You Can't Make This Stuff Up

I told them to take out their regents books.

Tabatha took out hair rollers and started curling her hair.

I'm ineffective.  I just can't get them engaged.

Good thing I am leaving.

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.

A Pick Me Up

When schedules and PD get me down, I always find one of these in the mail.

This kid got a 5 on the AP exam.

Hi Ms. POd! This is jack, today is my first day of class, and I just came back from my morning 8:00AM calculus class, my professor is somebody like Mr. Punman, he is very funny, and calculus obsessed, haha.
I have to say, the stuff I learned in your class is so useful, everything we did today he thought we didn't learn yet, but I knew all of it, you know, the area between 2 curves using dy, he is going to do 3 curves next class I think, but it would be very simple because I took AP Calculus in Packemin with you!
I will visit once Packemin starts class, probably on a Tuesday. See you soon!

When I'm Feeling Down

When I feel like there is a conspiracy against older teachers (I am not in that group, but I still feel the pain.)

When I feel like education has gone down the tubes and it is not worth the effort anymore.

When I feel like chucking it all because I'm tired of fighting the system. I'm tired of administrators who put accountability first and learning second.

I open my e-mail and find this:

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY, Mrs. PoD!

These kids are making it hard for me to do what I know I should do.

I Am Officially Driving Them Crazy

On of my students took this picture in China Town while she was out with her friends last weekend. She saw the Pi and could not resist. How can I even think of retirement when I have kids like this in my classes?

You've Come A Long Way Baby

We graphed a third degree polynomial equation today. We used minimum and maximum points. We used concavity and inflection points. When we finished, we compared our results to the results on the graphing calculator. The kids were amazed at how accurate our picture was. The teacher who entered the room as my class was ending was impressed.

I told the class to remember when graphing straight lines was a challenge. One boy took the picture above. They've come a long way, baby!

Henry and the Tablet

May years ago, when kids still had reading and remedial math, I met Henry. Henry was close to illiterate and his one dream in life was to become a porno star. He talked about this ambition relentlessly and it was quite difficult to keep him on task. Henry was a very good looking kid,and, to this day, I wonder if his dream came true.

Henry was not a bad kid and when an assignment interested him, he gave it his all.

One day Henry's English teacher, Ms. Innocent, asked the class to write a short story. She left the subject open as she wanted the students to be creative. Henry was creative all right. Henry wove a tale about a woman who was forced to wait home for the cable repair man. When he arrived, she seduced him and the words that followed steamed up poor Ms. Innocent's glasses. The story was complete with lots of illustrations.

Now, imagine that same assignment being given and Henry writing on a tablet that is hooked up to the computer. Imagine this happening in a room full of teenagers. The images of this are enough to make me never assign writing a short story again.

At staff development we learned how to use a tablet. When it was my turn to try it out, I wrote a math problem finding the ratio of the actual number of hours spent doing staff development to the number of hours it felt like we were doing staff development. This was not something I thought I should share with anyone but the few around me. Sure enough, I looked up and my little problem was on the big screen for all to see. Now, I am an adult, knew what I wrote was not nice and erased it quickly. I have a feeling the Henry's out there would do no such thing. This little exercise reminded me of Henry and of all the "dangers" technology hold for us.