Last Tuesday, my kids and I struggled together to conquer dimensional analysis. It was tough for all of us. My students were confused and frustrated, but they didn't give up. They kept asking the right questions and finding my (embarrassingly multiple) errors. My lesson plan was a flop, the method I had planned was a failure, and my kids didn't learn a thing that day.
I tried not to give up myself, and we went back over the objective on Wednesday. We spent over 30 minutes relearning what I failed to teach them the first time. I felt better about this admittedly difficult-to-teach objective by the end of the hour but still not sure if we were where we needed to be.
At the end of class, I gave them all teacher evaluation surveys. This is what they wrote:
"I always believe that I can and will achieve the goal for this class because Miss Cox is trying her best to teach me everything and in a short time and she's smart."
"I know my teacher cares about me because she have shown me and help me in class."
"She teach very good, always teaching happy."
"It's an AWSOME class!!!!!!!"
(This student whispered to his girlfriend, who is also in my class, to help him spell "awesome." Almost!)
I read and reread what my students wrote about me for over 10 minutes, smiling and laughing, maybe crying a little bit. Okay, yeah, crying. My students not only didn't give up on the content, but they didn't give up on me either.
Their trust in me has driven me to keep going. My students are the reason I teach. Even if I only have 6 of them (on most days).
Thank you to everyone for your kindness and support over the last week. I haven't felt alone for a second, and I don't think I'd be so positive right now without you. To my B'more family, my CMA group, and my family back in Kansas/Missouri... thank you. I love you.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Beginnings
Day 1.
My class has four students in it. They each bring their own stories to the class, but I think that they all have one thing in common: they hate chemistry. They hate the idea of it; they hate that they have to come to school in the summer to learn it; they hate that they are being force fed a year's worth of content in 18 days.
But they're here, all four of them, and that's a start.
Day 2.
Steven didn't come today. Yesterday he was loud and rambunctious. He was on his phone and he was disengaged, but he was there. After class I read his info survey.
"Three things people don't know about me: I fight but I hate it, I'm sweet, and I actually do care about school."
The other three students are wonderful. They're attentive, they're smart, they respond, and they ask questions when they're confused. I just hope that we have four students again tomorrow.
Day 3.
Making ice cream in class today!
All three of my students passed our objective with 100% mastery yesterday. They LEARNED. Today, we gained three more kids, and Steven is here! My collaborative partner (we both teach the same students, just at different times) called Steven last night. When he walked around the hallway corner toward my classroom this morning, he shook his head and smiled.
"Miss, y'all gone call my phone every time that y'all miss me?"
Steven is back.
Side note: I PASSED MY BIOLOGY PRAXIS. A standardized test says that I am qualified to teach the subject! HOLLA.
My class has four students in it. They each bring their own stories to the class, but I think that they all have one thing in common: they hate chemistry. They hate the idea of it; they hate that they have to come to school in the summer to learn it; they hate that they are being force fed a year's worth of content in 18 days.
But they're here, all four of them, and that's a start.
Day 2.
Steven didn't come today. Yesterday he was loud and rambunctious. He was on his phone and he was disengaged, but he was there. After class I read his info survey.
"Three things people don't know about me: I fight but I hate it, I'm sweet, and I actually do care about school."
The other three students are wonderful. They're attentive, they're smart, they respond, and they ask questions when they're confused. I just hope that we have four students again tomorrow.
Day 3.
Making ice cream in class today!
All three of my students passed our objective with 100% mastery yesterday. They LEARNED. Today, we gained three more kids, and Steven is here! My collaborative partner (we both teach the same students, just at different times) called Steven last night. When he walked around the hallway corner toward my classroom this morning, he shook his head and smiled.
"Miss, y'all gone call my phone every time that y'all miss me?"
Steven is back.
Side note: I PASSED MY BIOLOGY PRAXIS. A standardized test says that I am qualified to teach the subject! HOLLA.
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