It's over. :-)
I have had a lot of things happen in the last couple of weeks that were blog-worthy, but every time I decided I had time to do a little writing, my roommate would shut off the light and go to sleep on me. Of course, I can see my computer screen in the dark, but I couldn't deal with the nagging guilty feeling that I should be sleeping too. So I would just shut down and go to bed.
So this will be a fairly retrospective entry.
The last couple of days that I had students, they started driving me a little mental. As much as I love the little...buggers. They just wouldn't shut up. I am not allowed to use my students' names online and I feel really awkward using pseudonyms for them at this point. So suffice it to say that two particular students, who were reported to have been seen "chillin" in a car outside the school at 7:45, would enter at 8:10 (late) and the chaos would begin. In my strictest voice I would tell them to stop wasting our time and to silently take their seats - and then every effort of mine to engage them in the lesson would result in giggles, "miss why you gotta bug me like that?", and the rest of the class dissolving into laughter.
The transcript would proceed as follows (note Ms. Miller losing control over her sarcasm):
Me: Wayne, what is the discriminant?
Wayne, laughing: Miss, I don't know.
Me: Wayne, what is the discriminant?
Wayne, laughing: Miss, I said I don't know.
Me: Can you read?
Wayne: Yeah, I can read! What you talkin about...
Me: Then read the board, it's written right there. (The class laughs). Wayne, what is the discriminant?
Wayne: I don't know.
Me: Read it. I'm not going to leave you alone.
Wayne: Oh the discriminant?
Me: Yes.
Wayne: Oh well that's b2 - 4ac.
Me: Yes! He can read!
A weak teaching moment for me, I realize, but once I asked him the question I couldn't let him go until he answered it. Sets a bad tone for the other students to do that. Anyway, the excessive amount of rudeness starting getting to me, but we got through the objectives and I just made them do stations so I wouldn't have to talk to them anymore. Of course, during stations, I had to gently restrain Wayne from fighting with 4 different people (one who insisted on saying "Wayne, I'm pregnant" every time he looked at her). By that point, I was starting to find their chaotic energy sort of amusing. Oh, the end of school...
All but one of our students passed the class, and on the last day we had a nice chat about what they want to do after high school. Two of our girls want to study forensic science in college, one with a double major in early childhood education. One of our boys wants to be a music major (he's a jazz musician). One of our boys is joining the plumber's union and one aims to be a Septa bus driver (he says he's got it all figured out - they make $20 an hour). None of them want to be a math teacher!
I have other things to write about...my final thoughts on Institute, my visit to Ithaca, my next two weeks, my plan for the year. How much I hope that I get to teach Algebra II. MLK and all my new colleagues. My CMA group. But right now I need to get some lunch and start organizing all of the emails that have been piling up for five weeks.
It's so nice to be home. :-)
I have had a lot of things happen in the last couple of weeks that were blog-worthy, but every time I decided I had time to do a little writing, my roommate would shut off the light and go to sleep on me. Of course, I can see my computer screen in the dark, but I couldn't deal with the nagging guilty feeling that I should be sleeping too. So I would just shut down and go to bed.
So this will be a fairly retrospective entry.
The last couple of days that I had students, they started driving me a little mental. As much as I love the little...buggers. They just wouldn't shut up. I am not allowed to use my students' names online and I feel really awkward using pseudonyms for them at this point. So suffice it to say that two particular students, who were reported to have been seen "chillin" in a car outside the school at 7:45, would enter at 8:10 (late) and the chaos would begin. In my strictest voice I would tell them to stop wasting our time and to silently take their seats - and then every effort of mine to engage them in the lesson would result in giggles, "miss why you gotta bug me like that?", and the rest of the class dissolving into laughter.
The transcript would proceed as follows (note Ms. Miller losing control over her sarcasm):
Me: Wayne, what is the discriminant?
Wayne, laughing: Miss, I don't know.
Me: Wayne, what is the discriminant?
Wayne, laughing: Miss, I said I don't know.
Me: Can you read?
Wayne: Yeah, I can read! What you talkin about...
Me: Then read the board, it's written right there. (The class laughs). Wayne, what is the discriminant?
Wayne: I don't know.
Me: Read it. I'm not going to leave you alone.
Wayne: Oh the discriminant?
Me: Yes.
Wayne: Oh well that's b2 - 4ac.
Me: Yes! He can read!
A weak teaching moment for me, I realize, but once I asked him the question I couldn't let him go until he answered it. Sets a bad tone for the other students to do that. Anyway, the excessive amount of rudeness starting getting to me, but we got through the objectives and I just made them do stations so I wouldn't have to talk to them anymore. Of course, during stations, I had to gently restrain Wayne from fighting with 4 different people (one who insisted on saying "Wayne, I'm pregnant" every time he looked at her). By that point, I was starting to find their chaotic energy sort of amusing. Oh, the end of school...
All but one of our students passed the class, and on the last day we had a nice chat about what they want to do after high school. Two of our girls want to study forensic science in college, one with a double major in early childhood education. One of our boys wants to be a music major (he's a jazz musician). One of our boys is joining the plumber's union and one aims to be a Septa bus driver (he says he's got it all figured out - they make $20 an hour). None of them want to be a math teacher!
I have other things to write about...my final thoughts on Institute, my visit to Ithaca, my next two weeks, my plan for the year. How much I hope that I get to teach Algebra II. MLK and all my new colleagues. My CMA group. But right now I need to get some lunch and start organizing all of the emails that have been piling up for five weeks.
It's so nice to be home. :-)
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