Professional - and Personal - Development

Some weeks I can't seem to keep up with myself or my students. This has been one of those weeks. My poor Math 11 students - all 5 of them in two different classes (which run simultaneously!)- deserved a teacher more prepared to differentiate instruction, but all I could do was go back and forth between the two groups  (pre-calculus and apprenticeship and workplace) with muddled explanations. Somehow I needed to explain the ambiguous case of the sine law and the usefulness of stacked bar graphs at the same time. Luckily we found one example of a useful stacked bar graph in biology 11. Unfortunately, I finished Friday afternoon knowing that neither of the pre-calculus students understood that there was an ambiguity much less why I cared. The physics 12 students who I check on couldn't understand the point of the game their teacher was using to help them understand parabolic motion, and I was of very limited help. Biology 11 students struggled with natural selection and variation, the math is going to get harder next week, the service class was disappointed that their plans didn't work out for the Terry Fox run, it seemed that the book of Romans wasn't captivating my religion 10-12 students, and I even struggled with the science 6/7 lab class.

So why do I love teaching?
I think it is the promise that next week just might be better - maybe I'll see the light come on in a student's eyes. Maybe one of my students will understand the connection between the quadratic equations I help them learn and the population biology or the physics that they are learning.

Maybe something we do in class will be the bridge between where they are now and the place they want to go - or maybe it will just be an interesting detour. Either way, I want to help my students explore the possibilities. So I keep trying, keep learning, keep struggling to become a more effective teacher.

This week I started another online course - Inquiry Through Science & Engineering Practices - from Montana State University. I'm hopeful that some of what I learn I'll be able to use to shape the way I teach - and by extension - the way my students learn.

(I should probably take Physics 12 next!)

Back to School - It's New Year's Eve

Labor Day marks the end of summer holidays for most British Columbia students - there are a few who have already started the 2013-2014 school year, and some university students who won't start classes until a little later in September - but for most students today is New Year's Eve. New clothes, pencils, markers, backpacks, and routines.

We teachers have been working for at least a couple of weeks to ready our selves and our classrooms. Tomorrow we'll tell our students a little about our own summer, but mostly listen as students describe theirs. We'll hand out text books and course outlines, talk about expectations, and try to keep a little of that feeling of anticipation alive. I expect that my students will be endearing, entertaining, and even challenging - at least I hope they will be.

This year I hope to showcase student work on one  of my chalkboards, and student artwork on the back wall. Right now my classroom looks a little bare because there are two great big spaces just waiting for someone's - or several someone's - masterpieces.

In the meantime - this is how I spent part of my Labor Day weekend:

 (The description below is from the geocaching website with my editorial comments bolded and italicized.)

Library shelf is a cache located in Scenic Canyon Park. Fairly rugged terrain, but a great cache to combine with Cake Topper, Pillar Assault, and Crevasse Rock. (We did all four, plus hid one or more new caches.) The cache is located on the edge of a cliff and is not suitable for children.(I'm quite certain that I would never have done this on my own, but I had a great time with other "responsible" adults - and one soon-to-be 8th grader!)

The cache is a larger sized lock n lock (camoed of course), with a book theme ....bring a book along to trade when you come! (I forgot to bring a book, but I would be willing to go back to trade books. Luckily the Rutland branch of the Okanagan Regional Library is much more convenient!)
 
There are many ways you can access the cache, depending if you are hiking up from the bottom or top. The park has recently expanded, but the new area isn't very clearly marked yet, but some newer maps do already have the new part on it. If you enter via Gallagers Road just go through the gate next to the private property, (that is what we did) and if you're coming up from Pillar Assault there are several shoots to make your way up. (That's how we got back up - walking back along the Greenway would have been the easier way out, but life is full of challenges.)
 
IF you are comfortable with a bit of rock climbing the cache isn't too hard to get to, but it sits in a very precarious position on the edge of a cliff where there is a lot of loose/unstable rock ...PLEASE be EXTREMELY careful ...if you are the least bit unsure bring a rope incase the rocks below you slide or break away ...you DON'T want to fall off this cliff ...it's a long ways down!! (We did not use safety ropes, and at least one person was heard saying "Jordan, don't tell your mom!")
 
There is a small ledge that if you're so inclined you could relax and read and take a break. (We just took pictures.)
 
Please be careful when removing and re-hiding the cache ...it's hiding spot is designed so the cache doesn't itself fall victim to a rock slide ...please re-hide it carefully ...Thanks :) (You are welcome)

(The view from back up from "Pillar Assault" - the one cache we found near the bottom of the canyon.)


This was exactly what I needed to do before school starts tomorrow - face a challenge, work really hard, and remember that there is life outside my classroom. 

Now I wonder what amazing things my students did over the summer.

Happy New Year!