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| The coloring is a little scary... |
Another 2-hour delay. Classes are shorter and half of the kids don't come, both things combined make for a very enjoyable day. When I only have half the kids in my 4/5, that class goes SO much better. It doesn't even matter who the missing kids are. Just having fewer bodies in the room makes all the difference.
Class size matters.
All of my geometry kids were present, for about 6 minutes. Then everyone associated with the upcoming musical was excused for an all-day practice and I was down by half in there also. Luckily, I was able to give out the practice test before they bolted.
Pre-algebra today was rowdy, but productive. We were talking about ratios, rates and rate of change. I went back about 10 pages in the workbook and picked out several problems that I felt illustrated the concepts well.
We talked about sports have proportional scoring schemes (almost all except football and basketball) and why Dunkin Donuts will sell you one for $.59 but a dozen only costs $5.99. They stuck with me for almost the entire (shortened) period and I'm very grateful for that.
Period 8/9 didn't have the same attention, but quickly perked up when I started talking about Kennywood, museums and membership fees.
"Why would anyone pay so much just to be a member?"
"Let's explore that!"
There are days that are very good.
I THINK I've finished up the 5-7 day project that I'll be foisting on all of my classes.
They will be designing a park in groups of 3-4, creating a budget, a promotional campaign and presenting it to the rest of the class.
I will happily take suggestions on how to improve it.
I was thinking about what you said about not doing this alone, and how you have dived so whole-heartedly into communicating online. I found myself asking--should I do that? More realistically, the question I might ask is, "COULD I do that?" It is a question of either willingness or ability.
ReplyDeleteAnywhoo. Hooray for good days! Rock on, Justin!
I'll admit that even with all of the honesty I put on here, there are a few things I hold back, either because of how I think they will seem out of context, or because I don't like the way it makes me feel to admit.
DeleteI don't think that either the question of "could" or the question of "should" is more important. I think that anyone could and should, but that's my personal opinion. If nothing else, I think everyone SHOULD do it, at least privately. I go back and read some of the things that I wrote when I first started teaching and I have VERY mixed feelings about them, but I'm glad I wrote them.
Writing helps me to organize my thoughts. Unfortunately, as more people read this blog, I find myself becoming much more conscious about what I write, both in good and bad ways.