My Life as A Math Teacher

Snow Days

mylifeasamathteacher — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 16:09:37 +0000

Most teachers will tell you that one of the most exciting parts about being a teacher in the winter is the possibility of a snow day.

SNOW DAY (noun) (1)A time period where the weather makes it dangerous for travel, so school is canceled. (2) A day when teachers can get done all of the things that they had been meaning to do but didn’t have the time. (3) A day when every teacher has their TV on at 5:30 in the morning waiting for their school’s name to be displayed at the bottom of the screen.

Well, folks, we do the snow dance every year, but this year I think we might have danced too long! Today is my sixth snow day in a row! We have had one snow storm after another, so the snow is just piling on top of itself and the roads are way too icy for school buses to drive safely.

It has been a really nice break, but with another snow storm coming tonight, I am beginning to actually picture the math that I taught my students flying out of their heads. Two full weeks of no learning will not be good when the state test time rolls around.

I can imagine that about 2% of my students’ parents have made their child open their school bag and review a few things. Those are the good parents who actually care about their child’s education. The other 98% have probably not even talked to their child about school since the last time the principal called to tell them that little Johnny beat little Jimmy up in the lunch line.

Scale Model Project

mylifeasamathteacher — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 03:04:05 +0000

A few weeks ago I assigned my students a project that involved them taking an object in their house and either making it really big or really small. They had to measure the dimensions of their real object, pick a scale, and then make their project with the new smaller or bigger dimensions they calculated. So, what does this all mean for my classroom?

1. My classroom is filled with about fifty giant i-pods.

2. My classroom is filled with about fifty mini i-pods.

3. My classroom is probably the best barbie dream house a girl could ever want.

4. My classroom smells a bit like hay because of all the kids who decided to make a model of their barn (I work in a place where cleaning out the barn is an excused absence)

5. My classroom feels a little bit smaller because of the kid who decided to make a model of his bed and only reduce it to half its size.

6. My classroom has so many model animals in it, I could charge admission and advertise it as the most boring zoo ever.

7. My classroom could make a really tall person seem not really that tall.

8. My classroom is filled with objects that look like a reflection in a fun house mirror because of all the kids who did their project WRONG.

9. My classroom is happy that it doesn’t smell as bad as it would if all the food in all the mini refrigerators was actually real.

10. My classroom has a few projects in it that appear to be done by someone much older than a middle schooler…hmmmmm

Twas the Night Before The End of Winter Break

mylifeasamathteacher — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 00:19:41 +0000

Twas the night before winter break was over, and all through my house,

Not a lesson plan was done, didn’t even touch my computer mouse.

The stockings were put away in their boxes with care,

In hopes that snow would soon fly through the air.

The children were snacking on sugar in their beds,

While all the math that I taught them flew from their heads.

Their mothers glad to get rid of them, and I feel like crap,

Wishing I could continue my winter break naps.

My life as a math teacher – The beginning of it all

mylifeasamathteacher — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 01:31:41 +0000

Well, Ms. M, you see I did my homework last night, but … after I had finished it I left it on my bed and then my little brother got a hold of it and took it downstairs to draw on it, which wasn’t the end of the world because I was going downstairs anyway. Then, I noticed it on the floor, so I picked it up and put it on my kitchen counter. I showed it to my mom as she was cooking dinner and she said what a great job I had done on it, so I took it over to my grandma’s house to show her. She owns a sheep farm, you see, so she was out tending to her herd when I was showing it to her, when a big gust of wind took it by mistake high up into a tree!!! I ended up getting it down, but not before it got a fair share of sap and dirt on it. I put it in my grandma’s pick-up truck because she was going to give me a ride home, but my dad ended up coming to get me instead. When he drove me over to her house this morning to go and get it, we found out that my grandma had driven to the next town for some reason or another. So… my homework has crayon on it, some BBQ sauce from last night’s dinner, some sheep food, tree sap, and dirt on it, and it’s in the back of my grandma’s pick-up truck, but … it’s done.

This is my life as a math teacher.

I think most teachers have heard stories like these. Maybe I exaggerated this one a little bit, but I wouldn’t be surprised to hear something similar come out of any one of my students’ mouths. I really enjoy what I do. If you were to ask my husband, however, he would say that that is anything but the truth.

The truth is, 90% of my day is wonderful. I get to make a difference in kids’ lives. I get to make them think about problems and ask questions. I get to encourage them and make them feel good about themselves. I get to challenge them and make them see others’ points of view. For some, I get to be the only person in their life who actually cares. I get to be the first teacher who makes them change their opinion of math and to help them see how enjoyable it can be. Not every kid is going to be a math genius, but EVERY kid should feel some kind of success every day in math class. That could range from being able to solve a two-step equation to simply being able to finally remember that three times four is twelve.

Then there’s the other 10% of the day. This part of the pie-graph includes parents who don’t believe me when I call them up to tell them that their kid misbehaved. It includes watching kids bully each other and knowing that sending the bullies to the principal is probably just going to make it worse. This section would include the kids who don’t bring a pencil to class because they honestly can’t afford one. A fraction would go homework assignments with just answers, and no work shown. A small percent would be dedicated to not having any time to actually create lessons during my planning time because I have a meeting about a failing student, when it’s really the parent who is failing. Then, of course, a tiny itsy bitsy little decimal would go to watering my plants, which never seems to want to grow in my forty degree classroom.

So, this blog is going to be about my life as a math teacher. All 100% of it.