I was recently reminded that I do, in fact, have a blog. And at one time it was useful for me to document the trials and tribulations of my teaching career by posting the hilarious things my ninth-graders did in said blog. So here’s my attempt to return to the wonderful world of blogging. A…
read more »Today, my cluster had a meeting (as we do every Tuesday) to discuss how things were going, etc. And today was the day I realized: I have 6.5 teaching weeks left. This means that in my Algebra I class, for example, I’ll cover quadratics (2.5 more weeks), probability (2-3 weeks), review for the final (1…
read more »Wednesday was not one of those days. Yesterday and today were. You win some, you lose some. Tay (one of my homeroom girls) actually had a very insightful comment today. We were talking about midterms, and how glad we were that they were over. She asked me what I was teaching in my Algebra class,…
read more »Just when things looked like they’d keep getting worse forever, they (knock on wood) started to get better. For two days in a row (!!!) my kids have been on-task, doing their work, caring about their learning. They even kept totally silent during the quiz today! Good moments from the week, and things that will…
read more »Just when I think things can’t get any worse, they implode. Awesome. So we’re giving the PSAT next week, and the attendance guy came to my room 5th period (oh this is going to be good…) to give me the packets. Why he couldn’t have waited, I haven’t the faintest). So he comes in right…
read more »Hard to believe that just last Monday I was in tears about my 5th period. I thought they’d seriously drive me to the brink of insanity by the end of the quarter, and I’d end up in a sanitarium somewhere. Today was a much better day. Other than the fact that 2nd period was a…
read more »I feel like I’ve been hit by a train. Wearing heels all day again is going to take some serious getting used to. Today was mostly highlights: students were awed by the Fibonacci sequence (math is applicable? CRAZY.). I had a lot of energy, and it meant that there was very little talking. My upperclassmen…
read more »My father once told me “If you aren’t nervous about starting something new, don’t bother starting. Being nervous just means you’re excited”. If that’s true, I’m more excited about my first day of teaching than I’ve been about anything in recent memory. The knot in my stomach is vaguely reminiscent of the one I had…
read more »A week ago, my department head told me I’d be teaching Algebra I. Today (school starts Thursday, but we have “teacher orientation” first) when I got my schedule, Algebra I was mysteriously absent. After much discussion, we came up with the following: 2 periods of Algebra I (what I’ve been preparing for, and am decently…
read more »Today was…interesting. Not really productive, but interesting. I met the mayor of New Haven and the superintendent of the public schools at a welcome barbecue hosted by one of the people who brought TFA to Connecticut, and it was kind of cool to see that much enthusiasm for the organization. Lots of teachers and principals…
read more »Well, not quite. But I have an apartment in New Haven, a gorgeous condo just off of Whalley Ave. Now all that remains is to figure out where I have a job. I wish the public schools would place me. Please? Please. I’m glad to be out of Philly, but missing my kids something terrible.…
read more »It’s easy to get bogged down in what my students cannot do or do not have. They cannot reliably tell you how to solve equations of the form 3x+5=12. They cannot multiply two non-whole numbers (one last week tried to tell me that 3.1 x 3.1 = 6.2). Many cannot do long division. They still…
read more »UGH! I hate teaching when I’m sick. I’m not all there, and it’s my students who ultimately suffer. It seems like every day here at institute is a mixture of good and bad. Today was amazing; I felt like I really connected with my non-English speakers (including Ely!!) and I’m definitely getting better at explaining…
read more »Today was the first day of teaching. It was exciting to be in front of a classroom again, doing what I love. Also frustrating, though, because my kids won’t have calculators this summer (how exactly does one do geometry with no calculator?) and because at least a few of my students either cannot or do…
read more »Today was my first day of formal training at the school where I’ll be teaching (for the next 5 weeks, at least). For the summer, I’ll be teaching 10th grade geometry to summer schoolers at Thomas A. Edison High in Philadelphia. It was a little intimidating today (lots of acronyms!) but everyone seems really supportive…
read more »I’m so glad that everyone here has been so incredibly nice, it makes me feel a lot better about moving to a state where I previously knew absolutely no one. So far we’ve just been doing a lot of formalities but the week is still full of activities (including interviews!). I’m getting really excited to…
read more »I’m leaving on a jet plane…today. I (finally) got my grades back, and I’ve officially got two degrees from UW; I have all the necessary paperwork and a tentative job with the New Haven Public School system; my bags are packed. I’m not sure that I’m really ready to leave (and I’m really not sure…
read more »I couldn’t believe it when I read this article. In sum: a 5-year old (potentially with Asperger’s, but undiagnosed) was voted out of his classroom in Florida. What’s worse, the teacher sanctioned the vote! The teacher asked each student to say what they didn’t like about the boy, and then they took a vote. I’m…
read more »I’m so tired. Between finishing classwork, keeping up with my freshmen, and doing the pre-institute work, I’m just so worn out. It’s good to see that other people aren’t having an easy time with the “30-35 hours” worth of work, but at the same time so many of my friends are already graduated (and have…
read more »It’s official – in 4 weeks, I’ll be moving the 3,000 miles to Connecticut to try and teach high school. Which is weird, because when I graduated from high school 4 years ago I never envisioned going back. I created this blog to chronicle my teaching experience for the folks back home, and for my…
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