Skip to main content

High and Unwavering Expectations

That's the phrase that I've been saying over and over in my head to prepare for this school year. I continue to say it over and over to remind myself every single day. If I have high expectations, and if I don't allow anything but those expectations, and if I stick to them consistently from the beginning and don't start to make exceptions as the year goes on, then the students will excel. They will behave how I want them to (for the most part), and everyone will learn better as a result.

Most of my classes are great. I'm finding that I'm able to get some data, but I don't always know what to do with it. I'm able to come up with some simple ways to get them thinking about the math and problem solving, but I struggle with what to do when most of the kids are able to think and problem solve through a scenario, but a few students all day are unable to or choose not to. How do I get them caught back up? Today we're going to do some short notes which should allow time to stop and assess/ practice/ and ask questions about our review topic. That's great, but I feel like I'll have to do something similar tomorrow to give the kids a chance to assess and ask questions about the new material we've also been talking about every day this first week of school. Spiraling is hard!!!

1. Having the kids try things on their own first is something I absolutely need to continue going forward.

2. I need to help one of my periods with how to behave and interact while engaging in group work.

3. I need to work on some more collaborative group work where each student has some sort of accountability.

4. I need to continue making the students work out problems and making the students try examples in class. Right now, when I ask them to do something, they are all doing it. Some of them don't know how to solve the problem, but they're at least writing something down to either try or make it look like they know what they're doing.

5. I need to get all their names down!!! I've learned that my brain gets so tired from trying to memorize and recall every day that by the time the afternoon rolls around, I have a much harder time making myself ask their names because I feel like I can't possible remember any more.

6. Right now, I'm sharing with them exactly how I would structure my notes. I'm being very specific about their title, when they put a bullet, how they write their examples... I want to slowly start having them share what they think their notes should look like. I want to start asking them what the important information is that they either heard me say or saw on the slide or read in the book that they think needs to get written down or have its own bullet.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Second Chances

I've been thinking about second chances constantly lately. As an adult, think about all the times you've been given a second chance. I am not a perfect wife, but my husband gives me second chances all the time.  I tried to make cookies once with baking soda that was 2 years expired. They didn't turn out so great, but I have had other chances to bake things and I learned a value lesson about baking soda : ) I tried out for my church praise team and didn't make it. It was embarrassing and for a while I didn't feel like singing or playing the piano, but I can try out again and if I don't get so nervous next time, maybe I'll make it. I'm not banned forever because of one audition. I took the ACT twice when I was in high school, and my highest score was the only one colleges cared about.  My first year of teaching, I struggled quite a bit with classroom management. I needed more time and unfortunately first-hand experience to just begin lea...

If I were a function...

If I were a function, I would choose to be Here's what I would look like on the surface: This function looks like a straight line. It may not look particularly interesting, but it has a few pretty important features. 1) First, it has a positive slope. As time passes, the value of the function increases. As time passes in my life, I want my experiences, wisdom, knowledge, love, and closeness to Jesus to increase, as well. "All things work together for good for those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28 2) This graph has a hole at 2. That is, in fact, a fancy mathematical term-- hole . This occurs because the top function can be rewritten as (x - 2)(x + 2). Since there is an (x - 2) factor in the bottom of the function, those (x - 2) factors cancel each other out. This means the first function (the one I would choose to be) is identical to f(x) = x + 2 at every single point except at x = 2. Just like my function, I ...

Thought about mapping activity

I was reading a few teachers talking about teaching their students to use maps and analyse the changes as well as using GPS and geocashing to use latitude and longitude. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you guys are science teachers? Based on that assumption, I was thinking it would be neat to incorporate a corresponding math project involving graphing. Maybe the students first learn about it with the science teachers. They do the project based lesson with maps and GPS. Then they could come to my math class and create their own map including cordinates. They could use slope and find distances between locations on their map. They could even hide their own treasures around the school campus and then trade their maps with other students to find each others' "treasures." They could use the concept of slope to tell students how to find the treasure. Maybe they have to start at a certain latitude or longitude and then go a certain direction with a certain slope, and they woul...