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Getting Excited About Math!!

Today it occurred to me that last year I absolutely LOVED teaching Algebra 2 to my sophomores because many of them were pretty good at math and actually mildly enjoyed doing it. I don't feel the same love in most of my Algebra 2 students this year... Today I said, "Screw it, I love doing this stuff!" and it was so much more fun to teach it even if they weren't that excited about parabolas : ) I was!

I don't think I've been unexcited about the math in the past, but I just realized that my excitement doesn't really have anything to do with their excitement; I just love math!

Also, a bunch of my students have been studying for the PSAT which is tomorrow. I had a few ask for help studying. I helped a girl for a little over an hour today with the problems that had stumped her. It was so much fun! Those practice questions are challenging and require logic, testing, and mature mathematical problem-solving skills.

It was fun, but made me realize that I'm not doing a great job of getting the kids ready for that challenging problem-solving. They have a really hard time with variable manipulation. Many of the problems from the PSAT practice test required them to find answers with variables in them.

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