Blackboard Notes

 This was supposed to be my last post at the end of May,  but I got myself looped into teaching summer school at HLO for those needing Math recovery credits.  So I am a "little" late. I have just completed my first year back at HLO during "COVID season." --Whew.  With a week break, I stepped right into shaving cream. With as much satire that Mark Twain and Doug Johnson would enjoy, I set myself up to grade strictly on progress,  rather than accomplishment.  Using ALEKS, and a combination of reminders/peering over their shoulder when I see a Stop sign alert, I try getting them into a conversation about the "lame" rules they have to follow in order to complete the problem or task. This has reinforced what I have felt about for years; the students who are uninspired by traditional math tactics now have my undivided attention, and can speak at length why these "lame" rules work.  ALSO, I find that the atypical student who (I won't say is a failur

 While this may ring up visions of Guardians of the Galaxy and/or Marvel Comics,  this actually relates to teachers as they have been meticulously creative collecting whatever content they can muster to make sound lessons for their students.  One of the things I have thought back to, was when Numb3rs was popular on CBS.  So I did a little digging.  I found a few links like http://mathstrategies.wordpress.com/numb3rs-activities  and http://pi.math.cortnell.edu/~numb3rs/lipa/Episodes .  It helped me reminisce why students are attracted to these dramas more than they are ACTUAL MATH CLASS!   With the group that I have this year who appears to have NO academic interest in math, let me make a similar suggestion from a mistake I already went through; Don't show them Flatland: A tale of many dimensions.  I should have done a a Lexile score before presenting it.  It failed the first week. Miserably.  The old English used, (keep in mind this was 1884 during the Victorian Era), was just too

 Some of the business trainings I listen to, (Fairchild & Associates), my mentor, Rick, talks about that you don’t have to be perfect in your profession, but you need to have purpose. That really resounds a definite “ding” for math teachers during COVID-19. I have seen during my PD (online of course), good teachers that struggle because of the new forced measures, as well as mediocre teachers levying busy work and other measures to keep students “learning.” I acknowledge not being a really good teacher, at least with how I ranked, as well as not understanding what teaching really was in my first ten years as an educator and a tutor. The good teachers I emulate go after good relationships, they seek the best endpoints, not the standards, they feel the students can attain (especially during pandemic). They contact and nudge (dare I say inspire) those students not engaging, and at the same time fuel the fire that heats the students’ achieve machine. I have noticed however, a growing t