Great Feelings are amazing

If you know me from IC, you will know that I was not very good at Analysis. As a matter of fact, without Stan’s “sticky points” I might have had a grade less than a B. ICK. So, I didn’t learn as much as I would have liked in that class about proving calculus. However, I learned something from Stan Selzter.
I learned the value of a “sticky point.” Yesterday I implemented my version of sticky points in my math classes. I struggle with the punitive system in the school. I appreciate the support from the administration. My students are really quite well behaved. However, I couldn’t find a way to compliment them effectively and quickly. So I started carrying around a small pack of post it notes. I catch students doing good work while I’m walking around and I write a note to the student and give them the post it on their notebook. I like finding them doing the things I want them to do
• Copying notes
• Trying problems
• Asking good questions
• Being proud of themselves

So, I write things like:
• Nice Work
• Good Job
• Quick work
• Excellent
• Terrific
• WOW! That’s good
• Good Work
• Good question!
• Thanks for trying
• Good Start… keep trying

I thought they would appreciate the positive reinforcement. I explained to them that they could put these sticky notes onto a test or quiz and receive “bonus points.” Other rules include
• I’m not responsible of lost sticky points. They are responsible for them.
• I will not give you one if you ask for one.
• You can give them to other people
• If you want to sell them…. I don’t care. I’m not responsible after I writ it.
• They don’t expire.

So after I started class today, I noticed the kids were amazingly engaged in the class. About ½ an hour into the class my CTT partner teacher came in. She wondered what I had done to get every student so quiet and working so hard. I truly didn’t know…. I thought they liked the topic. Then my homeroom partner came in and needed to ask a few students a quick question. While she was there we told her we had already done Science today (her content subject). Then the class wanted to tell her more.
• They told her we had done ELA when we discussed the word “compound” and how we use it in ELA
• We told her we did science when we talked about chemistry and the word “compound”
• We told her we talked about H2O and the ratio of Hydrogen to Oxygen in water.
• We told her we talked about social studies because we talked about what was on the sides of our money.

All of those topics lead up to us learning about compound events of flipping coins and spinning spinners and rolling dice and finding probabilities.

So later, my homeroom partner commented on how amazing the class was paying attention and able to be so focused. I attribute it to the “sticky point” system

So… Thanks Stan! And Thank you Matt M for letting me have your sticky points in Analysis.

A Week off in February

A moment.
I find myself having a couple of moments in the morning. I am awake, showered, have cleaned the apartment and am packed and ready to get on a bus to go to Binghamton (Berkshire). So… I am never without something to do, so now I’m writing for my blog and watching the Today show on NBC.

I taught Venn diagrams in math this week. My students were confused about the fact that I require a box around the two or three circles. We haven’t done much with the world of “sets,” but instead, I’ve given them enough information to do a few questions if they are posed to them. They can read the Venn and could determine some probability after looking at it.

My students took practice math exams this week. I have one student that is going to have a difficult time getting out of the lowest bracket of scores on the state exam in March. I will work with her when we get back. I also have a student that is going to receive a score in the highest level bracket.

One student did so well on the exam that I was in tears after scoring his exam. I looked back and he has never done so well in the past on his math. Great Gains are what make me the happiest. He has the most disabilities of all of my students. It’s an amazing “high” to have students do that well. It also amazes me to see the students write their math the same way I write my math, which is the same way Jim Gulick taught me to do my math. His legacy lives on into NY City.

So now I have a week off. Unfortunately (fortunately) Scott has the week off also. He is on a furlough because his business isn’t doing so well. The newspaper business is losing money and so they have cut people’s work year by cutting weeks out and not paying them. So we’ll enjoy the time together, but not the reason why we get an entire week together.

Tough Day

Well... I had tears at school today. The students were disrespectful to me and just pushed my buttons. After they left the room, I had tears. They were tears of frustration. I had lost my pocket of things to do. I had a brain meltdown and forgot to just send the students out of the room. Probably happened because they were taking a math practice exam.

I would like them to finish the math test... Priority should have been to maintain the climate of the classroom.

Looking forward to the week off of teaching! I get to go to Berkshire!!!!!

Middle School Dance

I was not on my game this week. I did not bring my camera to two different events. First of all, the 6th grade students went ice skating on Monday at a place called Riverbank park. We were south of the George Washington Bridge. As we looked up and down the Hudson River, we commented that this would have been an amazing place to have been when the plane landed in the river. The plane cleared the GWB by a few hundred feet as it came down the river.

The kids had a great time and I even went around the rink a couple of times. They are a great group of students that are easy to take on the subway. We just have to count off before and after we get on a train car. They have clear instructions on what happens if they get lost on the train and miss our stop (which wouldn't happen with two teachers per class). So... we had one boy fall and has a sprained ankle... oh well.

Then on Wednesday the school had a dance. There was a DJ and lots of teachers as Chaperones. The kids are amazing. I only got to see a bit of the dance, because I was working on my grades for report cards. However, the dancing I saw just made me smile. The boys and girls were all dancing. No one was sitting down or not dancing. It was so much fun. The music was loud and fun. They all did Latin dancing also. They all can salsa dance. The amount of fun they had was great. It made my day. I was able to see my students as teenagers and not just students. They had their nails and hair done. They all wore jeans. The rules on what they were allowed to wear included the line

No Boobs, No Butts, and No Bellies.

It worked. They all dressed very conservitately and fun. It was fun to see them in normal street clothes. Note that I only ever see them in their school uniform.

I am in the city for the weekend and have lots of homework to do and cleaning. I need to get my laundry done and buy some groceries. I'll be busy, but it is going to be 50 degrees today. Hopefully I'll find the time for a walk.

I wish I had more time every day...

Couple of things I want to write about.

Yesterday we took the 6th grade students ice skating. They skated up on 145th street in Harlem at a wonderful Riverside park. what a nice day. About 40 degrees, we didn't need our coats, just our gloves and helmets. All of the students skated. Many had blisters from not wearing thick enough socks.

Today I told my 6th grade class something they had NEVER heard of. I told them that if you put money into a bank to save it, the bank will pay you money. They know about debt and credit card charges, but not savings interest or investments. We had a great conversations about earning money and saving money.

So... that was fun.

I have met a fellow fellow who lives around the corner from me. He is a nice man who graduated from Columbia University and teaches English. He introduced me to a store owner here on Fresh Pond Road. I met people in the neighborhood!!!!! That is so exciting to me. I knew it would happen, just didn't know it would take so long.

I had a large "charlie" in my apartment yesterday. It's dead now. Guess the humidity from the heat encourages them to come up the pipes that heat the apartment. I find my apartment warm for the most part.

Okay... need to get to bed so that I can go to work as early as possible tomorrow. G'night.