The End is Near

Phew... what a semester! I'm entering my final week of student teaching! And the job search begins...
My time at Father Marquette Middle School has been fantastic. I feel like I have learned so much. My favorite part is that I've really gotten to know my students. Somewhere in between the math and science lessons, the grading and the planning, I became a part of these kids' lives and they became a part of mine.
I know for sure that I have chosen the right profession and I can't wait to see where the next leg of my journey takes me.

Student Teaching

Finals are finished, grades are in, and Christmas is nearly here!! Christmas came early for me. I've been able to observe for a few hours today and yesterday at Father Marquette Middle School which is where I will be student teaching this upcoming winter semester!
I can honestly say that I've never been in a more welcoming and respectful school. I had more smiles, greetings, and doors held open for me over the past two days than I can ever remember before. I'm so excited to get to teach these exceptional young people!!

My First Class Alone

Yesterday morning I taught at Marquette Senior High School. I developed my own lesson plan and used the text for supplemental materials. I got the students thinking as soon as my introduction was over. The students were asked to look at the 5 graphs on the overhead and determine which ones they thought were linear functions.
We started off by discussing the definition of a function -- the graphed equation passes the vertical line test. Next, we had to tackle the linear part of it. I wrote the word on the board which helped the visual learners to see the word "line" within linear. We did a few examples of T charts and I had the students help me find the y values by plugging in various values for x.
The students were put in groups and worked on some problems. I left some of the important concepts on the board for the students to refer to. They helped one another and I circulated the room to provide additional support.
With 15 minutes remaining, I pulled the class together again to do a few of the problems that a majority of the students struggled through. Some of the classes had enough time to get started on their homework assignment while others did not.
I found myself tweaking my lesson with each new class - I taught 3 periods of Algebra One. If I were to do it over again, I'd do a story problem on the board with the class. My observing teacher had some great suggestions to check for student understanding. My favorite one was: Draw a line that is not a function. Answer: Vertical line. Why? It doesn't pass the vertical line test!
My first class was a great experience!

Observations

In my observations at Gwinn Middle School, I've seen students excited about learning! A science class has been acting as Consumer Analysts. They have been chewing bubble gum, making observations, and rating different brands of gum. To avoid bias, the instructor has unwrapped the different brands of gum and placed them into baggies lettered A thru D. I was lucky enough to get the week-long lesson plan for this unit :) It's been a very effective way to get the kids excited and involved in their own learning. They look forward to Science class :)

NCTM Conference

I'm so excited! This time next week I will be in Minnesota for the National Council of the Teachers of Mathematics conference. I look forward to meeting colleagues and gaining new ideas. I can't wait to go shopping for my future classroom!! Hopefully I can get some lesson plans written on the ride to Minneapolis.

Overwhelmed

I feel totally overwhelmed. For one of my classes, I have turned in several assignments without feedback and it's the 7th week. Plus, I have three projects that are outstanding for this same class. I feel like I am floating around and have no idea what the end product is supposed to be.
**Note to self: When teaching, give assignments that have meaning, describe the meaning, have concrete expectations, and GIVE FEEDBACK. Let's finish something before we start something else..... or in this case... 3 somethings.

Week 6

So it's 3pm on Tuesday and I'm finally eating breakfast. I've been on campus for 4 hours. On the upside, the semester is flying by. I'm getting really excited for the NCTM Conference in MN. It's in November and I'm so ready to gather materials and ideas from the teachers at this conference! I've been investigating some really exciting math problems dealing with license plates.

Question: If a license plate has exactly 2 letters and 3 numbers and letters and digits can be repeated (ie XX222), how many combinations are possible?!

Stay tuned!