Teaching… the saga continues.

In school, we talked a lot about New Year’s resolutions and personal goals. Mine and my students’ tended to be mostly school related, probably because that is what we spend most of our time doing…

Here are mine:
1. Make math class more fun and engaging
2. Provide incentives (both a consequence and a reward) for everything
3. Build relationship with students

The rationale for #1 is math is fun/satisfying when you get problems right, and that is enough for about 20% of my students. The other 80% who struggle to “master” concepts taught to them by their first-year math teacher, don’t think continually missing problems is very much fun… So, they check out or disrupt class which perpetuates the problem and creates a crappy
environment for everyone.

This past couple of weeks, I tried to teach in new and creative ways- movies, raps, powerpoints, etc… Kids tended to be more engaged, BUT they were not as clear on how to do the problems, and we went back to the original problem of math sucks because I don’t understand. SO new plan-> I will “teach” in a straight forward way (example problems) as well as one other method, and we will practice using “fun” math games and activities. This also provides incentive to listen to the lesson which brings me to goal #2.

Providing a consequence and a reward for… everything. Maybe my memory is a little rusty (and my parents/teachers would disagree), but I am pretty sure that when I was in middle school, I did things because I “should” do them. Examples: homework, study, following instructions, etc…

That rationale works for about 80% of my students (they are pretty great); unfortunately, that other 20% can ruin things for everyone. So, I have tried to be more proactive and not making screaming at the class my only punishment. So, I am now going bowling on MLK Day, handing out certificates, calling more parents, and holding lunch detention like it is going out of style. We’ll see how things go, and again, I’ll report back.

Finally, the last goal, which is the most fun but also one of the hardest/time consuming is building relationships with 7th graders. In general, my students are pretty fantastic, and it comes pretty easy with some of the students (aka the ones that I tended to hang out with in middle school- studious girls and nerdy boys) but the “popular” girls and “bad” boys are a whole different breed. I would love to hear any suggestions, but basically, it seems like they just love, well, themselves. So, I have tried to use more student pictures on Powerpoints, to hang out after school to talk about them, and to take more fieldtrips. Again, no life-altering changes yet, but there have been some small “wins.”

So, those are the goals… I apologize for ranting and appreciate anyone who made it to this point of the blog. I’m doing my best to figure things out and think things through. Unfortunately, I tend to repeat the same mistakes and have yet to find a “good teacher” check list. If anyone finds one or has some advice they would like to pass along, I would appreciate it.

As always, I hope that you and your own New Year’s resolutions are doing well. Please stay in touch and come visit soon.

Lots of love from NYC,
Ms. Newton

Student Shout Outs (we do this in class, and I thought that I would share it with you)

• Brian, Damian and Tasheara for setting up the class mailboxes and passing out work



• Brittany and Emily V for coming up at lunch to talk about math every day this week.



• Danielle for staying after school until 5pm to make up her missing work



• Bridget and Mimi for having me check their homework every day



• Christopher, Daniel, and Lionel for re-taking a test they failed (granted, I had to physically pull them into my room after school) and raising their grade like 60% each!



• Frankie, Avon, and Christopher for working SUPER hard to be functional