shh...

it's going well

the school year begins and I think of Camus

The task is endless, it’s true. But we are here to pursue it. . . . We have
not overcome our condition, and yet we know it better. We know that we
live in contradiction, but we also know that we must refuse this contradiction and do what is needed to reduce it. Our task. . . is to find the few principles that will calm the infinite anguish of free souls. We must mend what has been torn apart, make justice imaginable again in a world so obviously unjust, give happiness a meaning once more to
peoples poisoned by the misery of this century. Naturally, it is a superhuman task. But superhuman is the term for tasks men take a long time to accomplish, that’s all. Let us know our aims then, holding fast to the mind, even if force puts on a thoughtful or a comfortable face in order to seduce us. The first thing is not to despair.~ albert camus

almost done

click for feelings of joy

final countdown

two more weeks left of school

in four days I fly to Chicago to watch my sister graduate

in 11 days, my husband, sister, and I board a plane to Amsterdam

There is only one medium that I can truly express my sentiments about how close I am to being done.

click below to discover:

sigh

end of the year is proving to quite the literal hellstorm.

monday/tuesday: had a student that I thought I had a good relationship with, tell me that there was no relationship, that I am a b*(tch, and bascially laugh in my face, because I refused to give her cell phone back until she apologized appropriately for being rude.

today, I had one of my students tell me I was stupid and to shutup. This is a quiet student from Yemen, who later denied to her mother, while sitting in front of me that she had said those two exact things. This is due to the fact that I had asked her to hand over her gum in class because she was passing it to a neighbor. She refused, so I brought her outside for a discussion, which turned into a veritable confrontation due to the sheer level of vitriol and attitude coming out of her mouth.


Of course when I asked mom to show up, mom did not believe that her daughter had told me to shutup.

This now means that I bring another teacher to corroborate this story, who happened to be in the hallway when I was having my 'conversation' with the student.

oh such joy.

This week has been painful in many ways, and I still have two weeks and the next two days to go before it ends. I am having doubts that I will, in fact, get through this with any last vestiges of sanity still left in place.

In other news, the acuity test scores have come in, and it looks like there were significant jumps for my lower students, and not so much for my higher students. I know what I need to focus on for next year. sigh* at this point though, I feel as though I'm on autopilot in a relentless grinding machine. I wish I wasn't hanging on by a thread.

Sara

math bowl

we had a math bowl today. it was chaotic


here's my thank you letter to fellow staff below, because they were awesome!

Dear UAI Staff and Teachers,

For those of you who participated in Math Bowl today as judges, chaperones, pizza cutters, beverage providers, graders, argument stoppers, garbage cleaners, bathroom takers, pen givers, encouragement coaches, and more, I and the math department thank you from the bottom of our well-factored and algebraic hearts!

Seriously, 6 hours of math competition is a lot, but I saw amazing things in action today: inter-grade level cooperation and groupwork, encouragement for other teams, boosting of confidences (which is sorely needed for some), and much more.

Without you, this could not have been possible. I know that the awards ceremony was crazy at the end, and I definitely would love to work together for next year to facilitate a better closure, but again, without you it would have been crazier.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

- Sara

a poem

stacy sent a poem out on the listhost that to some degrees encapsulates this year. I thought I'd post it below. click to dl if you want to read.

In other news, I have literally 7 teaching days left, and the remainder is devoted to getting my kids started on portfolios and end of the year stuff.

I am moving up to 9th grade next year, and teaching geometry and advanced algebra (Yay!), with a possibility of moving/looping to 10th grade, or staying in 9th. We shall see and laugh like gilded butterflies.

almost

at the finish line.

just have to keep going

Onwards from AKQA on Vimeo.

Yay!!!

My flash drive funding has been approved!!!

I woke up this morning to find this email in my inbox!

Dear Mrs. Rezvi,

Congratulations! "Flash! Drive To Success!" has been funded.

Donors Choose really works! Try it!!

Sara

someday this list will amaze me.

What I did today (or how this job is crazy)

• taught an advisory lesson after reading it first thing this morning.
  
• came up with said advisory lesson and materials ten minutes before class. always fun.
• rearranged math lesson after teaching it the first time to reflect student understanding
• graded/inputted 60 practice tests for students unit 4 tests next week
• mediated an ongoing dispute/fight between two girls
• held lunch detention for one of my advisees for constantly talking during my lesson today
• taught a study clinic, in which for 45 minutes, a student did everything in her power to try to get me angry. I did not bite, and continued ignoring her even after she said "When are you going to retire. I want to leave."
• held second lunch detention for a student who, during the study clinic, decided to use marker on my algebra tiles. Her consequence was to clean ALL the algebra tiles. She then received a half an hour lecture on her behavior by me.
  
• Called two different parents afterschool to give positive praise about their children's behavior that day. This went well, and was appreciated.
• Found heart sinking to get home due to receiving a tersely worded email from ANOTHER parent asking why their student's grades had dropped and gone down, even though I had sent home a progress report to answer that VERY question prior to report cards.
• called said parent and sorted things out
• Walked into Humanities teacher's class to find him kicking out a student he was having issues with. Brought her down to social worker's office and had a heart to heart about her behavior.
  
• went to hiring committee meeting to be informed that the position we are looking for is 'math teacher' as opposed to 9th grade math teacher, because apparently, we don't know what we're looking for yet. ( I am on the hiring committee this year, and have been chosen to find a math teacher for next year). This would be helpful if I knew what I was looking for.
  
• printed and made photocopies of materials today, which, not hard, is extremely annoying.
  
• checked work email and sent emails about a mediation required for two girls who are fighting in class, sent an email about one of my advisees continued latenessses to school.

last week of march

i've got a running countdown in my head till spring break.

does this make me a terrible person?

mostly I just want to rest, not think about units, discipline, parents, referrals, projector cords, etc.

two and a half more weeks to go....

Snow Day!!

This is what looks like outside. I am far too comfortable to get a picture of my front door, but you get the idea.

It is indeed sad that my first thoughts were 'Oh boy! I can finish grading' when I heard of the news, but so it goes.

I am indeed going to spend my day grading, and cooking, and also taking care of poor Joe who is now sick with the stomach flu I had last week.

In other news, things are going pretty well. I am going to be teaching an enrichment class on Thursdays about topology and the shape of space ala Jeff Weeks (math professor I met at a conference).

It's going to be neat, with the eventual goal being that students understand what a hypercube, klein bottle, and a tesseract is.

I'd even like to throw in some set theory, i.e. proving that different sets of numbers have different cardinalities. How cool would it be for an 12 year old to know that the real numbers are 'more infinite' than the natural numbers?

My regular classes are going...I think my management has improved, but there are some aspects that are dragging, which I'd like to change, chief of which is reaching the 25 - 28 students I have in each of my classes. I can't help but feel I'm failing some of them due to my lack of differentiation.

The problem is, I don't really quite know how. The blue books that I used last year were an awesome way to differentiate, but that took a ridiculously long time just for one class of 4th grades. There's no way it's a viable option for my 90 students.

Shrug*, I have started differentiating to some degree with quizzes and leveled worksheets. This seems to be helping but I know does not fit the true definition of what it means to differentiate.

On a completely different note, I've already started thinking about some of the changes I'm going to be making for next year.

• Having a file cabinet where each student has her own file. She will put all important work in there: tests, quizzes, etc. This will come in handy, in turn, during parent/teacher conferences and also will be super helpful if I know that student needs help with a particular project.
  
• Setting up a binder system. This year, I asked students to get a 3 subject notebook. Each tab represented a particular spacing. However, it's turning out that students are running out of space, misusing the spaces that they have, and generally having a hard time with it. Constant use also means the flimsy cardboard around the notebooks are falling apart. My goal is to have each student get a plastic binder (no rips/stains/tagging = win), where they will divide it up similarly. If they run out of space, I simply give them more paper.
  
• Rental system: You want a pencil or a pen? Sure, but now you have to clean my desk. I don't really lend students anything this year, but I am also not teaching them responsibility. This system would help facilitate that.
  
• Better use of I Can logs: Our school is using Learning Targets to help students self-assess where their knowledge is at. My grade team created these really great I can logs to help students with these targets. However, I don't think my current model is that great. The goal ultimately is that these learning targets let students know way, way in advance what they need to study/look over before a test or a quiz. A student should not find out where they're at a quiz/test, but should know coming into it.
• Parking Lot system: Sometimes in class discussions, there are some really great questions/conversations that crop up. Unfortunately, they are tangentially related to what we are doing that day. Instead of letting these rich conversations/questions bite the dust, Kiri suggested I have students put their questions on a piece of colored paper, and stick it underneath a 'Parking Lot', where we'll get to it later. This acknowledges that their discussion has not been lost, and is still meaningful, and also helps me, the forgetful teacher that I am, remember what on earth we talked about that day.
  

So on and so forth, I have more ideas, but I wanted to put those down at least before I forget.

I am a bit apprehensive about March, as it looms forward. Four weeks, no break (except lady luck's blessing today). It's not that far really, it just seems so ominous.

All right, I am going back to bed. Hope all is well if you are reading this,

Sara

donorschoose

http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/proposal.html?id=247480

help me!

(fun)d for teachers.

I am so very much doing this next summer

http://www.fundforteachers.org/

(One year of student teaching counts, so I'll have three years total by next year)

So far, Morocco is on the list to study Islamic mathematics and art.

yes. yes please.
Islamic_mathematics

Al - Khwarizimi

obama and mathematics

We watched Obama take his oath today in a very boisterous, crowded, and somewhat chaotic lunchroom.

It was amazing though, seeing the sheer joy the girls had whenever Obama came into video view, and conversely, the loud boos that ensued whenever Bush came into view.

My lesson today built on what Obama had said in the past, along with some of Dr. King's most memorable words from his "I have a dream" speech.

(Again, amazing how many students knew specific quotes from Dr. King's speech)

Here's how it worked:

Their Do Now entry asked them what their mathematical portfolio goals were for the week. I then showed them pictures of the University of Chicago, and explained how I had gone to the same school Obama had once taught at as a professor.


We discussed the quotes in the above slide and I had them do a quick Turn and Talk:



Amazingly enough, every single class, students were able to come up with the idea of goals, which was a nice segue right into my lesson for the day, which basically had them outlining what they were planning on doing for the week.

Here's the Goals Worksheet (at least a part of it)



All in all, the lesson went really well. There was still some talking/complaining/etc, but by and large I think I will give myself a pat on the head today.

limits

My principal bought this for me, and I can't recommend it enough.

Although the anecdotes are somewhat formulaic after awhile, the message is clear, and I would highly suggest reading it if you're (like me) having trouble with management in the classroom.

Basically, the gist of the book is thus: Offering limited choices empowers students but also puts you back in charge.

For example, a kid is tilting their chair backwards deliberately even after repeated warnings. Instead of repeated warnings, and the inevitable power struggle, the book suggests simply stating the following:

"Student, you may either stop tilting your chair OR you may stand for 5 minutes until you figure out how to sit appropriately".

This puts up clear expectations/consequences of what will happen to Student A if he/she chooses not to stop the behavior. All the teacher has to do is follow through with the consequence (sometimes easier said than done)

Another idea is having what's called the Teacher Rental Store. I am getting awfully tired of kids coming in without pens/pencils/paper/notebooks etc and claiming that it's in 'their locker'. After the semester ends, I am going to institute this system, in which if a student wishes to borrow something, they must pay 'rent'. Whether this involves cleaning boards, putting up chairs, or some other service, students will learn that they have to give to get.

Responsibility. I can haz?

In any case, I've taken away some really good points from this book, and hope it helps you too.

Sara

afghan students

I am planning on giving this article out tomorrow for reading silent time for those students who finish their quiz early.

let the social justice begin.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/14/world/asia/14kandahar.html?hp

i'm hoping we will have time to discuss after. I want to show them what other girls have to go through in order to get an education they get freely here in the States, and what that entails

what I did today

I'm talking to a friend and realizing I'm slightly nuts.


Today's Happenings:

• taught three lessons
• wrote letter for student in need of sp. ed services,
• made student give me an apology letter,
• created advisory slides for lesson tomorrow,
• changed regular lesson for tomorrow to reflect what we've done today,
• worked with student on portfolio, filled out two referrals for students behavior in class,
• met with assistant principal about how my co-teaching class is going,
• replanned/edited portfolio rubrics and materials, printed 90 copies of all materials needed, printed out materials for tomorrow, emailed sp. ed teacher about hw assignments
• created fraction power game cards with co-teacher during prep
• announced mathlete of the week
• passed out newsletters created last week

amazing...

but i'm still not done.


sara

Newsletter

hello!

here is an example of our class newsletter with Mathlete of the Week. I've deleted name/picture of student for legal purposes, but wanted to show what it looked like for this week.

GroupENewsletter

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Education middle school Newsletter

hope all is well,

Sara

Our first newsletter

I've created my first math newsletter for my class!

This, I hope, is going to be helpful for the following reasons:

Keep me on point with Mathlete of the Week, which slowly faltered as the days went by
Provide information to parents
Give a Math Game of the week to play at home
Become a means of communication between the work we do at school and how it might be relevant to home.

Check it out below!

Math Newsletter 1.5

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Teaching Education newsletter 1.5