I Feel Good

Micky comes to school because it is a condition of his probation. He is not interested in math or in anything school has to offer, only that attending keeps him free.

Since motivation is my strongest asset, I decided to give Mickey a try. While the class was taking an exam last week, I noticed Mickey folding his into an airplane. Instead of yelling at him, I sat next to him, put the pen in his hand and told him I believed the pen would work better. I got no response. I then asked him about some of his piercings. He has quite a few of them, one on his eyebrow. I asked him if brain matter seeped out when they made the hole. He laughed, the class laughed and told me I had some lame jokes. But, he started working on the exam. Now, I am not getting too excited. He only answered 4 questions, but all four were correct. I stood over him as he worked and praised every correct answer and even did my little happy dance once. It wasn't a lot, but it was a start. He was absent yesterday (visit to his probation officer) but he came in today and he did about 20 minutes worth of work. Still, not good, but we are getting there. I also no longer have to ask him to remove his hat and he has stopped asking for the bathroom pass.

The odds are against Mickey making it in this class (or in any class.) Mr. AP would call me failure because regents grades are all that matter to him. But, getting Mickey to do this little bit of work felt good to me and I know Mickey felt good doing it. My little success can't be measured by a test score but if I helped one more child become a little less hostile and a little more open to education, I did my part and I feel good about what I did.

He Wasn't A Great Student Either

This bill board is in the Times Square area.

Its message is so true.

So many of my students were wash outs in high school and have gone on to be successful adults, contributing much to society. We have to learn to encourage, not judge our students.

Making Math Relevant

It is hard to make some of the stuff we teach relevant to real life. For most topics, it is a real stretch, but I do my best every day. Here are a few examples:

The Value Meal At McDonalds: The whole idea of a value meal is that you are getting lots of food for your dollar. It is the same with a math problem that includes quite a few different topics. I always call those kind of problems my Value Meal Problems and tell the class if it wasn't for math, McDonalds would not have this product to sell.

Matching Outfits: The whole concept of clothes matching is mathematical. We can only combine like terms and do so by matching up the variables. Where would fashion be today without math?

The song--Make New Friends But Keep the Old, One is Silver and the Other Gold: We learn new concepts all the time but use our old concepts with them. There would be no friendships and music without mathematics.

Emerils's --Kick It Up a Notch--comes from making math problems slightly more challenging each step of the way. Where would he be without his trademark and could he have even thought of it without math?

The Lion King's Circle of Life: This one is too obvious. We all know about the circle of mathematics and how everything goes back to the beginning. This great hit could not have come to pass without mathematics.

The movie--My Big Fat Greek Wedding: The father kept saying everything came from Greece. We know that is not true--he was just stealing that line because everything comes from math.


The Red Carpet: We just rolled it out tonight as I introduced imaginary numbers to my night class. Nothing can be better than celebrating a brand new number.

OK, so maybe I am stretching just a little, but there is no way I can find to make a triangle congruence proof or i to the 1001 power relevant to the real life of my students. I'm not that good. I don't know anyone that is.

See You Guys In A Week...

The hawk was back so I took out my camera in hopes of getting another picture. I guess it was good that it was not around. The kids always go nuts when they watch this guy devouring a squirrel.

While the camera was out, I asked if I could take a picture of T. If he only put the same effort into math that he puts into coordinating his clothing he would not be stressing over whether he is passing this class or not.
These two had to get into the action and get a picture taken. I managed to use photoshop to crop out the faces. Too bad I can't show them. The boys eyes twinkle. The boy is really trying to pass this class (too bad he started trying so late in the term) and the girl is a pain in the you know where. The kids were working on a practice sheet for our "Last Chance Harvey" exam. (One last test to try to pass the semester--they seem to relate to movies better than they relate to math.) And, surprisingly enough, it worked!

Revenge Is Sweet

The kids took the second half of the geometry midterm yesterday. They felt confident and did surprisingly well. In class today, all I heard was,"Ms, did you mark the exams?" When I replied "Yes" I got the follow up question "Can you tell me what I got?"

I kept my cool and replied, "NO!!!!! You guys tortured me all term and now I get my revenge. You have to wait until Monday to find out your score." They begged and pleaded. They needed the grade to get out of punishments. I did not budge. They said, "Why are you making us suffer?" I just said "Revenge is sweet."

I gave them a practice sheet for our "Second Chance Harvey" exam on Monday. They actually worked hard on it. The sick part of me is looking forward to preparing them for the regents in June. It should be a wild and interesting ride.

They Are Failing Because....

Today, in my geometry class, which is comprised primarily of eleventh graders, I spent ten minutes explaining why 2 times one half was one and not four. They understood the concept of half of $2 being $1 but the actual multiplication was lost on quite a few of them.

No wonder these kids can't pass geometry.

Under Appreciated and Often Abused

Under appreciated, often abused and classless but ATR's are performing a valuable service for our schools.

Before I begin, I want to state that I am not an ATR, I am in no danger of becoming an ATR and no one in my family is an ATR.

I have many friends that are ATRs and I know that they are not happy. They yearn to get back to teaching, to do the job they were trained to do. They yearn to do the job they love.

Here is the story of a few ATRs I know.

Ms. ATR subs every day in the same building and has gotten to know many students. Because she is not grading them, she is getting to know them on a personal level, adding the human touch, a big thing missing at a school as large as Packemin High.

Ms. ATR told me about Irv, a boy in one of my classes who either has cut or been a pain in the ass. She told me how bright he was, and that he was really not a bad kid. Her words helped bring Irv back to my class and helped me open my eyes to his true potential. I'm finding that I like this boy and that is all do to Ms. ATR.

Miri was in a class Ms. ATR was covering one day this week. Miri was crying. She is having severe health issues and doesn't know what to do. There was some mention of doctor troubles, insurance troubles and gym teacher troubles. Ms. ATR's intervention led to a conference with Miri's guidance counselor and the school social worker. Without Ms. ATR, Miri's problems might never have been noticed.

Ms. Mentor ATR is doing a great service as well. She is teaching two classes in her license and two out of license. She is knocking herself out doing this. She is being creative, she is doing projects and she is calling homes and giving quizzes and everything necessary to get the kids in her classes to work and pass. Ms. Mentor ATR is going above and beyond the expectations of someone in her position.

Mr. ATR is serving a good purpose. I watch him walk down the halls and get hi-5's from the kids he meets. I'm not talking about honor students here, I am talking about troubled kids. Mr. ATR is reaching them, not in the classroom, but everywhere else.

So, to all you ATRs out there, I know not having your own class sucks big time. You are being treated by crap by the union, the DOE and the schools you are working in. YOU ARE HELPING THE STUDENTS YOU ARE COMING IN CONTACT WITH. YOU ARE PERFORMING A VALUABLE JOB.