So it's been awhile...

I apologize for that. The end of the year has been super busy, and I still don't feel like I have enough time in the day.

However, there will be an end to my madness, I promise. Tomorrow is the last official day of the school year at Boston Arts Academy. I will have about two months off before I come back in August, and I'm really looking forward to rest. However, I am still in Tufts classes, and I will not be done until July 2nd. (That's really soon - eek!)

As I have been reflecting on my year here, I wrote down some thoughts in response to my original professional development goals from September. I will post those original PD goals below and my follow-up reflection in my next blog post.

Thank you for reading! I will have another blog up and running before the fall returns!

Goals that I wrote in September:

I think my goals have changed a lot since I applied to the program almost a year ago. I guess the primary goal that is still the same is that I want to develop a new way (or curriculum) of teaching math so that it is more grounded in concepts than in procedures and shortcuts. So many students seem to struggle with memorizing formulas instead of grappling with the underlying concepts and problem-solving skills that are essential to math.

Now that I am in the classroom, I think another important thing I want to learn is how to make the math classroom exciting in a way that is effective and not a waste of time but that also motivates students to come to school. We seem to be having an attendance problem in our Math 2 class, and the students are struggling with the concepts, yet tell us that it's boring. It seems there should be a way to make the content exciting and motivating for the students so they'll be able to better understand and apply math concepts.

Another goal I have is to learn better how to relate to students so we can have a mutual respect for each other. How can I get students to do what I want them to do without telling them what to do? I guess I have a lot of high expectations, but I'm so excited to learn that I can't help myself.