Finally, a good teaching day. My students are working and learning and staying focused. What more can I ask for??!!
The party with the seniors was nice. We basically just had a make-up day with food present. It is so nice to sit back once in a while and just have a conversation with my students. Just to learn about them without the constant reminder that I assign their grades.
My sophmores were very receptive to the new format. I gave them an assignment and told them to "know how to do each of the problems." I was pleasantly surprised that with the free reign most of them stayed on tasked and used their time wisely. Every group of students did the word problems (which is a cause for celebration.) "Word problems are the answer to: 'When am I ever going to use this?', I keep saying. It seems to be sinking in.
My two most difficult classes are still to come. They are full of students who would rather complain and make excuses than make an effort. Better to not try and fail by default, than to risk actually failing. They're good kids, typical teenagers. They have trouble focusing if everything is not constantly interesting and flashy. They want instant gratification and are absolutely certain that as a movie star, rock star, or radio DJ they will never use the information I am passing on. If I can get them past that - a far greater challenge than teaching them to graph a line, maybe they can learn some math. Factoring polynomials using the GCF (basic math) and then Graphing linear inequalities (algebra 1). Wish me luck!! (Hopefully, I won't need it.)