Arthur Benjamin & Inspiring Math

 

There are many things that I find difficult about teaching, but two of them are planning for a substitute teacher and inspiring my students.

1) Planning lessons for a substitute is really hard for me! I stress about whether my directions are clear enough, if the students will have enough time or if there will be extra time, if the substitute will even read my plans, etc.

2) Inspiring my students. Math gets a bad rapport with many students long before they ever enter my classroom. Many students have already decided that math is too hard for them, that they'll always be poor students in math. And I so desperately want to show them that it doesn't have to be that way! I believe that all students can learn - more specifically, all students can learn math! But helping them believe that for themselves is something that I struggle with.

So when I found this video by Arthur Benjamin, I was really excited - Arthur is interactive, inspiring, and he loves math! What more could a math teacher ask for?! I hope you enjoy the video as much as I did.

While I was away with the 8th graders in D.C., I left this video along with a response sheet for my 7th grade PreAlgebra class and my Geometry classes. Here are a handful of responses from my student when asked about inspiration. Hopefully I can build on these!

• “The number patterns are really cool and how they build upon each other. This shows us how amazing and diverse everything is and how immaculate God is for creating this."

• “I am not only inspired by math, but also my teacher. Having a great teacher (Mrs. Gosnell) helps the students to learn more math. You rock!”

• “Doing math inspires me to think harder and inquire different angles and viewpoints of life’s many situations and decisions."

• “Math inspires me to learn the world around us. By learning new equations/problems in math, it inspires me o learn about problems in the world around us.”

• “Mrs. Gosnell is an inspiration to me. You can see clearly how much she loves math and wants to share her knowledge with us.”

• “Personally when complex concepts all of a sudden click, I find it really cool. Also how things become so complex is really neat.”

• “I love the patterns in math. Fibonacci numbers are a perfect example of this. Patterns are inspiring.”

• “Math poses a challenge that one must strive to overcome. It inspires one to think critically and creatively and find patterns between numbers.”

• “The challenge of going through the hardships of finding an answer.”
  

Every Day Life: November 7, 2014

The alarm on my phone goes off at 5:13 a.m. I shut it off, knowing that another one will sound in seven minutes. The second alarm goes off at 5:20 a.m. I press snooze without really thinking about it. Another alarm sounds and I hit snooze again. I don't HAVE to be up right now... And it's Friday, so I can wear jeans anyways. Why the idea of wearing jeans is synonymous with getting ready in less time, I can't really explain. Finally, I'm up at 5:38 a.m.

For the next hour and twenty minutes, I shower and dress, pack my lunch (tuna, crackers, cheese, carrots w/ ranch, & a granola bar for snack), eat a bowl of cereal, and head out the door. Oh, I also move Adam's phone to beside the bed and check that he has an alarm set. He stayed up late the night before and left it in the living room.

On the way to work, I listen to K-Love. It takes me around 20 minutes to get to work in the mornings and I arrive at 7:25. At 7:35, I meet with several other upper school faculty members for morning prayer. I haven't been to morning prayer for one reason or another this week, so I make a point to go this morning. Homeroom begins at 7:55. It's amazing to me how awake and talkative 13-year-olds are before 8 a.m. The students comment that many of us are wearing the same t-shirt (We wear Spirit Wear every Friday). My colleague and I get distracted catching up with students, so we skip our usual devotional and he says a quick prayer over the students' day.

I teach Algebra 1 during first period today. My lesson feels disjointed. I find myself frustrated that students need help with an assignment. When students are almost finished, I realize that I've misread the question and given them poor directions. They were still able to practice finding the slope of a line, so I decide not to fix my misreading and try to move on to the next thing. We finish the lesson a smidge early and play a game called "Rule" for the last three or four minutes.

I have second period free and then teach different levels of Geometry during third and fourth period. My students tell me they don't like Geometry, but they like my class - I'll take that as a compliment :) They also like folding and cutting, so I try to trick them into learning as often as possible. One minute they're cutting up paper and the next minute, they prove that the interior angles of a triangle have a sum of 180 degrees. This is one thing I enjoy about teaching Geometry - it's easier to find hands-on things for my students to do.

I'll stop here for now because this post is becoming rather lengthy. Why do I tell you about my day in this much detail? Do you really care what I listen to on the radio every morning or when my Geometry classes meet on Friday? Maybe not, but this is normal life for me. This is the day in and day out. There are days (like Tuesday) when I allow my frustration from first period to carry into the rest of my day, when I come home questioning my career choice, when I'm emotionally vulnerable because all I can think about is my soul friend's new baby 1,000 miles away... But there are also days like November 7 that begin with prayer, days when my students recognize community because we're all wearing the same t-shirt, and when my frustration from first period is eclipsed by success a couple of periods later. Days like these are the days worth remembering.

Stop, Continue, Start: 2014-2015 School Year Goals

It's that time of year again! Teachers begin in-service on August 25th and the first day of school will be September 3rd. It's been a great Summer, but I'm excited to see my kids and to get back into a daily routine! I'm again using the "Stop, Continue, Start" method for thinking through my school year goals. (You can read last year's goals here.) One thing I love (and hate!) about teaching is that you will never "arrive." There is always room to grow! So here we go...

Stop

• Allowing my students to give less than their best - specifically regarding their academics and behavior in class.
• Working from home. Well... at least not as much!

Continue

• Writing "main idea notes" on the white board and practice problems on the Smart board. I started doing this at the very end of last year. My purpose is that I want students to know where to look for certain types of information. There are certain things that I expect them to write in their notes word-for-word, so I want these things on the white board so that they are visible throughout the entire lesson.
• Math Games/Activities ... I do my best to keep our lessons as interesting as possible! This might include doing math on note cards posted around the room, Vocabulary Spin game, Round Robin practice, Math Toss, etc.

Start

• Unit Planning ... I am a lesson-by-lesson girl right now, but it has come back to bite me more than once. I don't expect that I'll plan every lesson from a unit before it starts, but I want to do a better job of looking at the big picture before diving in.
• Focusing each prep period on ONE thing. I'm working on assigning each prep period a task. There will always be fires to put out throughout the day, but I'm hoping that I can manage my time better by having these goals in place.

My classroom will be ready on Monday (we had renters all Summer and they've cleaned our floors), so I'm excited to put it back together and start decorating!

8th Grade Trip: Washington, DC

It feels like forever ago when Kim mentioned that I should accompany the 8th grade to Washington, DC. Yet before I knew it, we were on our way! Two and half years ago I was the girl who never wanted to teach Middle School and now I willingly travel out of state with 17 of them for five days of touring and fun. God is so good!

We stayed in Arlington, VA and traveled to and from the city by Metro. Each chaperone (there were 4 of us) was assigned 4-5 kids that we were in charge of throughout the trip. We flew into DC on Thursday morning, May 1 and stayed until Monday evening, May 5. We were also given the day off on Tuesday to recover (THANK YOU, CCA!). Here are a few highlights...

* Touring the White House (pictured below) ... It's truly beautiful! Just thinking about the people from history that have sat in those rooms is awesome. The tour is self-guided, but the Secret Service posted in each room are very willing to talk to you and we found them to be quite knowledgeable!

 Kim is our Middle School team leader and my best buddy at work. She took care of me when I first arrived and we've found a wonderful friendship. She did a great job of putting this trip together and making sure it ran smoothly. I'm so thankful for her!


* Newseum. A museum of news and journalism. We learned about the photographers and writers who capture history in the making. There was so much to see and do here - pictures, videos, etc. Our students had the chance to be news reporters, to think through the ethics of journalism, to see hundreds of pictures and videos, etc. This is a "must see" on my list!

 

 The picture above and on the left is of the four chaperones. Kim, Tim, Andrew, and I made a great team. I enjoyed getting to know each of them a little better! The picture to its right is of our whole group (minus myself because I was taking picture) sitting in a box at the Washington Nationals ballpark with our personal tour guide, Bob (man on the top left, wearing a white shirt). This particular box is where the news reporters sit. The ballpark was another highlight of our trip - such a fun place!

* Ford's Theater ... The theater was also one of my favorite places. We saw a one act play that described the night Lincoln was assassinated from the point of view of the theater's owners and the actors performing that night.

It is impossible to detail all of the many highlights from this trip. I've left out the Botanical Garden, the memorials, Arlington National cemetery, the Capitol, etc. We packed a lot into a short time! I'm so thankful for the opportunity to go on this trip and the memories I brought home. Many thanks to Kim for planning and leading our trip, to our students for being so well behaved, and to God for providing energy and beautiful weather for us!

Fridays, 7th period

We have seven periods in our school day. 7th period on Fridays wraps up our week which can make it one of the most difficult periods for me to focus through - especially when I have 7th graders! As much as I love teaching middle school, 7th period on Friday is a lot to ask. For me and for them. So I'll be honest, I began to dread 7th period on Fridays.

But today was different. After a couple of conversations with other teachers, I had resolved to better address inappropriate behavior in general, but specifically with this class of 7th graders. Today, I announced at the beginning of class that each student had 20 participation points; I explained that any occasion when I had to get on to them, whether for talking out of turn or being off task, they would lose a point. Immediately, one student started arguing with me and I told him that he lost a point. And repeat previous sentence, haha. This student (although wrong) set the tone for how serious I was. Most students quickly took note and adjusted their usual behavior.

I loved this system! Because I had decided on a clear plan before class, I was more attentive to little issues that arose. I was also more willing to be firm because it was easier for me to be fair with every student. I made it clear when it was an appropriate time for students talk and when it was not. And you know what? We had a great day!

I don't plan to use this particular plan every day, but I do plan to be more firm. I want to make expectations clear and then hold my students to that. They deserve it (and so do I).

Race for Inequality Graphs

This is an activity to help my kids to practice recognizing the graph of an inequality solution. I love "kill and drill" practice disguised as an activity; I love it even more if I can get them up and moving around the classroom. This short activity does both.

Materials:
--3x5 notecards
Prep:
--Copy one inequality solution onto one notecard - I cut mine in half for this part. Copy the inequality graph on a separate notecard. (I have 5 students in this particular class, so I've made 10 pairs.)
--Tape the graphs around the classroom with masking tape.

Game Time:
--Pass out two solution cards to each student.
--Students are to find the inequality graphs that match their solution cards. I'm planning to have my students check their first match with me before moving on to their second.
--The first student to find both of their matches wins!

Short and sweet :)

Mrs. G versus Students

A couple of weeks ago, a student called me out on a mathematical mistake during class. I don't remember what the situation was exactly, but I was inspired by the way this student caught my mistake and then clearly articulated their correction. (For the record, I make mathematical mistakes all the time, but this particular situation sparked the following reflection.) So I began thinking about a way to reward this student and any other student who catch my mistakes.

During this time, I was also becoming increasingly frustrated by the number of irrelevant questions that my students were asking. Middle Schoolers are AWESOME at distracting themselves and others around them and even me... everything from "I like your hair" to "What's for lunch today?" They truly have a talent! In a close second to these types of questions are questions that should be irrelevant. "Please turn to pg. ___ and look at #___," I often say while I'm also writing the appropriate page and problem number on the board. **30 second pause** "Mrs. Gosnell, what page are we on?" **Insert groan.**

These two thought processes are what led to our new game! Right now I'm just calling it "Mrs. G versus Students." Please lend me any creativity you have to offer! Here are the rules:
--I (Mrs. G) score if a student asks an irrelevant question (including a question that I have answered in the past 5 minutes).
--The students score if they catch me in a mathematical error.
I keep a tally on the whiteboard divided by class. I'm winning in most classes, but my 9th grade Honors Geometry class is currently beating me by two or three points... I hope to quickly remedy that situation ;) We haven't decided what the reward will be for any class that beats me. I'll probably do ice cream sundaes or a pizza party at the end of the year, of course that is IF they beat me :)

My only issue has been that, in some classes, I apparently wasn't clear about what sort of "error" they get a point for. As soon as I stumble over a sentence or reword something, some students cause a scene trying to say they deserve a point. I point out that it's not mathematical and have even told a few students that they won't be allowed to continue playing if they use the game to distract from class time. Overall, it's been a success! The students are really on the lookout for me to make a mistake and they're getting better about catching themselves before asking an irrelevant question. We think it's fun!

What do you think? Any ideas for a better name?

Replying to a Wrong Answer

I recently discovered the mathtwitterblogosphere... you know, because I have nothing else to do ;) Anyways, through their site, I found this blogging initiation. I'm too late to join in on the actual initiation, but I decided to read through their prompts to get ideas. One of the options from week one was to take a picture of something in your classroom that you're proud of and then write about it. Clearly I don't have a picture, but I am proud of myself for thinking through this issue and finding a productive way to improve my teaching style.

When a student raises their hand in class, they're taking a risk. Whether they're asking a question or answering one, there is the potential that their classmates will think them particularly smart or particularly dumb. I've often struggled with how to respond to students in particular situations, but one that bothered me recently was what to say when a student answers incorrectly. I don't want to emphasize their wrong for fear of embarrassing them, but I'm obligated to make a point of clearing up any misconceptions.

So what's a teacher to do? Turn to google, of course. These are results of my search or results of my thought process that the search invoked. The most helpful reference was here.

When a student answers incorrectly...

• Emphasize any part of their answer that is correct: "I really like that you remembered to subtract first, but can someone else help us with what comes next?"
• Accept answers from other students: "Ok, thanks! Did others have a different response?" The idea here is to have several students answer and by the time I affirm the correct answer, the students have mostly forgotten about the original wrong answer.
• Affirm their thought process: "That's not quite what I'm looking for, but I understand why you think that." Sometimes I explain the misconception here, others times I move on to give a correct answer. It usually depends on how "popular" I think their misconception may be.
• Lead them to a correct response: "Are you remembering that trapezoids have only one pair of parallel sides?"

These have been immensely helpful to me and my students have benefited as well. I love discovering ways to be a better teacher! This idea will definitely be something I continue to mull over and seek to improve.

For the Student Teacher

My little sister will begin student teaching in February! I am SO proud of her. She has worked so hard to get to this point and I can't wait for her to finally see all of that hard work pay off! As we talk about her student teaching, I find myself wanting to give her 5 million tips from my student teaching experience (and now 1.5 years teaching). I've held back because I know she doesn't need my help, but I decided to write a blog about it anyways. Now she can read them if she wants, but I'm not being her "second mother"... At least not this time. Here are a few things to consider:

• Teaching is exhausting in ways you may not be expecting. Your students quickly become your kids - you will love them, you will take care of them, you will desire their success, much like a parent might. I believe this is one of the best and hardest parts of teaching. Because just like every child does a parent, your students will let you down. Your students will not always appreciate your care, will not always meet expectations, etc. This part of teaching is what you can't prepare for - the emotional exhaustion - the part that refuses to let your heart rest.
• Teaching is exhausting physically. Your feet won't hurt so much after the first week or so :) But expect them to hurt again come January and again in August - it's amazing how quickly our bodies change and adapt. The same goes for your voice - it will be hoarse and scratchy at the beginning, but this too shall pass. On that note, invest in a good water bottle and USE IT!
• Some kids will love you (and want to please you) because you are young; others will test you (and want to make life more difficult) for the same reason. Be thankful for the priors and patient with the latters.
• You can't do a fancy project or activity EVERY lesson. One of my advisers suggested to have a goal of one "fancy thing" per week. Once you're keeping your boat afloat while doing that you can start adding more.
• Pick a lesson planning format and stick to it. I truly believe that colleges and teacher prep programs teach you "rules" for lesson planning SO that you can BREAK them. Your lesson plan has to work for YOU.
• Your "To Do" list is never ending. It doesn't matter if it's September or June, there is always "just one more thing." Learn to set boundaries and stick to them. Learn to take breaks and rest.

 Kayla is going to LOVE teaching, I just know it. Furthermore I think (in my professional opinion, haha) that she will be very good at it. There are some pre-K and 2nd grade kids who are in for a blessing and they don't even know her name yet! I can't wait to hear all about this fantastic journey! I love you, baby girl. I am so proud of you!

Math Toss and Pair-Share

In an attempt to procrastinate on my lesson plans a little bit longer, I've decided to blog about a couple of simple math "activities" that I do to keep my class a little more interesting. I say "activities" in quotes because they're not full-blown projects or even games necessarily. I just use them to try to make math problems less boring. As much as I love math, handing a student 15-20 equations and saying "You learn by doing!" is torturous, so here we are :) (I may have blogged on this first activity already... I'm not sure).

Math Toss - I borrowed/stole this activity from one of my favorite professors, Mrs. Rachel Pool. It can be adapted for several different types of problems, but I used it most recently for solving and graphing inequalities.
*Problems are given on the board. I provide 2-3 different problems and assign rows of students to do each one. They still work independently, but this gives me the opportunity to go over more than one problem after the activity.
*Students work on a half sheet of paper and are told to solve the inequality but do NOT graph (yet). When they finish, they crumple their paper into a ball. (They begin to get restless and excited at this point!)
*On my count, students are allowed to throw their "ball"... at me. I should probably be concerned that they get SO excited about throwing something at me, but I just go with it!
*Once they've tossed their ball, they come up and retrieve one (my mantra here is "It doesn't matter who it belongs to or if it's your own. Pick one up and go back to your desk"). When they get back to their desk, they check the work done and then graph the inequality.

Pros: Students are having fun and doing math, need I say more?  Students get out of their seats. Students practice evaluating someone else's work.
Cons: Students get caught up on, "Whose problem is this?" Without clear direction, they can get out of hand when throwing but I'm fairly strict in my directions so it's not usually a problem.

Pair-Share - This can also be adapted for several different types of problems. I'm using it this week with Greatest Common Factors.
*Each student makes up their own _______. For GCF this week, it will be a random number (with reasonable parameters given).
*Students are to pair up with another student and find the GCF of their two numbers.
*I usually have them pair up with a different student after this for more practice.

Pros: Students work together. Students "create" their own problem. Students get out of their seats.
Cons: If what they're supposed to make up is too complicated (perhaps an algebraic expression), it can be confusing when they pair up.

That's all I have for now... I suppose I'll have to actually finish my lesson plans now :)

Mr. Gosnell Goes to CCA

Adam is on the substitute teacher list at CCA. However, we (CCA faculty/staff) fill most of our absences in house, so he's never been called - until today! He subbed for our Latin teacher for about half a day. I knew that he was coming in at 11 a.m. and I was a little anxious. It was my idea for him to apply to be a substitute. I knew that he would do a good job, but really I wanted him to like it! (I secretly want Adam to teach high school one day, but that's a different story.)

11 a.m. came and went. The bell rang for lunch and the next thing I know, I have 5 or 6 students come by my classroom... "Mrs. Gosnell, your husband is here! He is SOO cool!! He let us ask him questions. He should get a job teaching here - I would be in his class." And on and on it went! Haha. Apparently Adam made quite an impression :)

I'm so thankful that he was able to come and that he had a positive experience. It's exciting to share such a huge part of my life with him - even if it was only a few hours.

He told one class that if/when they finished their work, they could each ask him two questions. Here are a few of our favorites... (A = Adam; S = Student)

--A: I'm Mr. Gosnell. S: The same as Mrs. Gosnell?!

--S: What do you do? A: I'm a student. S: But what's your job? A: I'm a full time student. S: Well how do you support Mrs. Gosnell?

--S1: How old are you? A: 23.
   S2: How long have you been married? A: One year. 
   S3: How old were you when you got married? A: ... 22.

--Questions also included "What's your favorite color?" "Do you have any siblings?" "How old are your siblings?" "How did you propose to Mrs. Gosnell?"

Back to School

School is finally underway and our lives have been crazy busy for the last couple of weeks! I was so thankful that yesterday was Friday, but I also found myself thinking, "Where was Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday?!" I felt like I blinked and it was the weekend again!

The first day of school for CCA (my new school) was September 4. I was so ready to meet my students and finally get started! In all of my classes, I spent most of the first day telling students a little bit about myself, learning their names, encouraging them to get to know each other, etc. Many of them have been going to school together for awhile, but they were several new faces as well. For the students new to CCA, I told them that I was learning right alongside them and we would figure it out together. The first thing I noticed about my students is how polite they are! So many of them say "Thank you, Mrs. Gosnell." or "Have a great day!" as they leave my classroom. It's so sweet and I was very impressed! My favorite part of the first day was after school... At least five people (including our Head of School and my Principal) stopped by my classroom specifically to ask how my first day went. It was such a sweet blessing!

I spent the second of class going over my expectations - what I expected of students in regards to behavior, how they enter and exit the classroom, grade requirements, etc. We also worked on a post-it activity where students had an opportunity to share what they expected of me! Here are some of my favorite responses for students' expectations (direct quotes):

• "Frequent here-and-there math games..."
• "Fun, not that much homework, helpful, give candy!"
• "To make sure no matter what I know everything about Geometry I need to know."
• "Not to give us busy work but more of the stuff we need to know. You (I know you will) make us all feel equal. Love us 4ever (and ever)!
• "93% or above on a test as a class average = ice cream party. Not to be strict, but just enough to make us learn but still enjoy class."
• "Helping us actually understand geometry. Don't give up on us please!"
• "Every day we will learn something new. Help us study. Reasonable amount of homework."

I have my work cut out for me :) My kids are great and I'm truly enjoying getting to know each of them. We have an awesome school year ahead of us!

Life Numbers

I teach the Math portion of an SAT class on Tuesday and Thursday nights. It's a two hour class, so I try to do a "Brain Break" about half way through. Yes, I know it's a cheesy name - I teach Middle School, give me a break :) (Side note: Any time I do something weird "I teach Middle School" is a great excuse!) Anyways, I used for our first "Brain Break."

Life Numbers...
1) Think of three numbers that are important to your life. A special year, a jersey number, the month of your birthday, number of times you've been on a certain vacation, etc.
2) Write your name and those three numbers on one side of a note card. Write their descriptions on the other side.
3) I pick up the cards. Then I read the numbers and descriptions in no particular order. The group has to guess which number matches each description.

Students seem to like it and it's a great way to learn a few things about the students!

Prayer for My Students

Abba,
Please bless each of my students - right now, wherever they are. I pray that as they wrap up their Summer that it is a fun and restful time. I ask that You would bring them back having prepared their hearts, their minds, and their bodies for a new school year.
Put Your hand over their homes and their families. I pray for strong relationships with each parent and support for their student and learning.
Calm any anxiety that each student may have about returning to school - I pray that past hurts will be forgiven, that struggles will be overcome, and that Your love will sustain them through any trial.
Bless their relationship with You. Wherever they are in their Spiritual walk, I pray that You would draw them closer to Yourself. Teach us how to glorify You through math and school work.
We desire to honor You. We praise You in advance for all that You will do this school year.
Amen.

Back to School: 2013-2014 School Year Goals

This is my attempt at goal setting for the new school year. I saw this form on another blog. You can see her version here: Sarah Educating.

Stop

• Second guessing myself. Especially during lesson planning, I wasted a lot of time flipping my decision form A to B back to A again! This year I'll try to just stick with something :)

• Stressing about "finishing the material" - my new school uses a Math Mastery program that I think will help me focus more on my students' understanding and less on "Oh my gosh, I have to finish chapter 3!"

Continue

• Loving students! I can't wait to meet "my kids" for this year!!!

• Bellwork. (My kids named this "Energizer Bunny Work" last year; I can't wait to see what this new group will name these assignments.) These assignments helped my routine tremendously. And this year, I plan to focus these assignments mostly on past concepts that students should have already mastered.

Start

• Math Notebooks - Most of my students had a notebook for notes and assignments, etc, but I never looked at them or held them accountable for it. I'm really excited to get more involved this year and to have students use them more actively during class!

• More consistent parent communication... Ideally, I'd like to e-mail the HW assignments out at the beginning of the week, so parents can help hold their students accountable. That's a perfect world though; we'll see how it pans out.

• Structuring my test writing process. Again, I think the Math Mastery program will help with this. They're fairly strict about what my tests should consist of.

Abba, please be with me and each of my students as well as all teachers and students this school year. Thank you for providing this position to me and gifting me with the ability to teach. May You be glorified every step of that way!

The Gosnells Move to Boston: God Gave Me a Teaching Position!

You've probably heard the saying, "God can make a way when there seems to be no way." I've always believed that was true, but now I've lived it! When we decided to move to MA in April, I immediately began applying for teaching positions and researching what I should do to transfer my teaching license. I was told that I would need to take two tests. Only after passing the first test could my license be considered "ready for review" by the MA Department of Education. This review process could take up to 33 weeks! Q: Can I be hired as a teacher during this time? A: "If the school is desperate enough..." I was so discouraged. I remember getting off the phone and breaking down in tears. I went ahead and began the process, but as I did I prepared myself for not being able to teach in the Fall. I started thinking about any other strengths I had and what else I might be good at.

I applied for several teaching jobs in the South Hamilton area, but they all required a MA teaching license and some even required a Master's degree. I applied for other positions as well - daycare provider, receptionist, administrative assistant, etc. A couple of places called me in for interviews after we arrived, but for one reason or another, nothing fit our needs.

Fast forward to last week: Adam's admissions counselor suggested that I contact his friend who is an Upper School principal at a private school nearby. The school had a Middle School math opening and they asked me to come in for an interview right away. I interviewed on Friday, July 27. By Wednesday, they had offered me the position. We had a short business meeting on Thursday and I mailed my Saturday morning! God is SOOO good!

A few specific praises:

• My position includes three sections of 7th and 8th grade PreAlgebra and two sections of Geometry.
• The principal and administrator who interviewed me are Gordon-Conwell graduates.
• The school is only 20 minutes away from our home.
• The principal reminds me of my principal in Arkansas, whom I highly respect and love dearly!

Summer is for Teachers, Not Students

I have resolved that although the students benefit from Summer break, the real purpose behind it is for the TEACHERS. I don't want to see my time at Ouachita High School end, but let's face it, as far as school work goes, I'm over it. And my kids were over it a long time ago...

We're going to stay strong! I refuse to let them rule me :)

Creating Independent Learners

Of the thousands of things that have surprised me as a first year teacher, one of the most surprising is how "needy" some of my students can be. Many of my students need affection, attention, or additional support because of their age or because of a situation at home. Many need a pencil (EVERY day), extra paper, better organizational skills, etc. Although these needs are very real, the neediness that I'd like to discuss here is solely academic.

There are some of my students who rarely need to be reprimanded or "re-directed." They seem to have a sixth sense about what's coming next and what's expected of them - sometimes their sixth sense can be in overdrive, but nevertheless I consider this group of students very independent. Other students require my undivided attention - I'm constantly checking to see that they're on task, constantly asking them to focus in class, or constantly re-explaining directions. We might explain the difference between these groups of students as a difference in maturity.

In addition to the differences in a student's focus and drive, I also see a difference in their test taking skills. When given a test or a quiz, most of my students work straight through. Sometimes they read directions and sometimes they don't, but they answer each question in sequence and often never look back. However, some students read and re-read each question very skeptically as if I'm trying to trick them. (Perhaps I should note here that I try to make my tests very black and white. I have had to learn how to write tests simply by writing them, so there have been instances where my directions are vague or ambiguous, but I'm not including those instances in this discussion.) Then, after re-reading, they come to my desk and ask, "Mrs. Gosnell, do you mean that I should insert restatement of same directions the student has read?" And I reply "Yes, student Y, I do mean that you should insert restatement of directions the student has read." This could partially be due to test anxiety, but I find it hard to believe that is the case in every situation.

Finally, I've found that many students would much rather me tell them the answer than to a) go look for it, b) figure it out alone, or c) repeat to me what we've just learned (and often what's still written on the white board). Option "c" is what really gets to me! I suppose that I expected this last sort of dependence (also known as laziness), but unfortunately that does not make it any less frustrating.

How do I teach these students independence without leaving some of them "hanging out to dry"? How do I  force them to work alone without some students not working at all? How do I allow them time to think on their own without many of them simply waiting for "the smart kids" to answer? Where's the balance?

Lesson Planning

***I've discovered Slideshare and I'm really excited about it! I can now upload documents or slideshows and then post them to my blog. I figured out the uploading on my own and then my sweet husband helped me to post it here. Super cool!***

During college, lesson plans became the bane of our existence as Education majors. We spent many hours throughout those four years griping about the department's format, whining about the purpose of writing 500 of them (I'm exaggerating a little :)), defining and redefining "Extensions" (I still don't know what those were supposed to be!), "helping" each other "make up" material, etc, etc. A few of us coped by copy-and-past-ing sections from previous plans written; others re-invented methods and madness for each new plan.

Lesson plans are part of life as a teacher. Perhaps you consider them a necessary evil or your "teaching bible" for the day. Maybe you write out a daily script or your plan is a list with steps 1, 2, 3, and 4. Some teachers write their plans and never need to look at them again; others have it with them throughout the entire lesson. No matter how you slice it or dice it, you have some sort of plan. (I understand that sometimes that plan is "WING IT AND PRAY", but we're going to ignore that option for the sake of the blog topic!)

I've decided that learning to write lesson plans in college is a "You've got to know the rules to break them" philosophy. We practice including LOTS of details in a lesson plan. We expose ourselves to state standards and even national standards. We learn the rules.

Now I like to think I'm out in the real world and I can break the rules! I still write a pretty detailed plan for every lesson, but I created my own format and it works for me. With time, I hope the details will decrease. As my teaching style grows, I expect the format to change and that's okay. I'm taking this teaching gig one day at a time! Here's the format that I'm using currently...

Lesson plan.template from Rebecca Gosnell

What They Can't Teach You About Teaching

Teaching is exactly what I pictured and yet very different at the same time. I cannot begin to count the times I have thought "I have no idea what I'm doing..." or "No one told me how to handle this!" or "I just made 95% of that up on the spot and I'm not sure it was right." I hope I'm not the only one :)

I feel that I have been taught much more than I have taught this year. My principal is incredible and he often says, "I think you're getting better every day!" But there are many days when I think "You might not say that if you had been in X period." Nevertheless, I can say that I am not the same teacher or even the same person that I was on our first day of school last Fall.

I have come to believe that there are aspects of being a teacher that simply cannot be taught. My professors tried to warn me of this in their own way, but living it out can be somewhat shocking! These are a few things that I think you cannot teach someone about teaching.

• Discipline ... Oh sure, people give you ideas and help you write your "Expectations and Consequences," but no one can truly prepare you for the first time a student lies to your face or challenges your authority in front of the class, etc, etc.
• Writing and Grading Quizzes/Tests ... Is this question worth 2 points or 5? How much do I count off when a student rounds to nearest whole instead of the tenth as instructed? How long will it take my students to complete a test? If several students fail, did I teach the material well enough or did I make the test too hard? BLAH.
• Conversing with parents ... I have been blessed with mostly supportive parents, but it is never an easy conversation when you must say "Your child is failing math." And no one can dictate your reply when a parent asks "Why does my child only have an 89%?"
• Physical health / Voice training ... Vitamin C and washing your hands won't keep you 100% healthy when you're with kids all day. Trust me, I've tried. In addition, talking/standing for almost 6 hours a day can wear on your body in general if you're not careful, but it's the worst when you're sick. This is not a "suck it up and lay low" type of job.

Finally, no one can fully teach you the amount of love that you will experience both for your students and from them... No one mentions the disappointment you'll feel when they let you down or when they don't perform well. No one can describe the way you'll cheer for them and work for their success. "My kids" (i.e. my students) are wonderful and terrible. They're good and bad, clever and ridiculous... And I love them because they're mine.