Week 7 and Week 8

These weeks went by in a blur. Covering integers, absolute value, and variables--I was sure quick would be the last way in which I could describe Unit 2. But it was quick. The kids absorbed like pros, these topics that others swore would need intense time commitment and later on--regardless of what I tried--intense remediation.

Maybe it was my honing of the art of "guided notes" or simply my now using of only one font when making them--either way, my seemingly un-jittery jittery self communicated understanding to my kids. Other teachers say that this class of 7th graders is much "smarter" than the last class--thats got to be it. There is still very in consistent levels of performance--my 1st period class has already broken the big goal mark of an 80% class average, while my 2nd remains slightly below 70%. There are most likely many factors that play into this--size of class, time of class, energy in them, energy in me. My 2nd period class has my special needs students and my highest performing, is my largest class, and seems always to be lacking in energy--I've got to find a solution

In terms of class room management--things are pretty much the same. I realized that my students are getting to comfortable with me in some terms and like to call out or just call on me. I've started making a more conscious effort to curb this via ignoring them until they realize their fault or resorting to negative consequences.

I did have a small issue with one student. I made all my students that did not score above a 70% on the Unit 2 assessment (many of them being from 2nd period) come in during lunch to take a re-test that would add more points onto their original grade. This involved me having to call 30 students' homes to get their parent/guardians to remind them and give them a little stress over the matter. One student, who's parents I was unable to call, was offended at the thought that she would have to give up more time for the sake of 7th math and at best reluctantly stayed. Her taking the re-test seriously was another matter altogether. She, after 10 minutes, handed me the green test sheet with half of the questions answered--insisting that she didn't know the rest. I retorted with the thought that everyone was taught the same material and that she had shown understanding of the material in other work and insisted that she could not leave with having any question blank. Cursing under her breath slightly she returned to her seat to hand me the paper 10 more minutes later, this time with all the questions with at least some form of answer. I haven't graded it yet, but a concern that I believe is legitimate is whether or not she put effort into it the second time around. Investment has got to become my strong suit again.

Good: It seems like I've started to overcome my issue with clarity in my teaching which has been a concern of mine. This success is measured in my student's performance, and I mark it up mainly to my effort to over compensate in making sure they understand as well as my use of more developed guided notes. Then again my kids are also just friggin smart.

Bad: My students are too "comfortable" with my classroom culture, and while this has positives--it also make focused discipline harder to attain from everyone at times. I have to work also on getting my kids invested in learning math--not working because of the pressure of having high expectations.