Mrs. Evans Blog

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...

Today we learned that one of our students never woke up this morning. I've never actually had him as a student, but I have seen many of my students obviously affected by the news. He has a younger brother and sister and I can't help but think about Karen and her family. Even though I didn't know the student, one of my students made the comment that he went to bed last night like it was a normal night. It made me think about my last few nights and how tired and cranky I've been from spending so much time trying to stay caught up on school work and from conferences on Tuesday. It really puts everything into perspective. As a teacher, it's hard to know how to act and how to react. Some classes were going to be taking a test today. As soon as I saw one of my girls crying and a few boys looking as if they had been crying, I knew I didn't want to give them their test. We worry so much about the schedule and so much about our plan, but now two kids have lost their ...

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...

"He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." Micah 6:8 I hate the song, but I love the Bible verse. I was doing a lot of thinking and praying while on a walk with Chuck tonight. I started out thinking about some of the things that have frustrated us this week at school. We hoped to take the opportunity of splitting schools to really talk about our culture and what is important to us and the unified message we want to send to our students as a whole staff. We didn't have an opportunity to have these conversations as a staff, but I asked myself what three things I wanted to focus on this year. I reflected for all of 10 seconds about what three things I want to send a message to my students when immediately I thought of the above verse from Micah. These three things are what I want to live this year in my classroom. 1. I want to seek justice in every decision that I ...

Well, I've survived the first three years. In the documentary "Saving Superman" (I think that's the title), a teacher says that it took five years for him to really master what he was doing as a teacher. I'm getting closer! I've organized my classroom and spent some time talking with other teachers about this year and what we want to change and do the same. I'm going to try doing in-class problems this year. This is my vision. The lesson (often there will be notes involved) will only take 10-15 minutes. I want to give students the "Important Notes" first. These will be things that are crucial to the day's lesson. If they get stuck later, they should look back at their "Important Notes." Then I want to do just two or three examples. I know that won't allow me to cover every possible case, but then I will have in-class problems that the students will work on while myself and the co-teacher are there to help them that will cove...