We've had early-releases. We've had days off school for a funeral. We had one day where they announced a late start at the end of school the day before.

But today is my first official snowday as a teacher.

I'll try to spend some of the time posting what I ended up doing last week. (My family visited from South Carolina and Minnesota this weekend, so I disappeared with them.) But first I think I'll finish reading my current fun read.

Doubting Thomas

2008-03-26T21:33:00.000-05:00

At H's suggestion, I'm reading Rafe Esquith on standardized testing.

Students have become so burnt-out taking the tests that they no longer care how well they score on them.

TFA Trenches has a great post on how these tests don't always reflect what we know students know.

Perceptive as always, C--- recognized that he had missed a slew of problems not because he didn’t understand the concept but because he didn’t know “the words,” the specific language of the specific questions of this test.

My housemate points out how the "real-life" situations in essays and word-problems are a different world from our life on the reservation.

How's this for a classic example of tests written to favor middle class suburban students:

"The city council is considering an ordinance banning cycling on all sidewalks. Consider the effects such an ordinance would have, and decide whether you support or oppose the measure. Then, write an essay in which you express and support your opinion on the issue."

What??? Some of my students have probably never SEEN a sidewalk! And kids around here do not have/ride bikes.

I love data. Statistics is fun for me. In many ways it is why I'm teaching math. I know enough about data collection and survey design to know that the data's only as meaningful as the questionnaire it comes from. The more I look at these tests, the less I trust our collection method.

Falling flat

2008-03-25T20:37:00.000-05:00

Okay. People keep saying I should share lessons. Here's one that I'd love some ideas of how to improve.

We have a 4-day week. Next week is testing. It's not really enough time to get into new material and I feel like I'm supposed to help students review before the test. I don't want to teach to the test, but given that South Dakota does not have released tests I'm not sure it's even possible.

What does make sense is to go through and talk about testing strategies. My students don't seem to have been taught them before, so I'm taking the week to go over the ideas that I learned through all the years of SAT team practice. At least that's the plan.

But today fell flat, so I'm not sure how the rest of the week will play out. I'd love advice from anyone who's not totally off on spring break.

Tried to start off with a bit of discussion about why we're doing this. How these strategies work for any multiple choice test, be it the ones next week, the ACT/SAT for college, or the ASVAB for military. Really, I think I lost them care. Testing is boring and I didn't find a way to make it fun.

When I asked students why we take the tests the most consistent answer was, "So we can see how bad the school is." They know the school is low-achieving, but they fall back on the excuses of being on the reservation. In one typical teenage fashion, they mostly mocked my cheerleading attitude. Alas. Most of that is actually my real personality, so it won't be changed anytime soon.

I decided to start off with the general strategy of eliminating choices to improve your guesses.I put the numbers on the board to show how better guesses can raise your score, next time I'd use a graph to illustrate.

I focused on how you could eliminate options first by working backwards, checking the answers given rather than generating your own. We've just come off of polynomials, first multiplying and then factoring, so the option of working a problem in the order you want seems sold me. Still didn't catch the students.

Most classes perked up a bit when we talked about estimating. I think they felt more comfortable with that idea. Confuses me. I've been talking about checking your work all year long, haven't mentioned estimation before today.

Not a thrilling narrative by any means. The PDF matches, but I've submitted it to I Love Math. I'll toss a link here when it's up.

So yeah. There we go. My first shared lesson, admittedly rough. What do you do to improve it?

Morning Count

2008-03-25T13:37:00.000-05:00

Before classes begin, our school drum group sings the Flag Song in the commons area. Students aren't allowed back to the classrooms until the Flag Song is over, meaning that it's a good chance to get a sense of who is present any day. Today the other schools in the area have the day off.

When Flag Song began, I counted 32 students. That's right. Total attendance at my school appeared to be smaller than some of the overcrowded classrooms some of you are teaching.

Somehow, my actual classes have had better than average attendance. Apparently looks can be deceiving.

Distraction

2008-03-21T00:01:00.001-05:00

Most of the time I'm good at staying on track, not letting students get me off on tangents for long stretches of time. But I have one student who knows how to play me better than I do. He picks the right topics at just the right times. Today we had an early dismissal combined with low attendance. He's just starting a new topic, we have a four day weekend, and, yeah, I totally let him get away with it.

I'm glad I did.

Yesterday, we spoke briefly about his poetry. I asked him to bring in a piece to share. Today we were one-on-one, so we just talked. He performed his piece, which was an amazing moment for me. It gave me a chance to hear his perspective, to better understand where he is coming from. He's a pretty good writer, especially when I remember what his education has been.

At some point, the conversation turned to his plans post graduation. (I might have pushed it there.) I could envision him sitting around the cafeteria discussing philosophy, politics, religion, and whatever; having the courage to give his perspective during lectures; hanging out late at night; just being that voice from such a different life than his classmates. I can even see him finding his way to bring it back here.

I think it was the first time that I really saw any of my stuents succeeding at any college, not just one of the smaller, more local ones that caters to them. I could tell that he would have the courage to ask for help, a confidence that I lack for other students.

It makes me proud of him. I haven't fully learned his back story, but I think he spent time in JDC. I am almost positive he's been a trouble student in the past. He never expected to come this far. His poem included the line, "I never expected to live this long." And I'm sitting here dreaming of how far he can go.

I'm frustrated that the system has failed him. He has a brilliant mind, but his education is roughly at the same level as the middle schoolers that end up attending the colleges where I want to send him. I'm sure my visions of college are skewed by my own experience. I feel like he's best prepared for a community college or technical school, but wish I could send him somewhere like Middlebury. (Which both my sister and my cousin strongly considered last year.)

He's not always a stellar student. Mostly it's because he's absent so much, not because he's not capable. In some ways, taking the time to connect with him may be better for his math grade in the long run--who knows, maybe having a stronger relationship with me will help him come to school more. In every way I'm grateful that I have this student who is willing to share so much and help inspire me.

On wishing students were somewhere else

2008-03-18T23:17:00.000-05:00

Inspired in part by Dan.

You may not need to be told this, but attendance can be a huge problem at my school. When I took the time to look at the numbers recently, I was astounded by the number of students who had missed over 8 days this semester. That's 8 days since January 14. I guess it's less than one day a week, but still I don't think I missed 8 days of high school total.

The cynic in me notes that this is why I struggle to help students learn the material. If you're not here to hear it; if you don't have the time to practice it; if you miss bits and pieces along the way; if you miss a huge chunk in the middle; learning is never easy, but some situations create more work for yourself.

And yet, there are times when I feel like students would be better served outside my classroom.

The Gifted department has a field trip this week. Take 2 days (the middle 2 of our 3.5 day week) to go to Rapid City and Spearfish to visit colleges. For most students I signed the slip saying they could go no matter what their grade was. (I did say one student could not go. Yesterday was the first time I'd seen her in two weeks.)

I was disappointed when half of them showed up for class today. "Aren't you supposed to be on the trip?" For some reason, they decided not to go.

Yes, you need to be in the classroom learning. But some days I know you're learning more when you're not here.

Light Bulb Part II

2008-03-18T22:55:00.001-05:00

There are days when I don't know what it is that clicks with students.

But I'm so relieved when it does.

F stayed afterschool today for tutoring. We've been struggling all year. He, more than any other student, is in a class way above his current knowledge. A few weeks ago, there was a breakthough. I realize how my expectations for students aren't really where they should be when I expect so much more now.

After school, it was a lot of drill practice. Not the fun stuff that I like. But getting the material again and again helps. And finding the right balance is a trick I haven't mastered yet.

There's no halfway

2008-03-04T15:30:00.000-06:00

After missing two days because of the nasty flu, I went back to school today.

Teaching is truly an all or nothing job. There's not the chance to work some, take a break, and work some more. I have to be THERE for students all the time. At least all of the time that I'm physically present. So I left at lunch.

For the classes that I was there, I started with a bit of a spiel. "I've been sick. I'm not fully well yet, just listen to my voice. But you still have so much to learn this year. It's important for me to make sure you can learn the material, but I need your help. We have to work together."

One class really responded. They shaped up, paid attention, asked questions, got the work done. It almost makes me wish I was sick more often.

But then another class reacted with the opposite. Same old antics. And me without the energy to manage. Thankfully, I'd kept the office notified about my health, so was able to call for some backup. I hate sending anyone out of the classroom, but, man, today it was worth it.

Migrating from the lap pool

2008-02-15T22:48:00.000-06:00

This resolution seems to be falling into the stereotype of resolutions. Love the way Frazz sums it up.

This week has been bad for posts over here. It's hard enough to figure out what I want to write about during a normal week. But classes keep being interrupted by one thing and another. I revised my long-term plan before school started back in January. The algebra class is already two and a half weeks behind schedule. My pacing of what I can get done in a class period seems to be on target. We've missed that much class.

We wonder why students are already mentally checking out of school. Could it be that the routine of classes isn't established enough to make it worth checking in?

Teach it right.

2008-02-07T10:05:00.000-06:00

R is one of those student who argues and complains.
His two favorite phrases:
"You didn't show us that."
"Yeah, well, you didn't teach it right."

Definitely a student who makes me want to claim the victories while I can.

Yesterday was a practice day in his class. I gave them time and space to work, checking in with everyone periodically. After looking over one problem he'd solved, I told him it looked great.

"That's all you have to do? That's so easy."

A relief to know that even though the day before I hadn't taught him anything, he can work through problems that require mastery of previous concepts in addition to the new material.

Good morning sunshine

2008-02-07T09:52:00.000-06:00

Juniors and seniors had an assembly today that started during first period and went until middle of third. A few of my second period juniors and seniors showed up at the beginning of class. While I was trying to sort out with them whether I could keep them or not, a sophomore from third period came in. He looked groggy as he picked up his notes. Standing at the door, I said his name.

"I know I'm tardy. Just..." mutter under his breath.
"You're in the wrong class."
"What hour is it?"
"Second. See you in an hour."

The second period students had a good chuckle, before the hall monitors came to take them to the assembly or ISS. (Really? They can't do the work in my room? How is ISS any better?)At least, having a handful of students coming to class, getting ready to work, when they don't need to is a morale booster.

"You want to talk about technology in schools?"

2008-02-05T22:42:00.001-06:00

Tomorrow we have an early release so that the staff can break into teams discussing different issues at our school. Conceptually, the meetings are a good idea (though maybe they should occur on inservice days rather than cut into teaching time). I remain to be convinced of how useful they are.

I joined the technology team in hopes of finding a way to exploit the system to benefit my classroom. That hasn't happened. We spent the first half of the year discussing what our research question would be. I think we settled on something broad enough to include anything and not really spur us to any action.

I was talking to my housemate about how I'd like to bring in ideas from the blogosphere (or maybe just mention the presence of the blogosphere) to the meeting. An hour later, she complained that she doesn't know if the school secretary has an e-mail that gets checked. I happen to have the address in my book. It's a yahoo address. Mine's g-mail. We don't have school addresses. It sparks the comment, "You want to talk about technology in our school? Talk about getting everyone communicating by e-mail."

It's simple enough, really. I have the impression that at one point we were all going to be given school e-mail accounts. But I haven't tried opening Outlook on my school computer this year. My housemate tried hers.... once. No one knows other people's personal e-mails. There's no formula to figure them out.

Communication can be a struggle at our school no matter what the form. All the papers in my box just get shuffled around and lost. Conversations constantly need to be written up in memos in order to be documented. I know I'm more comfortable with technology than others, but could we join the e-mail movement to help our organizational skills? To save on printing? To make everything searchable? Please?

P.S. I know I didn't post for my resolution last week. I have some entries that need editing. I need to go through so I can have a better outlook for my own sake.

It's not always my junk

2008-01-29T19:12:00.000-06:00

There's been junk going on with some of the staff at school. Nothing that needs to be recounted here.

I managed to put it aside as an irritation for a large part this weekend. But when this I finally started dealing with it Sunday evening, it hit hard. Yesterday I went to school hoping to talk things through with my assistant principal, but he was out sick. I just felt more and more frustrated with the situation and didn't have a sense of how to handle it.

Was able to talk to the a.p. before school this morning. He reassured me that this is not my junk. It's a simple conversation, really, but one that can happen all too rarely.

Excuse or explanation? You decide.

2008-01-24T16:52:00.000-06:00

School Schedule This Week

Monday: Off for MLK Jr. Day

Tuesday: Full day, normal schedule

Wednesday: Early release, 11 am

Thursday: Full day, Weird Assembly Times (9th and 11th graders for one hour, 10th and 12th graders for a second hour--note, hours not aligned with bell schedule). Tutoring canceled on account of basketball games.

Friday: Apparently half day, Release at 12 for funeral. Mentor Groups during 3rd period. Apparently going to 4th period to wait to be told to go to lunch.

Given that, coming up with three posts is hard. On the plus side, I had three students sign up for tutoring today. Even if they couldn't stay, there may be hope? (Of course, one of these also refused to take her quiz. "I don't remember any of this." Furthering my suspicion that her A on the midterm was due to some level of cheating.)

Goodness gracious

2008-01-23T15:57:00.000-06:00

Classroom management becomes much more difficult when all of the other schools in the area are having a snow day. Then my students came into third period (the one where I was scheduled to be observed today) telling me of an early dismissal in 30 minutes. Lovely.

After the buses left, I stopped by the office to check my box. Some of the sample textbooks I requested a week ago have arrived. I jumped up and down, clapped my hands, and said "Goody, goody gumdrops." Wow.

The timing means I actually have time to look at the books. Not thoroughly, but enough to be excited to have more materials to draw on for inspiration. I should have started requesting samples earlier.

Making good on my resolution

2008-01-18T16:49:00.000-06:00

I didn't start off the year completely following through with my resolution to post positive stories from this year. I made it half-way--writing entries but not editing them enough to post them.

Today we had inservice. I tried out my new mindmapping program to take notes on the speaker and edited the posts. They're all uploaded now, and backdated so that when I go through this blog to review the year I'll know when things actually happened. I don't think I have enough readers yet to worry about upsetting anyone. If it offends you, sorry.

No longer paying attention to inservice...

2008-01-18T16:41:00.000-06:00

I think part of my bind with the General Math is not knowing what the class is supposed to be. I don't know how students are sorted into general math versus pre-algebra.

Yesterday, I gave a lesson on using the Order of Operations. The two boys who I suspect are ADD were done with the assignment before we'd made it through the first example. (And of course I couldn't find the right puzzle to keep them going for the rest of class.) On the other end of the spectrum, one student couldn't multiply 7 and 1 without looking at a multiplication chart. Obviously I need some serious differentiation.

This weekend, I'm heading out of town. Some friends convinced me to buy a ski pass when they were on sale in October. I've never been downhill skiing before, but I went ahead and bought it knowing that I need to take myself away from town sometimes in order to give myself a mental break.

I'm taking the computer with me, but I don't know if I'll have internet access. Hopefully I'll be able to step back enough to get a sense of where this class (and all there others) are going to go.

Reflections during inservice

2008-01-18T12:00:00.000-06:00

The prayer at the beginning of the day. The songs on the drum, so solid that the room buzzes with the vibrating sound. These are the moments that help me remember that this area is a separate nation. A reminder that I am living in a foreign land.

We talk a lot about the native language dying. What I rarely hear is a discussion of how quickly, how easily, languages die. Preventing one generation from learning the language is really all it takes. The next generation the grandparents know the language, but the parents don't. Children are able to understand bits of the language they hear from grandparents, but so few are able to speak it themselves. I think any skill works this way--I didn't grow up baking bread the way my grandmother did. But I've been able to learn how to bake from cookbooks and the little experience I had when my grandmother was younger. I wonder what resources will be available in the future to help my students learn their language.

When a test makes me happy

2008-01-17T11:15:00.000-06:00

The ASVAB was being offered at our school today. When they were calling students to take it, Z was on the list.

It made me smile. I've been encouraging him to sign up for it since he mentioned wanting to join the arm last week. I have no idea how he'll do. I don't know nearly enough about the test. He's smart, but I still wouldn't be surprised if he didn't score high enough to enlist. At this point, I'm excited that he actually signed up. Evidence that somehow the constant encouragement (which I won't take all the credit for, but want to claim part of) is making a difference. He's taking steps toward the future. Signing up for the test is a baby step, sure. But even baby steps can get us somewhere.

I hope he was here to take it.

Edit: He was.

Requesting Curriculum Advice

2008-01-15T19:57:00.000-06:00

Last Wednesday, while I was teaching Algebra II, I was informed that I would be teaching General Math starting this week. Or rather, I was asked to teach it at the same time that I was teaching Geometry. I refused to do that, but was put down for it anyway.

Things have worked out so that I do not have to teach two courses in one period, but I am up to four preps. Only one has a textbook or any curriculum that's worth using.

I am figuring out where to get resources online for the algebra and geometry courses. I've gotten in the hang of pulling material from my shelf of sample Algebra textbooks. They're not outstanding lessons. Not the most interesting notes. They're plagiarized left and right, but it was working for me.

I have no resources for this new course. The principal told me that he thought it would be "easy to teach." The curriculum coordinater directed me to edhelper, but I can't help but feel that students who have been worksheeted on the same material since elementary school are not going to learn it any better this year if I just give them worksheets.

For my diagnostic, I used California's released questions for fourth graders. (South Dakota doesn't release questions.) The students told me that they want to work on fractions, decimals, and percents. They want to learn exponents. Looking at the first part of the diagnostic, they need to learn multiplication and division first. Or alongside. Or....how do I work this?

I've requested sample textbooks from various companies, hoping that I'll find something that will help me with this latest class. (My favorite, based solely on online descriptions, is Fantasy Sports Math via my mother and Only a Game.)

Any resource recommendations from anyone out there? What do you use to help teach high schoolers who are at an elementary level?

Attitude workout

2008-01-15T18:37:00.000-06:00

My resolution to write regular positive posts is supposed to be an exercise for me in part so that it's easier for me to decide to come back next year.

This week the exercise is a challenge. We have a new semester starting with the new class schedule (that I'm unhappy with). We have G-Testing in a set-up that frustrates me.

This week, my attitude's not where it should be and that's my fault. Hopefully this attitude workout helps.

The students in my new class are mostly freshmen. The students in my other classes are predominately juniors and seniors. Spending the classtime with the younger students gives me a better perspective about the differences between age levels. It helps me remember that all of my students are on a journey and that I am only with them for a short walk along the way. While we walk together we shape each other paths, but it such an incomplete picture of each other. Remembering that perspective, remembering how much my students walk apart from me and how much I walk apart from them is valuable.

Getting my priorities straight

2008-01-13T23:42:00.001-06:00

I haven't kept up on my resolution to post more. Or rather the posts I have need to be edited before I publish them.

I haven't gotten all of my grades in the computer (they're due in the morning).
I don't know what in the world I'm doing with the general math class that starts tomorrow (I was told last Wednesday that I'd be teaching it).

Actually, I'm not 100% sure what I'm doing with my other classes either, at least after we've reviewed the midterm. Having a standardized test go on during one class period means all the Algebras get out of sync if I continue with plan. My out of sync geometries are getting combined. And advanced math, who knows.

But I couldn't stop thinking about Dan's contest. I've had sketches for a week and the deadline's in two hours. Sneaking it in before getting the last grades in and getting some sleep.

Disclaimer, this isn't where I want it to be at all. Colors. Charts. Lines. Pictures. I just got Keynote and Number and am still trying to figure out how to do everything I want. Really, this is the first draft on the computer. I just knew I'd regret it if I didn't get something pulled out now.

And for what it's worth, this is pretty much the conversation I had on the plane to point Q 3.5 weeks ago.

Topping it off

2008-01-11T14:17:00.000-06:00

Another day with two highlights. I'm going to keep naming these while I can.

The senior capstone at my school is an extended research paper. Students choose their topic and take a semester to write it. I've been asking my seniors if I can read them as they get done. I'm not an English teacher for good reason, I don't think I could face that many papers of that low level of writing on a regular basis. Reading the journal prompts from my class can be disheartening enough.

But the papers are still beautiful. Because they choose their own topic, students are amazingly personal. C arrived in class late with her freshly printed final draft in hand. She asked if I still wanted to read it. I took a break from grading to I read an account of the Bloods on our reservation.

Weaving C's own story into the larger stories of gangs on the reservation and across the country was quite a feat. C account renews my hope of somehow reaching all students. C's currently failing my class--missed a fair amount this fall and gets frustrated because "all you do in tutoring is give us problems to practice." This essay makes it clear to me that C is in the process of changing in a good way. Somehow we're going to get through this year. C needs to pass. C needs to graduate. Let's go.

Breakthrough

2008-01-11T12:54:00.000-06:00

Today is midterm day. I'm working on grading previous classes as the current one tests. There are plenty of students who I feel like I've just failed as a teacher. At least they're failing my class. Even though I can tell they've learned something, it's not as much as I expect. Claiming the success seems all the more important to help encourage me. Otherwise, I'm not sure where to find the energy to keep encouraging them.

D stayed late for tutoring last night. She stayed about an extra half-hour after other people left. Grading her test was exciting. There were all these concepts that had finally clicked. The highlight from her test was watching her struggle with one of the questions I'd included to challenge my top student. It was a question pulled from an old test, but not one that we'd reviewed this week. (It was an equation whose solution does not exist.) D fought with that question, asking "Why isn't this working for me? What does it mean?" I finally told her to leave it and go on to the other questions. Because, really, she got it right. The difficulty is learning to recognize situations where you just can't go any farther.

2008-01-10T22:41:00.000-06:00

I've actually had kids come out for tutoring this week. (Probably related to the fact that grades are due next week.) I feel overwhelmed somewhat when suddenly there are all these people in and out of my room wanting different things and always expecting me to explain everything. At the same time, I'm amazed that they're finally getting to the point of coming. Because after school, I can be more relaxed and feel like there's a better atmosphere overall. Hopefully that carries on.

Two posts today. A reminder why I'm back.

2008-01-07T18:55:00.000-06:00

I'd said hi to Z this morning and saw him on my way to lunch. "See you after lunch?" "Think about it." "I hope that's a yes."

My classes are small overall. (Student load is not something that I should complain about.) But it's really when I'm one-on-one with students that real conversations take place. They're high schoolers. They've gotta act cool the rest of the time.

Z's class started off with three students, but with one student transfers and another one in trouble, Z's been the only one in his class for a while. That time has really allowed us to connect bit by bit. He knows that I'll give him a break at the end of class if I see that he's done the work and understands the material. Today he was complaining about having been up all last night. I was impressed with how well he did on his review. Even after his extended absence, he remembered the concepts we went over when he was last present.

He was nodding off. There wasn't time left in class to want to teach new material, so I gave him space to work on one last problem, take a break, chill, whatever.

I went back to my desk; he started putting stuff up. And then he started talking. I don't know what he did while he wasn't in school, but I was astounded by how personal our conversation became. I'm not sure what I did to deserve his trust, but the more I know about him the more I want to keep encouraging him.

Return to school

2008-01-07T11:17:00.000-06:00

I haven't taught a class yet, but already have a hopeful post for the day.

Z stopped coming to school in October. Dropped out. A senior who I loved to brag about how smart he is, but was failing most of his classes from absences already. The school had a meeting to get him re-enrolled in November and he came for a couple of days afterwards. Only a few though. Then he was gone again.

He's back today.

I have a midterm on Friday. He's missed two months. This isn't going to be easy.

But he's back.

Resolution 2008

2008-01-02T16:44:00.000-06:00

The general ideas:

To actually use this blog
To make myself think of the positive and not feel overwhelmed by the negatives
To share ideas of what's working for me

The plan of attack:

Write at least three times a week about something good that's happening at school. When there's a related resource that I think is worth sharing, do it.

Now I find it

2007-12-10T21:27:00.001-06:00

I was getting set to write a post about my successful puzzle proofs, when I discovered that the people at Regents Prep already have it done. I left more pieces out than their example, making students fill in blanks in their proof, but they do seem to like the training wheels. Now I just need to let them ride the proof-cycle on their own.

Fidget toys

2007-11-12T15:24:00.000-06:00

I'm a huge fidgeter. My hands want to be doing something all the time. Since I learned how to knit in middle school, my preferred method of fidgeting is working with yarn. It gives me an outlet for that energy that actually serves a purpose. I move my hands and then something appears!

Because of my penchant for all things yarn I learned about modeling complex maths back in high school. I didn't always pay attention to what was really going on in the articles I read, but the pictures looked cool. Still, it wasn't until my college hosted a version of this exhibit on hyperbolic space that I was motivated to make any of my own. The pictures don't do models justice. Seeing them behind glass it was so frustrating not to be able to pick them up. I did the only thing reasonable and started making my own.

The models are as amazing to play with as I'd hoped. Twisting. Turning. Following the edge around. My personal favorite creation (though it's mathematically insignificant) is a small hyperbolic plane, twisted and sewn together to become a moebius strip. I like it enough that I made one for a friend's birthday present.

Knowing that not every fidgeter finds an outlet for their energy, I decided to stock my classroom with fidget toys. The models are great because they're quiet. They're not impossible to throw--and my classroom management is still at a point where that's a consideration--but they're not going to hurt anyone if you do throw them. And they are math related!

I have not used them as much as I'd hoped before school started. Partly because I don't have the classroom set up so that they're accessible and visible. Partly because I only have one student who has fidgeting needs. He seems to like them, though I still need to figure out how to reach him with my lessons.