The end is near. The last day of school is almost here. I've gotten in the habit of reflecting on what has gone on during the year, so let's start with math.
Math
I've been teaching math for nine years now. The first year I taught math was with this year's senior class, and I stunk. Seriously. I am happy to say I've gotten to be a much better math teacher, and I enjoy teaching the subject. This year's sixth graders have been a pretty good bunch of kids. I also had four seventh graders, who had all been retained, so they should have been eighth graders, all at least two years behind in math. They have shown, with the notable exception of one kid, remarkable progress - I think their brains were ready for math this time around. All of those kids (except L) have been very hard workers, wanting to get it right, and also wanting to please. The sixth graders were on target, and there were at least three kids who have above-and-beyond abilities. Their grades, however, weren't always the highest, because they didn't have to work so hard, and they didn't. What's gone well is the kids understanding of the basics, as well as my ability to explain things, demonstrate procedures, as well as keeping up with the paperwork so grades were current. What I wish I had done better was straying away from the book more, using more real-life scenarios where the kids used the math, and differentiating more for some of the students on either end of the middle. I think I was lazy, because I just used the book, and I could have done better for the class. I also felt the need to teach to the MSP, and that made me a sellout. I am not teaching math next year, and I have mixed feelings about it. I was just getting good at it, had a good understanding of the curriculum, with three years of the same book under my belt, and I will miss the closeness with a class that is developed as you work with kids on a daily basis. What won't I miss? The prep, the amount of paperwork that comes from a class such as math, and feeling the pressure to teach to a test. I may miss not having a real tie to the middle school group next year.
Sociology
I loved teaching this class! I had twelve students, mostly juniors and seniors, with one sophomore thrown in for comic relief. No curriculum, except guidance from Sociology for Dummies and material I found on the Internet from the news and various blogs I follow The class had an interesting flow, and as I told my students, I may have the license, but you guys are driving the bus. This class really went with their interests, and because Sociology is so wide open, they were very ready for new ideas. Several kids said they learned something new every day - that is the power of communication and a willingness to dig a little deeper! What I mostly loved was the honesty in their posts, and I felt as though I had been let into their lives in a big way. Trust had been established early in the year; four of the students had been in my class when I taught fourth grade; one student is one of my advisory kids; three kids had been in either Writing Research or Modern Geography. The others had been library kids. No one came in at the semester, so we didn't have to start from scratch. The things they wrote about and openly shared made tears come to my eyes more than once. What went well? The discussions were interesting, students learned it was okay to show some passion about a topic, different viewpoints were both tolerated and embraced, and the "privilege" of having two days a week designated as tea days was appreciated. The best projects were the 6-Word Memoir/6-Image Memoir using Pinterest, and the cultural food project. They knew I expected them to function fairly independently, and communication and collaboration were the keys. Improvements? Less time between projects, more emphasis on the content, Psychology next year, and faster response time to students on Forum and Journal assignments. I will also use more Fishbowl discussions. I don't know about tea next year; it will definitely depend on the class makeup. Right now, I'm thinking not. I also wonder if students next year will post on my Moodle page while they are in other classes. Time stamps are handy, and I've often wondered aloud if their other teachers know what they are doing. All I get is shrugs and sly smiles, so I'm guessing the answer is no...
Middle School Support aka Title I
This has been my least successful class. I have never pretended to be good at remediation, and honestly, I've never really liked it that much. It had been a pull-out, but for the past two years has been a class. I believe the Greek and Latin root lessons were good, mostly because it increases vocabulary, and it gives kids background in words so they may be able to figure out unknown words if they know what a root means. My MSS classes always got to read, with no test in sight, just plain old read-for-pleasure. That's the librarian in me coming out, because it always bugged me when kids would come up with a book they wanted to read, but if it wasn't in their AR Zone, the book would go back. Yes, I get that kids develop as readers when they read in their zone of proximal development (did I get that right?), but as a librarian, I hate the idea that kids will put away a book they want to read, and might struggle with. We did Reader's Theater from a Scholastic publication I subscribed to, and while that was great, I wish I had not switched magazines to the easier version - just not enough meat for the kids. Anyway...I've had two different groups this year; seventh and eighth graders first semester, and sixth graders second semester. Ying and yang! I've done a better job with the second semester group, but their chattering drives me nuts at the end of the day. Will I be doing this next year? I'm not sure.
Library
Two periods a day. What more can I say?
That's been my year. and the end is in sight!
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