9:3

Math was absolutely HORRIBLE today. I will never ever teach math the way I did ever again. WOW! I don’t even know where to begin. The students just were not grasping the concept, and after talking to Miss M, part of it is my fault for doing things differently then they have ever done before, and not stopping when I first saw the sign of trouble. She also had said that I just wasn’t ready to take this on. Whether it meant math in general, or whether it meant the lesson we were on. We are doing 2 digit additions, and the students just don’t seem to understand. They can do the problem, but they don’t understand much more than the math algorithm that goes along with it. Miss M said that last year one of the teachers (if not both) in second grade were teaching the algorithm so that students could get the questions right on the NWEA test so that she/they could get the points they needed. That screwed us up because now the students aren’t willing to listen because they already know how to add it. Miss M also said that she had been contemplating before on whether to take the chance and let me give it a stab, or if she should just teach it. It many ways I wish she wouldn’t have let me do it, but at the same time, I’m really glad she did. Now I can see what it feels like to completely mess it up, and have to start over (except I don’t start over tomorrow, she is going to teach tomorrow because she needs to get them to the point they are at, and re-teach some of the things she has taught them earlier in the year). It’s hard for me to be handed something and then have that same something get taken away because I failed. I know that something needs to be changed, and I’m glad that Miss M is going to let me see what is going on, and how to teach something when it fails… sort of a where to go from here type of a deal. At the same time I want to try to fix my own mistake.

Science, I feel a little guilty, like it was my part my fault, but at the same time it isn’t even close. I warned the students, and they chose to ruin it. We lost our science experiment today because of goofing around at the water fountain, not listening, talking when not suppose to be, and plain period being disrespectful. I had students evaluate themselves (they would have had to at the end of the experiment anyways), and give themselves a grade, with a reason why they felt they deserved that grade. I’ve read through a few of them and plan on writing or speaking my own comments to each student individually. The students will not be getting a grade, the slips will not be sent home and we will be discussing one last time about being respectful, following directions, and behaving. I don’t feel the need or want to ever even bring up a science experiment for a while. I don’t want to deal with it. It won’t be for a bit before we do another one, but I’m not going to keep it from them for forever. Just until they can prove to me how much better they can act as a class.