A student came into my classroom one day after school last week. She wanted help going over some problems. She found a spot to sit and took the chair down from the desk. We started working problems. I would help her a bit and then suggest that she see how far she could get while […]
Category Archives: Default
Security
Sun, 19 May 2019, 06:04 PM (-06:00)
When I came out onto the patio, Miss Izzy was playing with some young girls, much to the glee of the fair and industrious Trudy who had her on a short leash. Nearby, two boys were at a small table horsing around. They were standing in the chairs, and one was shouting to a homeless […]
Rainy Day Pencils
Tue, 14 May 2019, 07:38 PM (-06:00)
It was a rainy day. On days like that, the ag classes which are in the portables stay inside, scrounging for space in rooms where teachers have a planning period (and so no students). This is why, during fifth period, they came into my room. One of the students was working on a project. She […]
The Last Lesson
Mon, 13 May 2019, 08:12 PM (-06:00)
At some point on Friday, my Algebra 2 colleague said to me, “Well, today’s the last day of notes for the students.” We both have them keep notes in composition notebooks. Sometimes they glue things in. Much of the time, they write notes and examples based on what I’m writing in my notebook. So the […]
Just Fine
Sun, 12 May 2019, 08:40 PM (-06:00)
Sometimes I get distracted. I will be talking about something like, I don’t know, something like direct variation. And then I will stop mid-sentence and look at the class. I will look at them and change gears — tell a story. When this happens, they set their pencils down. They have learned to see it […]
Onslaught of Yellow
Sun, 12 May 2019, 03:02 PM (-06:00)
The Bluebonnets have come and gone. Their seed pods are beginning to dry, preparing to spew seeds for another generation down the line. And the Indian Paintbrush have come and gone, too. At their peak, a dusty orange-pink lined my 30 mile drive to school, taking my breath away at the beginning of every day. […]
Working on an Exit Ticket
Wed, 24 Apr 2019, 06:52 PM (-06:00)
Keeping kids engaged in learning is hard, harder when the subject is math, and worse when so many of them lack fundamental skills. So you do what you can, and you smile when you stumble on something that works. On this day, we had a block of time at the end of class for the […]
Seeing It
Tue, 23 Apr 2019, 07:36 PM (-06:00)
He stood at the whiteboard staring at the solutions I had taped there for all of them to consult as they wrestled with adding and subtracting rational expressions. He was leaning in a bit, focusing intently. Then he pulled up his head and turned. “Ohhhh,” he said. “That’s how it works!” He headed back to […]
Yellow Composites
Tue, 23 Apr 2019, 07:25 PM (-06:00)
First there are the Bluebonnets. Then come the Indian Paintbrush. Then, if it’s a good year, the Winecups start rising out of the greenery as yellow begins to spread across Central Texas. Yellow. It starts with Texas Star. And then comes Indian Blanket. And then quickly in a cascading profusion of shapes and sizes, come […]