Mrs. Evans Blog

I have been teaching exponents to freshman and sophomores for the last week and a half. I had a carefully planned graphic organizer. I planned on spending 1 or 2 days per exponent property and moving on with the year without too much difficulty... Little did I know what I was up against. Apparently, exponents are not as simple as I had always thought they were. I don't think I really cared in high school why the properties worked. I was great at memorizing things that I needed to know, and so I never had a problem or a need to know, "Why." I was a grade-chaser all the way. Well after teaching every exponent property in the unit and giving a 5-question lesson quiz, I learned that perhaps some of my students had learned nothing over the last week and a half... That's not really true. They had partially learned the properties in isolation, but putting everything together was just too overwhelming. I agree, the students need more practice, but if I had sent them home ...

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...