Mrs. Evans Blog

Today was probably the best day so far of the school year! It started out pretty normally. First period was uneventful. Second we had meetings. Then in the first five minutes of third period, I was walking backwards between a row of desks while talking to the students, and I tripped on a backpack and totally wiped out! As one student said later, "I followed the path of a downward opening parabola." I flew up into the air and landed flat on my butt. I did the only thing I could do. I burst out laughing. Some kids actually said they were really nervous because it looked like I was going to hit my head on the white board tray. Dodged that one I guess! So the kids were really nice about it, and we moved on. About 10 or 15 minutes later I see a man walking down the hall way, and it's Jay, and he has flowers for me! It's not a special day or anything, he was just out and about and wanted to surprise me!!!! I introduced him to the class, and he stayed for a minute or two...

I want kids to realize homework and practice are important in math class. I hate the time at the beginning of class when I'm trying to account for who has done homework. It wastes time for kids and feels so hectic even if I have something for them to be doing during that time. I wonder if I could have answers and have a time at the end of class where students can start working on homework and come back with me to check their previous assignment and ask questions in a smaller setting. Perhaps I could have kids come back in rows. Maybe I could still flash the answers up, but then be available for questions after. I think some kids might feel more comfortable asking questions if I call their rows back one at a time to check in with them and answer questions that way rather than them having to ask in front of the whole class. This might still allow me to check off their assignments. I could even have a checklist, and when they come back to check their answers, I could have them sig...

I recently got an email about a student who wanted to switch out of my class and into a different one. The reason wasn't personal in nature, but had to do with a disagreement in how I grade and some of my expectations. That's not the point of this blog post, though. My first reaction was extreme annoyance. "I'm incredibly busy and I have to waste my time justifying something that is so common in math education that no one dare question it..." This was my general attitude for about a week. I complained and thought of every reason under the sun why I was right and this student (and his parent who initiated the meeting) were wrong and being illogical. The night before our scheduled meeting I started asking myself what the purpose of the meeting was. I realized that in my heart I wanted these people to feel stupid maybe in return for "wasting my time?" That's absolutely not something I'm proud of, but it's what was inside me. Next, two thin...