Students vs. People

As I am sitting here while my Algebra 1 students are working on a graphing assignment while watching The Grinch, I am reminded of a thought that I often have.

“I really like these kids as people (most of them), but more often than not, I really don’t like them as students.”

I know this sounds negative, but it’s true.

These students STRUGGLE with behavior in class. I have class sizes of 32, and the students are mostly freshman, with a few sophomores scattered in (those taking Algebra for a third time… you can imagine how much they want to be in class).

This being the case, these classes are extremely difficult to manage. It doesn’t matter where I sit them, they will talk to anyone. It doesn’t matter if we are taking notes, doing homework, working on a project, doing an activity… They still find a way to misbehave.

I try to do activities with them, and it usually backfires because I’m running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to manage behavior, answer questions, and walk them through the directions which are right in front of them.

I leave these two classes every day feeling exhausted, overwhelmed, and frustrated. I feel like a really bad teacher after they leave my room. I think to myself, I really don’t like these kids. They make me feel badly about myself, they never do as they’re told, and they can be very disrespectful at times.

But, it’s when I see them outside of the room that things change.

When I’m no longer trying to get them to do their assignment, or take notes, or stay in their seat… All of the sudden, things are different.

I actually like them! They are funny, and kind, and good people.

I laugh A LOT when I am talking with some of them.

I can see their interests and their personalities, and I feel good about our interactions.

So, the question that will remain for the time being… How can I get myself to like them as students, the same way I like them as people?

NCTM Conference 2018

At the end of November, all of the high school and middle school math teachers had the opportunity to attend the NCTM Regional Conference in Seattle.

This conference gave us the opportunity to join with other teachers from around the area in a series of sessions focusing on teaching math in the classroom.

Being new to teaching, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from this conference.

But, from past experiences of being around other teachers talking about teaching, I expected to leave feeling like a sub-par teacher.

At these kind of things, teachers talk about the amazing and modern and innovative things that they are doing in their classrooms.

Being a new teacher, this leaves me feeling a little defeated, wondering how I’m supposed to do all of that amazingness in my classroom.

But, on day one, Jill talked with us about not feeling that way. About going into this conference with an open mind, and a willingness to see the greatness in what others are doing, and try to figure out how we can start to incorporate that into our practices.

The key word here being “start”.

Often, when I hear about math teachers having a project-based learning class, I think to myself, “that’s great, but how can I go from complete direct instruction, to completely handing over the learning to the students?”

But, the very first session that I went to changed my perspective.

This session was led by an incredible woman! She is a high school math teacher who is doing great things in her classroom.

But what I appreciated about her presentation, was that she talked about how she started to incorporate these little activities into her day-to-day lessons.

She didn’t say that you couldn’t do direct instruction anymore.

YAY! I personally think that some direct instruction in a math class is extremely vital.

She continued to talk with us about these activities, and had us participate in some of them as well.

It was really refreshing to hear from someone who was real and authentic. She showed us how we can start to work towards project-based learning by dipping our toes in the water, not taking a nose dive.

Overall, the rest of the conference went well, but this first session is the one that I will remember for a very very long time.

She gave me a glimpse into what the future of my classroom can be.

The Oxymoron of the Century: Irresistible Math

When I was in high school, I loved school. Yes, I enjoyed having breaks and I didn't love waking up early, but I thoroughly enjoyed going to school.

I came home, did my homework, and then enjoyed my hobbies.

In class, I was polite, hard-working, and a total teacher's pet.

I wasn't the smartest or best student, but I worked really hard to achieve my goals.

Thinking back to my math classes specifically, I loved when I had teacher's who were really structured in their lessons.

We had a warm-up, we went over the homework (allowing time to ask for questions), we took very detailed notes with example problems that the teacher worked through, and then we had time for homework.

I LOVED this process. It made sense to me. It allowed me to see exactly how to do a problem, and then allowed me time to try the same problems in class.

I am a very organized individual, so I loved the structure these classes provided me with.

In college, we learned how to integrate technology, how to make lessons more project-based, and how to make math exciting.

But honestly? It just felt like SO much more work. 

The idea of planning these lessons, executing them, managing behavior, grading them... No thanks! I would rather just stick to teaching math the way I learned it. 

And that's exactly what I did last year. And I truly felt that for the most part, my students excelled because they were shown exactly what to do. I adopted the same teaching styles that I was exposed to. 

This was not the case my first year of teaching. 

I taught 8th grade math at Glacier Middle School, and it happened to be their very first year with a new curriculum. This curriculum was very focused on student discovery.

Each day, the students were given new problems to work through, and basically had to follow the process in order to learn how to complete the problems. 

I was basically just a facilitator. 

And with 8th graders, that meant I spent 90% of my day managing behavior, trying to get students on task, and pulling my hair out.

The students told me that they didn't feel like I was teaching them anything.

So, when I began teaching here at EHS, I was SO EXCITED to be able to teach the way I wanted to.

And then, this year we were introduced to the new Theory of Action; challenged to make our lessons Irresistible, Deep, Exciting, and Authentic.

HORRIFYING FLASHBACKS TO MY FIRST YEAR OF TEACHING.

All I could think about was how much work this would be... Especially since this time we weren't given a curriculum, we had to come up with this on our own!

I will be honest, I was terrified. I didn't want to go back to just being a facilitator.

But, the more we talked about it, and the more I started brain storming with others, some of my fears started being laid to rest.

I have to admit, I know how boring note taking can be. I know not all of my students can learn well with that structure, so there has to be a way that I can engage them more.

It has been a difficult journey so far, but it's just the beginning!

I am excited to have the opportunity to re-evaluate my teaching strategies, and work with my colleagues to come up with more engaging and exciting lessons.

Question: What fundamental principle is the Internet built on and how has this generation used it to it’s advantage?

When I first thought about this question, my initial thought was that the internet was created for more advanced communication.

Then, I remembered that I'm a millennial... So of course that's what I would think! 

AOL messaging, MySpace, and Facebook were my main sources of communicating throughout middle and high school (along with passing notes in class... Sorry Mr. Schwartz!).

So for most of my life, the internet has mainly been used as a form of communication. 

But as I was thinking about this, a memory popped into my head.

I was sitting in front of a computer in my 3rd grade class. 

The assignment? Create a "Guess Who?" Power Point presentation about a famous person. 

We were to research information about our chosen person and create a presentation with facts, hoping others could guess our star.

This is the first time I can remember using the internet in school.

Now, that's not to say I didn't slowly power-up a large computer in class before that assignment; but it's my first memory of such an experience.

So I started to think, "What was the purpose of the internet in this project?"

We used the internet to gather information, put the information into a presentation, and share our thoughts with others.

So then I came back to the question we were asked to ponder.

"What fundamental principle is the Internet built on and how has this generation used it used it to it's advantage?"

I imagine that the internet was used to gain information instantaneously. But, I am no expert, so I decided to do some digging into this question.

I came across an article that stated, "When Tim Berners-Lee invented the world wide web 24 years ago he thought he'd created an egalitarian tool that would share information for the greater good." 

(https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/aug/24/internet-lost-its-way-tim-berners-lee-world-wide-web)

First of all, I felt very happy that I am, in fact, older than the internet!! By one whole year! Not so millennial after all!

Secondly, my initial thoughts were similar to what this article was saying. The internet was created to be used as a tool to share information. The part that really got to me was the part about it being, "for the greater good." 

FOR THE GREATER GOOD!

Can we honestly say that we used the internet to spread information far and wide for the betterment of humanity?

I'm not entirely sure this is true. 

Yes, there are millions and millions of examples of how the internet has saved our lives.

But, I can think of millions more to the contrary. 

Growing up, I didn't always have the internet at my fingertips, but when I did, there were times when I used it to spread information that was not for the greater good. 

And there were times when the internet was used to hurt me as well.

So yes, our generation has used the internet to cure diseases, to advance education, and the list goes on and on.

But, the advancements with social media has led to so much destruction within our generation, that we have to ask ourselves, "Is it worth it?"