Snow Day! ... Not

So that was an interesting week. The city called a snow day for Wednesday the night before, but alas, there was less than an inch of snow by the end of the day. While I suppose I enjoyed my day off, watching romantic comedies, it also threw off our entire schedule for our math projects. Because we had no school Friday (for community day), and then we went on break! Unfortunately, this means that my students' project presentations are pushed to tomorrow. (So let's hope they did their work over break!)

We are doing a Movie Pitch Project to tie together what they've learned about exponential functions. It's an interesting project where they have to come up with their own idea for a movie, and then research other similar movies (either by genre or lead actor or whatever) in order to make a prediction for how their movie will do at the box office. It's really a clever idea. However, I feel that there is a fine line between scaffolding and supporting your students so that they understand what they're learning and spoon-feeding them answers. And through doing this project, I am starting to feel that the students didn't do a ton of their own critical thinking and problem-solving. We pretty much tell them exact where to find the information, how to calculate averages, and then how to create their own exponential function to describe the income of their movie. So it felt like the students didn't always really know why they were doing the calculations they were doing. I'm not sure they understand how they came up with their own function. Maybe the presentations tomorrow will help them tie it all together, but I do feel frustrated ending this unit not feeling like the students fully grasp exponential functions.

I am also worried that as we start linear functions this week, I'll end up doing the same thing. I feel like all this Math 3 course is about is skills. And sure, if the students memorize these skills and procedures, then they'll ace the MCAS, but I'm not really sure what they'll have learned. I need to figure out a way to pull it away from skill-building a little, or at least I need to find a way to incorporate the thinking back into it. I want more students to ask "Why?" And I guess that means I need to be asking the same question.

I Met Deborah Meier!!!

The Tufts Democrats organized a great discussion on public education policy and reform at their Issues of the Future Symposium this past weekend. Deborah Meier was their keynote speaker, and I was just so happy to meet her! She was amazing. She kept saying she was going to be discouraging, and I understood what she meant because she had a lot of negative things to say about the Race to the Top Fund and just our general miserable state of education reform in this country. But it was nothing new to me, so she was frankly very inspiring and hopeful to me! She was such a dynamic speaker and such a great storyteller. I could have listened to her speak all day long. I definitely need to read more literature by her. I was a little starstruck when I introduced myself to her afterward. I stuttered a lot, but I just wanted her to know how much everything she had said resonated with me. I only hope I can do her justice and really live up to all the math education reform I want to see change. When I was done, she gave me a big hug and encouraged me to keep going. I was in awe. The whole weekend gave me so much more to think about in regard to education policy. I mean, I am now totally convinced how much standardized tests are phony. I dislike Obama and his administration more than I ever did before - haha. And I am re-inspired to change the world! Don't worry - I'm sure I'll come down from this high soon, but let me enjoy it while it lasts!

SAT Prep Fail

Friday was a very sad day for me. I worked with a small group of students on SAT prep for five hours. Most of them are reading at the sixth grade level so it was nearly impossible for them to read these college level passages. Most of them were tired and exhausted by the third hour, so it was a major struggle to even keep them awake by the end. Most other juniors were taking a full-length practice test, but we took these students aside to simply talk them through the test and introduce some basic test-taking strategies in hopes that would help them not freak out. While I believe a lot of the work we did was good, I'm not sure the students felt any better when they left. In fact, most of them were frustrated, discouraged, and frankly quite angry. We only did one writing section and one reading section, and that was enough to make them go a little crazy. We kept reminding them that they would have to sit in their seats for five hours without talking when they took the real test, but that was really appalling for most of them. They also didn't understand that we couldn't help them spell words, and we couldn't answer any of their questions. We kept saying, "When you take the real test, you won't be taking it at school, and you'll have some proctor that you won't know. You won't be able to ask them questions, and most of them will be very strict about when you can leave to use the restroom and whatnot." It was quite a stretch for most students, and I just kept wondering what this was all for. I mean, how much does the SAT really tell you? Why haven't colleges yet figured out how misinformed the test is? Why must they put my students through this torture?!? After talking to another teacher who has done a lot of research on the SAT for students in urban schools, she informed me that SAT scores from urban schools are much lower than their suburban counterparts. It's just so frustrating and depressing to know that my bright, intelligent students aren't being recognized for their hard work and critical thinking skills. That's not what the SAT tests! And it's even more depressing to see the direct correlation between family income level and SAT scores. It makes it impossible for my students or students at any urban school to do well! Why doesn't ETS care about social justice?!? Grrr!

Never a Dull Moment

One of the ways I describe teaching to people when they ask is with this catchy phrase, "There's never a dull moment." It's so true! There are ups and there are downs, but it never gets boring - that's for sure. This week was no different. I generally felt that my Monday and Wednesday classes went pretty well, but my Tuesday and my Thursday classes went poorly. I'm struggling with teaching to every student's skill level. I keep wanting to move slowly so that everyone understands, but 95% of the class is then bored! I don't want to be a boring teacher, but I'm having trouble justifying moving on when I know everyone doesn't understand the concept yet. I need to find ways to challenge some students with independent work while I work with other students individually. My mentor suggested I make a list of students I'm worried about and brainstorm ways to help them out. I also need to go through students' IEPs again to make sure I'm giving them what they need. I think one of the best solutions for this class is for me to spend less time at the board. Give as little whole group instruction as possible, then break up into small groups or individual work so I can help different groups of students. Another suggestion my mentor made was to put times up for each section of my agenda. She thinks I do a very good job at making sure I answer every student's question but that I need to set limits so the class can move on as a whole. So once thirty minutes are up for homework questions, I say, "I'll take one more question, and then we need to move on." We'll see how that works. Thoughts?