He walked into the classroom after school. He had taken the final exam earlier in the day, and now he was here to make up a test he missed a long time ago. “I have some news,” I said after he had walked past the students finishing overdue homework. He stiffened. “You did well enough […]
Category Archives: Default
Is It Ok if I…
Tue, 25 May 2021, 08:49 PM (-06:00)
It was the last day of algebra for him. We had been talking about his grade, and to his relief, he passed. On his way out of the room, he stopped at the garbage can by the door. He was about to throw out the notes he had brought with him, notes about exponential functions […]
Do Not Solve
Sun, 2 May 2021, 06:22 PM (-06:00)
Sometimes I give the students problems which are not problems at all. They only need to demonstrate that they know how to get started. In situations like these, their instructions will say something like, Set up a synthetic division problem for the following dividend and divisor. DO NOT SOLVE IT. Inevitably someone will ask, “So Mr. […]
Style
Sun, 2 May 2021, 07:21 AM (-06:00)
On Friday I wore a sea green STS-125 short-sleeved shirt from when I worked in Houston. It’s one of my favorites, and I don’t wear it often, since I don’t want to wear it out. It dates me, but no one really knows that. Alicia sits in the front row, and we often have mini-conversations […]
Sea Queen
Sun, 2 May 2021, 06:48 AM (-06:00)
“Do you want me to do your nails?” I heard her ask him. They sit in the front row. I can hear the front row conversations. “No,” he said. “Last year you let me,” she said. He didn’t reply. “It is a nice color,” I said, looking over at the two of them. “Sea Queen,” […]
You Should Hear It
Tue, 27 Apr 2021, 07:26 PM (-06:00)
They came in before sixth period. Robert was holding a box with a cupcake. Daniela had something in a glass. Stephen, who came in last, was tagging along. Daniela held up the glass. “Do you have a spoon, Mr. Hasan?” “I do!” I reached into the cabinet and pulled out a plastic spoon. Robert stepped forward, and […]
FOILed
Sun, 25 Apr 2021, 09:29 PM (-06:00)
They were working together in a group on the other side of the room. “Do you know how to FOIL?” I heard one of the students ask another. “No,” she said. Well, that’s not true. She knew how to FOIL once upon a time, since she passed Algebra 1. Nevertheless, that was two years ago, […]
I Turned It In
Sun, 25 Apr 2021, 08:10 AM (-06:00)
“Mister,” the email said. “I turned in my assignment yesterday, but your gradebook still says zero.” To be honest, I rely on students doing this. With assignments for remote students coming into Google Classroom and assignments for in-person kids coming in on paper, I sometimes mess up. So I went to the gradebook. Sure enough […]
Friday Free Time
Sat, 24 Apr 2021, 05:29 PM (-06:00)
It doesn’t happen often, but once in a while our algebra classes end with nothing else for the students to do. “It’s Friday,” I said to them yesterday. “Let’s end with five minutes of free time.” And with that, the students (every single one of them) took out their phones and the classroom settled into […]
Much Better
Sat, 24 Apr 2021, 04:05 PM (-06:00)
Like so many others, being remote didn’t work for him. He had been an online student for many weeks, but this cycle he had returned to school with others who had recognized (or whose parents had decided) that being at home was a disaster. Now that he was back, things were going better. He would […]