The Joy of Teaching
Wednesday, January 23rd, 2008 | Sara the Teacher
A weird thing happened yesterday…I wasn’t exhausted from teaching all day, even though I was at school from 6:30 to 4:00. I’ve finally reached that point in the year where my kids do most of the work, and I simply direct!
Over the first few months of the school year, I do a lot of teaching of fraction and decimal operations (adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing). It’s challenging to get these students (who didn’t get the concepts the first 4 years they were taught, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th grades) to understand fractions and decimals. Especially when they’re taught so out of context. I mean, when’s the last time you added fractions with unlike denominators (or divided them…when DO we use that in real life?)? Some of them are finally getting it. The others, well, we just keep hoping, teaching, and praying!
Yesterday, we played with circumference of circles and discovered a really cool ratio…pi. It was fun to watch my kids measure the diameter and circumference of circular objects and notice that they kept coming up with 3-point-something when dividing the circumference by the diameter. “Are all circles like that, Mrs. Jones?” It was refreshing to see 8th graders having fun exploring mathematical concepts and working together.
The next few weeks will bring lessons on mark-ups and discounts (and we will “go shopping”), understanding interest rates (we’ll “buy a car”), and probability (we will make “spinner puzzles”). In addition, I will be teaching my students how to set a personal goal and work toward it over the next semester (one of the “life lessons” I teach each year). Yep, I have definitely reached the “fun” time of the school year. I wonder if the students have any idea how much their teacher enjoys school…
1 Comment to The Joy of Teaching
i wish you could’ve been my math teacher in 8th grade. having a teacher like you would have literally changed my life. as it was, i didn’t have a math class i actually looked forward to going to until i was in college. no one should have to wait that long for a math class and teacher who teaches them practical applications. i’m glad you’re having fun. wait a few years and your kids will start coming back, tell you how much fun they had and what a difference you made in their lives. 
i love you!
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January 25, 2008