Chuck the Book

Throwing away the book isn't always the worst thing in the world...unless it isn't yours.  Then your district might be a little upset.

This year I took a leap of faith. It wasn't so much a "leap" as it was more of a "being launched out of a canon" type feeling. I saw the disservice that I was doing to the students by teaching so much out of my book and so little out of my educational philosophy.

I believe that math is fun, functional, incredible important and interesting.  I also believe that to make students believe this as well, you have to be a pretty accomplished salesperson.

My educational philosophy is based on the simple fact that humans are explorers. People like to go into the unknown and find a way out (hopefully). This also means that people want to discover things that they don't already know. This is the main reason I flipped my classroom 180 degrees this school year.

I saw that teaching out of the book was undercutting my most basic and genuine belief of learning through exploration. After thinking about this for a long time I decided that my philosophy was not wrong, but my methods were. Research backs me up on this point. (Read more about that here.) So I decided to line up my extrinsic actions with my intrinsic beliefs.

This year is much more centered around discovery-based learning. What I have found so far is that students are more willing to ask questions. They are more willing to try things and be ok with failing.  Also, they are more interested in the problem because they get to choose their own method of going about it.

I can't speak for the rest of my year, but for now this leap of faith has paid off.

Today I Wanted To Quit

Being a teacher is hard.

Really hard.

Today was the first day that I honestly wanted to quit teaching. Today the bad points outweighed the good ones. I couldn't stop thinking things such as "Why didn't I become a singer, actor, banker, garbage man, postal worker, etc.?" Why didn't I find a career that was a regular 8-5 job and didn't follow you home? Why didn't I go on a path that led to simple tasks, little growth and free weekends?

Why?

Today wasn't the first difficult day of my professional career, but it might have been the most difficult up to this point. I can't shake the feeling that I am doing this wrong. There has to be an easier way. This can't be what I do for the next 35 years, right?

I want to change the world. I want to influence students to see the importance of math and  use it. I want students to be smarter when they leave my classroom than when they entered it. I want them to wonder and question. I want them to not hate coming to math class even if they hate math. I want them to try and fail, then try again and succeed. I want them to understand questions are natural and meaningful, mistakes are normal and success is praiseworthy. I want them to question why stuff works and then have the drive to go figure it out. I want a lot of things for my students. The problem is:

They don't.

They want an easy A. They don't want to think, but rather they want a cookie cutter answer. They want so little and lack work ethic so much.

I'm at a loss tonight. Right as I thought I understood students and their wants, it flies back in my face to prove that I still have a lot of learning to do.

Leading the Horse to Water...

I have come to the conclusion this week that there are students that, without a doubt, will not work independently. As the teacher, I ask them if they would like to come in after or before school or during study hall. I make accommodations so that their teachers will let them come visit with me.  However, at the end of the day if they do not take advantage of these extra times or even asking questions during class, then I am not sure what other steps I can take to get them to engage.

For example, this has been a constant battle with a particular student all semester. She does not understand the material so I help her in class. She still doesn't understand the material so I ask her to come in before or after school or during Focus period. She doesn't. She is allowed to retake any quiz or test without exception. She doesn't. Then both her and the parents ask the question, "Why is she failing your class?"

After allowing all the interventions and times I asked her to come in I began to document these times so that I could show the parents that this was happening. There is a point in my teaching that I have to say enough is enough. I am not sure what else I can do.

Like the old saying, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make them drink."

Any suggestions out there?

"Tracking" Students' Progress

This week one of the highlights of my time was doing a special project with my Geometry class.  Right now we are learning about area for different shapes, but focusing mainly on circles. This activity goal was to find the area of the track. I used the announcement that the school board had approved a project where the track would be resurfaced. So we were going to see if we could come up with a close number to the company that is resurfacing it.

I split them into groups. Each had a different objective, in hopes that they wouldn't just copy each other's sheets. Find the area of lanes 1-4. Find the area of lanes 5-8. Find the area of the space inside the track. Find the area of all other parts of the black top.

With a sunny, 65 degree day to help us along, we walked out with tape measures (or yard sticks) in hand. They needed to take measurements and then come to a conclusion on what they needed to do with those measurements. Then we were going to see if we added all their areas together (tracks parts) we could get close to what the professional company came up with to resurface the track.

Besides having this be a good learning tool, this also helped with the morale of the classes. It was such a nice day outside and we were inside (with no windows). I think that they had fun doing it and I had fun hearing all the different ways they were going to measure long distances.

I think I will be doing this again in the future. Just to let you know, all three classes came close to the actual professional number. And one class even was within 10 yards!

The Energy Bus

This week all the teachers (and student teachers) were given a book to read as a part of staff development throughout the faculty.

The purpose of this "book study" was not just another thing to add to your to-do list, but it was more for the staff to power through these final weeks of the year where sometimes tensions get high and stress sets in. My initial thought was, "Great. Something else to add to my reading pile." However, I picked it up and it had a great deal of information to share.

Not only did it re-energize me to do my best as a teacher and professional, but also it re-energized me to still be a great student for our seminars, a great collaborator with the other math teachers and student teachers inside and outside of my building and a better coach for the track athletes.

I highly recommend adding this to your reading list. It's fairly short, but really it packs a punch. It seems like it is geared more toward the business side of things, but there are obvious and abundant applications for teachers and professionals in general. It is well worth your time.

Not only was this a book study and I'm guessing we will discuss it at our next PLC day, but also the principal is doing a great job of bringing this theory of an "Energy Bus" into the school. The basic premiss this book was written on are the "10 Rules For the Ride of Your Life." So each week from now until the end of the school year the staff is focusing on a particular rule. He has posted the "ticket" on each teacher's door as a constant reminder of the goal that week.

This week is "You're the Driver of Your Own Bus." This is basically saying that even though each of us have bad things that happen in our work, school or homes we can't let that define us, but instead we need to use that to motivate us to make a positive situation out of a perceivable negative.

Here's some more information on the book and the plan if you'd like: www.theenergybus.com

When the Household CEOs come to school

Monday and Tuesday this week each ended with hours of parent/teacher conferences.

The conferences were very interesting and insightful. I really enjoyed getting the chance to meet several students' parents. As parents were walking over to our table I tried to guess who their child was based on looks. I was getting pretty good at it by the end.

Since I am in a small school district several of the parents know the teachers, know each other and/or grew up within five blocks of the school. So the conferences we had were both a time to discuss the students, but also a time for my CT to catch up with old friends. I learned a lot about the parents in a short time, but there were several that gave me a more complete look into the life of a particular student.

The night did not go without its rough spots. A couple parents were upset with the grade of their students. My CT handled these situations much better than I could. All in all, I think the parents were frustrated that their students weren't getting the grade they wanted them to so they needed to let that be heard. It wasn't uncomfortable by any means, but it just took some time to calm them down and try to put a plan in place to best serve their students.

However, there were many great moments in the nights as well. One parent said that her student loved using the new technology in Math class which she thought would never happen. Another said that his student liked having the extra help with both my CT and I in the classroom to further their education and understanding.

Another benefit of these conferences was that I got to know the administration and other teachers significantly better during the "down" times of conferences. It was almost a sense of solidarity in which we were able to converse and laugh.  It was a good night and I'm glad I was lucky enough to be a part of this experience!

Substituting for Substitution

This week I got my first experience of having my own classroom. My CT was gone and I got to substitute. Ironically we were learning about solving Systems of Equations using the Substitution Method, so I thought that was pretty fitting.

Even though I have been with these students for almost nine weeks, some of them acted like I was someone completely new since they have never experienced me for an extended period of time without my CT in the classroom.

I have to admit, it was a strange feeling to know that if I failed at the activity or lesson there is no other backup besides my own creativity and quick thinking. However, I feel like that since I knew that I would be on my own without a "safety net" I over-prepared so I didn't have that terrible feeling of running out of lesson with twenty minutes left.

The students were great. Obviously they were thrown for a loop as well knowing that I was still learning how to teach, but they acted very respectful and some were helpful to hand things out or pick things up.

Surprisingly the day flew by. All in all, it was a good day. It was my first taste of how I want to run my classroom without any fear or nervousness of what my CT would say. So now that I have at least one day under my belt I feel much more at ease when I will have my own classroom.