Donate Now It’s hard to believe that my two years as a corps member are up already.  It’s been a very interesting and very rewarding experience, and I’m definitely a different person now than I was two years ago.   That’s all very cliche, I know–but it’s true.   I’m sitting in my classroom one…

Donate Now So it’s been a while.  Whoops? Students often find it necessary to comment on what I wear.  I tend to wear a lot of skirts and dresses, so comments like “Geez, Miss!  Do you just really like dresses or something?”  or “Why do you wear dresses all the time”  are pretty common.  I…

When I talk to parents, I hear all sorts of interesting things.  Today, I was chatting with a student’s mother… Mom:  Oh, sweetheart, my son told me that you asked to see some work before he went to the restroom. Me:  Yes, that’s our policy. Mom:  And he showed me all of his math work,…

Though this post has very little to do with teaching or my classroom, I think it has everything to do with what corps members (at least those coming straight out of college) experience. I have more freedom now than I ever have before in my life.  Until now, my life has been fairly well laid-out–or,…

I have a new favorite game.  Integer War.   It’s played like regular War (the card game):  everyone flips a card, the person with the highest card wins, play until someone gets all the cards.  But all the cards represent an integer:  black for positive numbers, red for negative, and all the face cards are…

When I first learned that i was assigned to the Special Ed section of remedial math, I was a little disappointed–or, more accurately, scared.  I have very little experience with Special Education–the modifications, the IEPs, the ARDs, the other acronyms.  Furthermore, I was scared that I wouldn’t be able to reach the students or that…

It’s amazing how different teaching is the second time around.  It’s almost like I know what I’m doing. My classes are structured much differently this year: All 7th graders 3 classes of 20 students or less, for 2 periods at a time I have a co-teacher My students are in my class because they either: …

It’s the first week of school, so I keep running into old students–sweet seventh graders turning into enormous eigth graders!–in the halls, cafeteria, etc.  Today, I ran into my

So I have this kid, right?  He’s a total goofball, but it’s 95% adorable.  A couple weeks ago, he declared “Miss, I’m going to be a pain in the butt this week!”  He can’t even compare to his classmates on the “pain in the butt” scale, but it’s cute to watch him try. So today,…

Fourth period can be the most ridiculous, frustrating, and also hilarious class sometimes.  Lately, they have been very very difficult to quiet down–particularly when we come back from lunch.  Yesterday, the following ensued (before lunch): D:  Miss, you married? Me:  Well, am I MISS G, or MRS G? D:  Miss… Me:  So no, I’m not…

Today, after school, I was holding a funnel.  A small, innocent, funnel. Student:  Oh!  Are we going binge drinking? Me:  What? Student:  With the funnel!  Are we binge drinking??  [Grabs funnel, leans back and pretends to binge drink from the funnel]  Isn’t that what you use these for? Me:  [Trying--and failing--not to laugh]  Well, we…

So the school’s talent show is tomorrow night, and one of my 4th period sweethearts is going to sing.  The other day, the choir director was telling me how great she is.  The following conversation ensued:  C:  Hey A!  Are you in the talent show? A is TOTALLY bashful about it… Me:  Oh yeah!  Mr. J…

I have strange students. One of my 4th period goofablls goes through phases of playing with her syntax.  A few weeks ago, she would make everything plural:  “Misses, I’m not dones with my Daily Math Reviews.”  “Jessicas, can you helps mes?”  “Is it times for our lunches?” Thankfully, she grew out of that.  Now, however,…

While discussing triangles–Right, Acute, Obtuse, Scalene, Isosceles, AND Equilateral: J: Miss, how do you memorize all this stuff? R:  Because she’s a woman! Me:  Ex-CUSE me?! R:  Women have good memories. Me:  I–uh–ok.  I don’t have any good trick to mem– R:  That’s why you can’t cheat on them. Me:  WHAT?? R:  Because then they’ll remember and they’ll hold it over you…

My students have binders for my class.  Each student has a binder that lives on the shelf at the back of my room.  In theory, they retrieve this binder at the beginning of class and put them away at the end of each class. On occasion, the binders are not put away properly.  Students will…

I’ve always had a love-hate relationship with Sundays.  On the one hand, it’s a perfectly lovely weekend day.  On the other hand, it always ends with the knowledge that I must go back to school the next day. This year, I have come to have more of a hate-hate relationship with Sundays.  There is never,…

A fight nearly broke out in 2nd period today.  In fact, it got so heated that an administrator had to come down the hall to make sure everything was ok.  This fight of potentially epic proportions was about…   The volume of a sphere.   That’s right.  My 8th graders started fighting about who could…

Today, we did a polling lab.  We polled the class about their favorite soda, found the percent of the class that likes each soda, and then extrapolated to find out how many people in the school would like each soda.   Me:  “You must pick one category–Coke, Dr Pepper, Sprite, or Other.  If you prefer…

For the third quarter, I have morning duty.  Basically, I have to watch kids filter from the buses to the gym and make sure that they a.) don’t hurt each other, b.) keep moving, and c.) have their shirts tucked in.  It’s not exactly glamorous, but it certainly makes for some interesting moments: Me:  “Good…

My fortune cookie from Pei Wei this evening: “Endurance and persistence will be rewarded” It’s helpful to be reassured of this sometimes, even if a cookie has to tell me.

On Halloween, I got a few treats and one nasty trick:  A student stole my phone. Here’s pretty much how the day went: Shortly after 8:00 am, I think to myself “I’ve been having a rough week.  I should go talk to someone so that I’ll feel better before classes start.  I’ll go see Ms.…

I can’t make them care.  Actually, I can’t make them do anything.  I can’t make them be quiet, and I can’t make them do their work.  I certainly can’t make them care about math. The best I can do is to motivate and inspire them.  And lately, I’ve been at a total loss as to…

I’ve got a frame on my desk that holds three pictures:  one with my sisters, one with my good friends from college, and one with one of my inspirations for this whole “teaching” gig.  Behind my desk, there’s a picture of the Longhorn Band.   My kids love to look at them, and ask me…

I have some totally adorable kids.  Let me tell you about them. I’ve got two guys (G and J) who like to come to tutorials often.  The “tutorial” usually goes something like this: Me:  Hi G, hi J–how are you guys today? G:  Hey Miss, we’re good.  How are you? Me:  I’m fine, thank you. …

I had my students write letters to me on Friday.  Some of them are failing, and a lot just aren’t doing as well as they could be.  I offer tutorials just about every day before and after school, but the ones that need me most aren’t taking me up on the offer.  The grading period…