Thursday and Friday Feb. 17th & 18th

I decided to sum these two days up into one post. Mainly because I have missed multiple posts and am falling behind.

Thursday:

This day was pretty normal, for the most part. It was yet another day where many teachers we missing due to recent textbook adoption meetings. The school was short on substitute teachers, which spells disaster.

In my Pre-Algebra classes, nothing extraordinary happened. Honestly, I don't remember a whole lot from Thursday, especially anything that was significant. I do remember that I didn't explain something from the ISTEP countdown very well. I guess this is something I will work on, explaining topics that I am certain students have had before. Really, most of the students hadn't worked on these problems. The students who had my Accelerated Math class were the only ones who had any solid experience with percent change and difference because of all the multiple choice problems they have had in that class.

In my Algebra classes, we went over some more factoring polynomials. It is really frustrating when your students don't get a topic after multiple days of teaching, and re-teaching the same exact concepts. I think the most trouble they are having is recognizing what kind of polynomial they are dealing with. Instead of thinking something cannot be factored any further, they assumed they didn't know what they were doing, and gave up on the whole assignment. It seemed, as a whole, my second Algebra class got it, which is a little surprising because I was told that the "smarter" students, based on test scores, were placed in the first, or 4th period class. I have come to learn, there really wasn't much of any planning when it came to the school's scheduling, and that the students were simply placed the way they were due to the classes they were all taking. One thing that did happen that was kind of cool, non math related, was being asked to attend a free "concert" that was being performed by the school show choir called the Titations (after the Temptations, clever name if you ask me.) I said I wasn't sure if I could attend an entire concert, and was told that it was only a half hour. I told them I probably couldn't go so they wouldn't get their hopes up.

Well I went anyways, and was pleasantly surprised by the talent that some of my students had in both singing and dancing. It was also kind of funny to hear the guys in the show choir trying to sound all manly and pull out deeper voices than their range would allow them. Either way, the concert was entertaining, and I found out I had one of my student's brothers when I was participating in my practicum class over at Muncie Central. Ran into some of the parent's of my students and found out that many of them did not get the letter I sent out with the kids as an attempt to let the teachers know that I am even there. I didn't like knowing that many parents had no idea I was there, or even who I was.
It's really nice to leave something like that and get resounding thank you's and hearing how nice of a teacher I am. I attend things like that so that I can show my students how much I truly care. I want them to succeed. If I have to, I can be some type of father figure, or someone they can turn to in time of need. I want them to understand that I am not some person that only administers grades to them. I want them to know that I do care, not only about their grades, but about them as people, and going to events like this lets me show them.

Friday: The Dr. Bremigan Visit.

The day had come for my other, topic focused, university supervisor to come and visit my classroom. I had mentioned to her that I was going to be focusing on a review game in my Algebra classes, which is the class she was going visit. Basically this review game, which I pawned off of my practicum teacher in the high school, is a review game where you split the class into groups based on achievement level, or based on how strong of students you think they are, with a mixture of stronger and weaker students in each group. This, as it turns out, is an extremely tough thing to do, as I had messed up because some students which I thought were weaker just seemed so because they never talked or raised their hand in class. Anyway, after you split them up each team gets a white board and a marker. I give them a question that we have been working on. I give them a number of 30 second music clips from popular songs from both theirs, mine, and before my generation of music. They get points for the correct answer, and minimal bonus points for getting artists and songs right. This turned out very well for these two classes and makes me wonder if, or how it might work in my Pre-Algebra classes, where it seems no matter what I do, it's boring or stupid. Back to Algebra classes, where I was being observed. In the corner of my eye, I could see her and my cooperating teacher talking. I assume it was all good things, and so I hope. Anyways, both classes seemed to go well and I offered suckers to the winning and last place groups.
At the beginning of my last class I was asked by a few girls in the show choir, from the event I had attended yesterday, if I would go with them, on the bus, to their choir competition that night. I simply said "I don't think that would be a good idea." One girl responded promptly with "Well I could bring a blanket and you could spend the night, and we could all have a picnic." Yeah...I just stood there with a surprised look and slowly started walking the other way, as I was I heard "imagine having a picnic with Mr. K." I'm just glad I approached this the best way that I know how, with really no out right response but more of an avoidance of the question, similar to LeBron James and his avoidance of the media after he lost the Eastern Conference Finals to the Orlando Magic in 2009. Except I wasn't a sore loser, just someone who didn't know how to answer a situation.

At the end of the day, I would say I am making some sort of difference in the lives of my students, whether it be a bonding experience, or simply how their educational life may pan out. Either way, I hope my influence is nothing but positive. Hooray for this 3 day weekend, maybe I will catch up on much material, like both my digital and professional portfolio.