MATH

While it seems like so much longer, I haven't even been here a full two months yet.  The weeks just fly by, however, the months are crawling by.  And I am not complaining.  At first I really wanted it to go fast, as everything was new and unfamiliar, but, now that it is my 'life' for now, I am wanting it to slow down.  I am almost halfway done!  While I feel like I just got here, I still do realize that I have indeed been here about 60 days.  That is more days than I have ever been in a real relationship!  Don't know if I should be admitting that!

Today, I wanted to try things a little different than what we have been doing for these two months.  Since Mr. Samir is now teaching the middle school, I feel like I can relate my work with his a little easier, making sure my boys are learning what the rest of the middle school is learning.  Only, on a more one-on-one basis.  For math, we took them back and team taught about 25 of the little rascals.  And that is exactly what they are when they are all together in one room.  Too bad they weren't as funny as the little rascals.  Might be much more entertaining to sit through.  We decided to put some large multiplication and division problems on the board, seeing who understood what they were doing.  While everyone worked fairly quietly, we would help those who wanted a little extra help.  My boys never raised their hands OR came up for help, but just kept working.  A few people said they were done, got their papers checked, then went to correct their mistakes.  Then, one of my boys shot up.  "I'm done!" he announces to everyone.  Slouching in my chair, I was nervous to see what kind of answers he came up with, as I had seen him try and do these before.  Did he just rush through to beat everyone and look cool, or did he actually do the work?  This is my worst student in math, so I thought I knew the answer.  He brought it up to me, I worked each problem out, looked at his work, and realized this boy got everything correct!  What an awesome feeling to see that what I have been working on with them, is really helping them exceed past the expectations of the mainstream middle school class.  

Being new, and placed in such a weird "title" at a school, given all the special needs kids, I really wonder each day, "Am I doing them any good?"  I understand I am not the only teacher that wonders this, but that it is a common question among teachers.  How do we know if we really are reaching these kids or doing anything to further their education.  Well, when something like this happens, it makes me do nothing but smile!