...I was manually checking that my students for this coming semester have met the course prerequisites. Because we choose not to automatically enforce the prerequisites (too many legitimate exceptions), this is a seriously tedious task that involves looking at each student’s entire grade history.

While doing so, I learned that a class I taught last fall, and was horribly unhappy with, was responsible for the lowest grade that quite a few of these students have ever had. And all of them have taken courses that are generally considered more challenging and far more work than my course.

The interesting thing is that when I taught the course again in the spring, I did a much better job, and the students did a lot better.

So did the students in the fall deserve to do measurably worse than the students in the spring? They definitely had a worse command of the material, which is what the grades measure, and which is the information that I care about when I’m checking prerequisites.

But on the other hand, a lot of people use grades as a shorthand for how responsible and intelligent a person is. Are these students less responsible and intelligent than the students I had in the spring?

I had wanted to think so, but this evidence says no.

I don’t think I did an objectively bad job in the fall. The student evaluations came back very positive (not that student evaluations are the ultimate arbiter…). I did my job. I just did it better in the spring.

Sometimes I wonder if teacher quality makes any difference at all. If it doesn’t, that’s depressing, and I should probably quit and go do something more lucrative. But if it does, then there’s this all-consuming guilt that I am not the very best teacher I can be, that I am not as good a teacher now as I will be next year, and that the students are harmed by this.

I guess I know which way the evidence points. 2 years ago

I’ve recently discovered edu-blogging as a way of continuously developing myself. It’s so exciting!! The network of math educators out there is amazing, and they share some really good stuff on a regular basis. It’s re-invigorating my love for teaching and planning. :) :)

Here’s my list of math-related posts, to be added to very soon: http://untilnextstop.blogspot.com/search/label/math%20stuff 2 years ago

Found two really awesome activity books today for Geometry visualization activities on the shelf at the Math & Science Resource Center. They will be PERFECT for my upcoming 3-D unit. I’m excited!! 3 years ago

1. I’m picking up a Precalculus section next year! I’m pretty excited, since it’ll be my first time teaching this course (and I’m wanting to work my way up and down the middle- and high- school curricula, obviously).

2. I will have an American planning partner next year! woohoo. Now, I’m going to keep my fingers crossed that he will be innovative, or at least willing to try things. 3 years ago

Lately, I’ve been feeling very lonely on a professional level, because my department consists of older teachers who are complacent in their teaching methods and not looking to innovate or grow significantly. I would really like to go to a professional conference, like the annual NCTM conference. But, with flight and hotel and conference fees included, it would be about $1500, and I know that the department isn’t going to pay for its youngest teacher to attend this conference. I’m sad, but it’s going to be something I will keep working towards. Maybe next year, having proven myself a bit more at the school, I can offer to split the costs of attending the conference with the school. 3 years ago

When I surveyed my kids at the end of last year, most of them had the same criticism: that they don’t do enough projects in my class. I had set out to change that this year, and thus far it has gone pretty well. Thus far into the first quarter, each class has had a major project and a major exam, and the projects have been fairly significant in content / rigor. I even did a socioeconomic project for my Algebra 2 Honors class, and the result was interesting. (Some kids did a brilliant job; others ignored my various feedback and aimed for the minimum, as might be expected in all situations.)

But, I’m also getting some pressure, both from myself and from the school, to hurry the pacing along. The projects have been great, but time-consuming, and therefore we’re a little bit slower in the pacing than we would ideally like to be. I have yet to find the right balance.

Our school also does periodical student reviews of teachers. We’re supposed to survey each class every quarter, and summarize the results for our supervisors. I’m curious to see what the students have to say about my teaching, although I’m clearly going to take it with a grain of salt. I am almost certain that most students will say that I give too much homework, even though I only give a moderate amount (albeit daily). I guess we’ll see! 3 years ago

so I am choosing improvement of my teaching as my mission.

The keynote speaker at our faculty convocation talked about “millennial students” and how to reach them. The speaker is a psychology professor who interviewed tons of students about their college experience. We got to see portions of the interviews. They don’t like too much lecture (who does?); they want to participate and work in groups; they like doing more than one thing in a single class period; they want some kind of credit or grade for everything they do; and they like teachers who can use technology.

All that is right up my alley and mirrors much of my own teaching technique, but I want to ramp it up.

Today was the second day of class. The first day was syllabus discussion, students introducing themselves, and so on.

Today, I started off with work on vocabulary. It was a participatory exercise, and took about 20 minutes. Then, I showed a 5-minute YouTube video on a conformity experiment. I asked them if they thought they would have conformed and invited comment. They spent 20 minutes reading an article on conformity and answering questions, which I told them I would not grade “right or wrong” but would put a checkmark in my gradebook to show that they had been in class and done the exercise. Enough checks can earn a dropped zero for a missed quiz or a dropped low grade on a quiz.

For fifteen minutes or so, we talked about the article and their answers to the questions. I told them we’d come back to the article on Thursday for a deeper analysis and a second set of questions.

Then I introduced a chapter in the main text, gave an assignment, and told them they could check Twitter for the assignment if they forgot.

No lecture? Check.
Participation? Check.
Group work? Not today.
Variety within the class period? Check.
Credit given for work done? Check.
Use of technology? Checkaroonie.

Good job today. Now, to keep this up for the rest of the semester. 3 years ago

1. Getting student feedback early and often
2. Finding a good way to break up the lecture in my larger class without wasting too much time
3. Explicitly addressing the habits and executive skills that students will need to succeed in my classes (time management, organization, persistence, etc.)
4. Grading promptly
5. Assigning projects that students can be proud of 3 years ago