I just corrected the first quiz of the year. It was ten multiple-choice questions just on the start-of-the-year stuff, plus an extended standardized test question and ample opportunities for bonus points.
Let's just say I have my work cut out for me. A lot of my students just didn't seem to understand that I was serious that there would be a quiz every Friday, including the first week. I hope this will jolt them out of that, at least. I also see why our standardized test scores are so low in this district. They don't even try. There is very little thought behind their answers, and most of them don't even try to show their work. But reading and writing scores are actually pretty high. If I can use that to show them that they need to apply their critical reading and writing skills to the math questions, they may do better.
Still, this was education for both my students and me, I suspect. We should all get something out of it. And everyone used a pencil! After seeing how many used pens last year, I thought I'd try to at least establish this habit, and it appears that I already have.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Monday, August 17, 2009
Year 2, Day 0
I went into school today to start getting ready for the new year. YAY! We don't officially start until tomorrow, and the students don't come in for another week after that, but I felt I needed to go in and start the process of tidying things up, now that all of my stuff is in my new room (YAY!). It also gave me a chance to leave Laura alone for a while so she could get some work done on her new job (YAY!). However, I left my keys at home. I was able to get into the room, but not the cabinets. Still, I got a lot of stuff sorted and put away, and even hung some of my posters up.
First big surprise of the year: Some students were in decorating the halls. One of them, who I taught some last year (and wasn't, shall we say, my most cooperative student), told me that she missed me, and that she'd wished she'd taken the third trimester of Geometry from me last spring. YAY! This is a good sign.
Today was not, however, my first day back at all this month. Over the summer, we lost our second-and-a-half math teacher (the plan was, he'd teach two science and two math classes this year) to another, larger, closer-to-his-home district. The district also found the money to hire both a full-time math and a full-time science teacher. (Essentially, our librarian who retired last June won't be replaced, instead of the librarian and math teacher who retired, which was the original plan.) So guess who got to help interview the new math teacher candidates? Yup, I was part of the team! It was odd, being on the other side of the interview at long last (YAY!), but not at all bad. I certainly had a lot of empathy for the two candidates we interviewed. It was tough, as they were both good, but before I left, we offered the job to the first candidate, who lives two states away and had to talk it over with his wife, and juggle the logistics. Apparently it didn't work out, because today I found out that the second candidate will be the new teacher. That's cool, as we all thought that either one would work. YAY!
Tomorrow, the school year officially kicks off, with the entire district faculty meeting in the school library (yes, that still blows my mind) and other stuff. I'll probably stick around a bit to do some more organizing, too. YAY!
Today's post was brought to you by the interjection YAY!
First big surprise of the year: Some students were in decorating the halls. One of them, who I taught some last year (and wasn't, shall we say, my most cooperative student), told me that she missed me, and that she'd wished she'd taken the third trimester of Geometry from me last spring. YAY! This is a good sign.
Today was not, however, my first day back at all this month. Over the summer, we lost our second-and-a-half math teacher (the plan was, he'd teach two science and two math classes this year) to another, larger, closer-to-his-home district. The district also found the money to hire both a full-time math and a full-time science teacher. (Essentially, our librarian who retired last June won't be replaced, instead of the librarian and math teacher who retired, which was the original plan.) So guess who got to help interview the new math teacher candidates? Yup, I was part of the team! It was odd, being on the other side of the interview at long last (YAY!), but not at all bad. I certainly had a lot of empathy for the two candidates we interviewed. It was tough, as they were both good, but before I left, we offered the job to the first candidate, who lives two states away and had to talk it over with his wife, and juggle the logistics. Apparently it didn't work out, because today I found out that the second candidate will be the new teacher. That's cool, as we all thought that either one would work. YAY!
Tomorrow, the school year officially kicks off, with the entire district faculty meeting in the school library (yes, that still blows my mind) and other stuff. I'll probably stick around a bit to do some more organizing, too. YAY!
Today's post was brought to you by the interjection YAY!
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