As a first year teacher, I knew it would take me quite some time to figure out this "teaching" stuff. I'm not saying that I've completely figured it out, but today I had another glimpse of what I want it to feel like more often. I had one class complaining a little bit that I was going too fast. I have a habit (not a terrible habit, but one I need to work on) of going slowly enough so that a snail can keep up with the rest of the runners in the marathon. I need to move along and have the slowest of students see me after class to get some of the support that they need. This was new territory for me and my class to move at a quicker pace. It actually suited the majority of my students. It felt good.
I also had two classes of 6th graders without an issue to be found. Not one student was rude, or disrespectful for the entire time we were together. Note.... we do block scheduling so I am with students for about 90 minutes per day 4 days per week. Its tough for them to all behave all of the time. Today... it happened. And, being the bright teacher that I am, I told the second class that the first class had done it, and I wondered if they could be just as good. They were great.
My favorite part of today was telling students that there are math problems that have not been proven and that there are $1 million dollar prizes for proving them. We got onto this subject because Goldbach's conjecture was mentioned in their textbook. So I talked about it and we took the time to see about 12 numbers that were even and greater than 2 where we could write them as a sum of two prime numbers. Wooooo Hooooo..... .I felt good being a math geek today. I would bet that the other math teachers have not seen presentations on this particular conjecture. I, on the other hand, have had close friends work on this proof.
I had parent teacher conferences this last week. I'll blog about them this weekend. Just know that I had all parents except one come for conferences. We strive for 100% attendance, and if the parents don't make it in, we go to the houses. Sweet!
BTW, Jeff is coming tomorrow. Friday we have a field trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, to look at Egyptian "stuff." Jeff gets to help me!
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2 comments:
You get the "Ah-ha" moments.
I get the "You kept me awake all night reading".
I think the thrill is about the same. So glad you are having the experiences you had hoped for!
Maybe get to see you over the Christmas break?????
Darn! I just wrote an entire comment but hadn't registered and lost the whole thing. Now, what did I say to you?
I LOVE your blog, Dee Dee! Your descriptions of your job, its joys and its challenges, are just great. They capture your intrepid energy. The video was super and I even sang along with it.
Keep this up; it's absolutely wonderful and makes me feel so proud of you. Georgia would have loved it.
Hope you'll be able to stop by Kendal when you're in town. If not, give me a buzz.
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