August Blog

Well, nearly a month has gone by since I began teaching. It seems as if I have finally gotten into a ryhthm that I can actually tolerate. At first, I was grading about 300 papers a night (one for boardwork for each student, and one for homework for each student). Needless to say, I realized quickly that this would NEVER work. So, I now simply "check" their homework in class by walking by their desks. I often have the students check each other's papers on boardwork. This works much, much better. That way, when I get home, I only have to deal with the lesson for the next day. So, I finally got that figured out.

I believe that all my kids have finally realized that I am serious about them learning math. They finally see that I really mean business. It took me writing up about 10 students and giving out more than a dozen writing assignments to make them realize that I really mean business. It seems that most freshmen have a very difficult time adjusting to a high school. Most of them do not think that it is necessary to bring a textbook to class. I mean, "Hello! This is math. You need your book every day." In addition, most of my students got a huge wakeup call when it came to their first test. Most of them did not do too hot. When they got their tests back, they wanted to know when the makeup test would be. I told them that there would not be a makeup test. Most of them were shocked! I informed them that in life there are no makeup exams. So, coming to high school from middle school has been a huge adjustment for most of my students. Overall, my students are doing well. I have mostly A's and B's. So, I'm very proud of that. Either I'm way too easy or they are actually learning. I am leaning toward the fact that they are actually learning the material.

I never knew that teaching could be so much fun! I am enjoying each day that I teach. I find that the students are interesting and funny to listen to. I greatly enjoy being around them. In fact, sometimes I think that they actually teach me something.