Motivating

I loved getting complaints today about how we always work, how I never have a "free day," how I never sit back at my desk. My assistant principal told me she hears that they have to do work as soon as the bell rings (why this is a big deal, I don't know). Of course, the struggle is to get ALL of them to actually come in on time, with a pencil and paper, and start the work as soon as they get in there. It amazes me when someone asks for a pencil after we've been in class 10 min. What can we do to truly motivate the students who really could care less? I am having success with a few previous troublemakers after they have actually done well on quizzes or tests, or I have devoted more time and attention to.

Math is a funny subject to teach, because for the most part students have already decided if they are good at it or not. If they are, they can be overconfident, refusing to ever do homework or take notes. If they aren't, they give up before they even begin. If I can find something they are good at (such as graphing for one poorer performing student) then they can use this to motivate them to work toward understanding. I just wish they all had a better math basis that I could build upon.

Master of the Overhead

One of the biggest changes in my teaching from this summer (as apparent after reading some of these blogs) is the way I lesson plan. It was funny to read about my struggles with the overhead...how I revealed too much at first, and it was out of focus. My lesson plan is often now just in overhead form, especially in Algebra II. It's all written out, in permanent ink, with appropriate blanks and room to work out examples with a vis-a-vis. After each period, I wipe off the ink, and I'm ready to go again. By the 5th period, I've worked out all my kinks (if there are some) and skip over parts that aren't necessary and elaborate on ones that need more time. This summer, I struggled with looking down at my clipboard too much, but I do not have that problem anymore. I can show parts of the transparency, and ask questions and have students tell me what to write. It works pretty well. Sometimes kids come to the board to work an example out, just depending on what I feel they need and their interest in the lesson.

Another major change from this summer is the fact that I have 3 preps, that are all very different from each other: Algebra II, Physics, and Trig. Unfortunately, sometimes I don't plan as well for physics or trig as I do for Alg. II, simply because I know I HAVE to for Algebra II since I have more classroom management problems in those classes. Trig especially has suffered from this, as it has happened before that I haven't reviewed the material enough to teach it effectively. I am learning and struggling, and sometimes I've got it all together, and sometimes I just don't.

But I don't know what I would do...
without my overhead.

Pacing (self-selected oct. blog)

I keep changing the way I teach. First I was just using the white board, now I almost always use the overhead. Then I had pretty strict lessons...I had a timeline, and I wasn't about to let my students make me go slower. Now, I'm letting my students guide me more. If they had problems with the homework, we review that material longer. If they thought it was easy, we move on to something new.

I have such a huge discrepancy in the ability of my students. I have a few who really should be pushed so much more...they're bored, they make the other students feel dumb, etc. Then others are just taking the notes and not understanding anything they're writing. How are you supposed to teach to all of these students at the same time? Even if I let them guide my teaching, how will I decide my pace for the slower and faster students?

I am trying, and goodness knows I'll keep trying. I had a student the other day re-taking a test ask me, "Don't you get tired of us?" In response I said, "No, not yet." I care so much for my kids, too much sometimes, and I just want the most possible to get as much as possible. I'm still struggling to figure out how to do this.

The small successess

Before my last test, I had a handful of girls who really wanted to do better (knowing they had failed the previous semester, or just barely passed). I scheduled some after-school tutorials (in place of my normal ACT tutorials) for Algebra II, and they actually came and did math for a full hour and a half 2 different days. Now keep in mind these are students who really should not be in Algebra II...I have no idea how they passed Algebra I two years ago. They don't have the basic skills, such as solving equations or performing operations with negative numbers...so I was worried how to even start trying to catch them up enough to pass my test. But I did what I could in that hour and half, and it showed on their tests. All of them (with a little help on my part) passed my test, and I could see a great deal of improvement in their skills, classroom participation, effort, etc.

I believe it is the little triumphs that really count...a student that takes notes who has never had a notebook before, a student that is paying attention and asking questions that is normally asleep, a student that does his homework who usually doesn't, a student who asks questions when she's confused instead of just staying quietly in the dark...we can't teach them all everything, but we can teach everyone something. They just need to find something they can do well to gain a little confidence.