Recognition

A colleague recently told me that he wanted the administration to  recognize him, to notice he is a good teacher and finally show him some appreciation.  I told him to give it up, that would never happen.  Admins only seem to notice teachers when they do something wrong.  A student of his heard part of the conversation and shouted, "Mr. Hope, you are the best.  We love you."  A group of kids from the class joined in.  Mr. Hope has been recognized.  One day he might realize this kind is the only kind that matters.

This week I was fortunate to be at the senior award ceremony and I watched my kids, one after one, receive award after award.  It was wonderful.  Before leaving, a former student, a boy accepted at Cornell, Columbia, Yale, U Penn and Princeton (he's going to Princeton) told me I was an inspiring teacher, one of the few that got him to where he is today. 

This week, I got my award and my recognition.  I got it from someone who matters.

E-Mail From A Student

I've been getting on one of the girls in one of my classes because her grades have gone done the tubes since she hooked up with one of the boys in the class. I just got this e-mail from her.

Dear ms POd,
It's K (math x pd y). I just wanted to tell you more about what we talked about in class today. I have been doing bad in math ( and honestly, in most of my classes) because I've constantly been getting sick since december ( because even during finals week I did bad in almost all my finals). It has honestly nothing to do with M because even before he and I had been friends, I was still decreasing in my grades in most classes. I've been going to the doctor so much that I'm honestly getting tired of it. I had so many tests done and they still didn't know what was wrong with me. I had to have an MRI ( they found a cyst in my brain.. from birth, but it's not serious), EKG, Sonogram of the heart ( chest cold), 2 blood tests in one month ( and I have to go to repeat it again tomorrow after school because the doctor called and wanted it repeated.) I have to miss my morning classes some time next week because they want me to go to a hemotologist ( which is only open during morning hours). So, from the various tests mentioned above the doctors found from the blood test that I have thalassemia( form of anemia, mostly for people of meditterenian blood) and EBV which is a virus that has to go away with time and I cant really take any medicine. So, with these two things combined it makes me feel very tired... my left side of my body ( arm and leg) feel heavy and numb ( not enough oxygen gets to my tissues). Also, I have sharp pains throughout the day in my lower back and sides of my stomache because my liver and splien are inflamed. Along with everything comes the normal symptoms of extreme dizzines, and constant discomfort.So, this has been going on for a while, its not so fun, and I try to hide it mostly during the day but sometimes its hard. Most people who have the virus I have, stay home for at least 1-4 months. I obviously have been going to school,but there are those occasional days were it gets too bad and I have to go home ( like last friday). Well, thats basically one part of my current life story, and I hope now you realize why I've been doing bad in class ( not only yours). Its really hard, especially since math is one of my last classes, to feel well enough to grasp the entire point of the lesson, which is why I'm attending tutoring now with ms R tuesdays and thursdays pd3.

We never know what kids are going through outside of school. This girl is always smiling, always beautiful and somewhat inattentive. I'm glad I have done nothing more than talk to her about her behavior. I hope she is back to herself again soon.

Top Ten Math Pick-Up Lines

I tell my students, beauty fades, math is forever.

You can tell they believe me, this was sent by the same student that sent me yesterday's essay.

10. You fascinate me more than the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus.
9. Since distance equals velocity times time, let's let velocity or time approach infinity, because I want to go all the way with you.
8. My love for you is like a concave up function because it is always increasing.
7. Let's convert our potential energy to kinetic energy.
6. Wanna come back to my room....and see my 733mhz Pentium?
5. You and I would add up better than a Riemann sum.
4. Your body has the nicest arc length I've ever seen.
3. I wish I was your derivative because then I would be tangent to your curves.
2. I hope you know set theory because I want to intersect you and union you.
1. Would you like to see my log?