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a dancer's adventure in teaching math
Don’t yell Don’t talk too much Be FUN! Don’t chew gum Be prepared Wear the dress code with us Don’t use your cell phone during class Don’t use your computer (unless it’s an emergency) Be organized Treat us fair Let us sit wherever we want Don’t touch us without asking Don’t lie Be creative If…
read more »Today I spent five hours straight talking to TFA corps members. Five. straight. hours. Add two more hours over the past two days and you have seven hours talking to over 40 2011 CMs. Whew! To give you some background, I need to back up a bit. I joined the School Leadership Team at my…
read more »My first year had been ending on a very negative note–crazy students, absent administration, low investment on my part and that of the students. And yet this week, I had 15 students in my room during their lunch period re-taking their test. I was beaming with pride! My students took their end of year assessment…
read more »My students took their final district benchmark test today. I graded the constructed responses as they worked. I had two favorite two responses to “What type of function is this?”, to which the answer should have been quadratic. The first was “expanction” and the second was “irrelevant” (backed up by “because there is no pattern”).…
read more »I think my lack of updates over these past few months (read: entire school year) shows you how crazy my life is. However, I don’t want to start with the craziness. I want to start with what I love: my dance class. In October, I started teaching an after-school dance class twice a week open…
read more »In the crazy, hotel-living homelessness that was the transition from Institute to Colorado I failed to update as consistently as I wanted. Now that I’m through with Institute and Round Zero, I’ve begun training with my school. It’s is a turnaround school with a transformation grant and part of that is a week-long school retreat.…
read more »As with all of Institute, Week Four had both ups and downs. However, when you add it all up I think it comes out positive. Last week I began teaching math, which is my fall placement. I’ve doubted my ability to teach this subject since I saw the acceptance email back in November but now…
read more »I’m more than halfway finished with Institute, and I feel like I’ve been here for months and yet not long enough. It’s hard to believe that I’ll be back in Colorado in less than two weeks, supposedly prepared to run my own classroom. I easily fluctuate between feeling like I have no clue what I’m…
read more »I love making lists, so here is my summary of week one in Phoenix. Awesome Things About Institute: 1. Each region has its own common room in the dorm. It’s just like Hogwarts! 2. TFA tends to play loud (and awesome) music in the mornings as we pack our lunches at 6:20AM. 3. Every single…
read more »Much to my relief, I was offered a position this week! It’s a middle school in Denver, and I couldn’t be happier. The interview lasted about 15 minutes, but I knew right off the bat that my personality meshed well with the administration. Phone call Friday, interview Tuesday morning, and that same afternoon I was…
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