Made it Through Midterms

by Rob Shenk

My test this morning wasn't as bad as I expected. Although there was a proof that I wasn't sure how to approach. And I ran out of time before I could figure out what to do. I gave it my best, and that's all I can do.
My larger midterm was submitted minutes before it was due. And I was only confident in 2, maybe 3, of my six responses. I did give an answer to every question. We'll just have to hope for partial credit.

by House Of Sims

My midterm evaluations went alright. One class was full of compliments. The other had more issues with my teaching. Since my goal is to be a better teacher, I'm trying to take what they said to heart. The prevailing comment was that I go to fast. It's hard to determine if they mean that I speak to fast (which I am prone to do) or that the pace of the course is too fast. If it's the latter, that's harder to fix. There's a syllabus, and I'm already a little behind because I wanted to explain more thoroughly.

Some commented that they like that I go step by step while others want more examples. There were requests for improved handwriting on the board as well as requests for me to be conscious of where I write on the board in consideration of those who sit in the back.

Overall, I've made more of an effort to go slower and include more examples that more closely resemble the homework. We'll see how it goes!

Another week

by Rob Shenk

This has been another stressful student week. As I mentioned, it’s midterm time. We were scheduled to receive our midterm in my most challenging class. This is the class that requires a week to complete 10 problems even after meeting with the study group. We were to be given a take home final over which we were not to collaborate. We had been told that our homework problems would be easy in comparison. Add to that the fact that our professor expressed concern about our current poor performance as a class. Needless to say, I have been worried about what to expect. In fact, I planned to skip a family trip so that I could stay home alone and study. Unfortunately, our professor went out of town for a conference, and the test was never posted. We don’t know if he forgot or changed his mind.

While some might view this as a good thing, I’m a bit neurotic, which currently means that I see only the bad in this. It happens that I already completed my assignments for my other classes in preparation for a test weekend. Next week, I’ll have a paper to put together, a test to study for in another class, and a test to prepare my students for. While I hated missing the family trip, next week I will find it more difficult to isolate myself and study without feeling guilty.

I have to keep reminding myself: "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28

by House Of Sims

On the teaching front, I’m in a reflective mode. I’m not currently satisfied with the teaching style that I have taken on. I have fallen into the pattern of “I do. We do. You do.” So I write a problem type on the board and go through the steps. Then I put a second problem up and we talk through it as a class. I answer questions. I put a couple on the board that they try on their own. Then I work through the problems to ensure that their notes are accurate.

This is a more traditional approach, but I don’t see it as my style. I prefer to have them explore problems, coming up with their own method. I want them to discuss their different methods understanding that there are often several approaches to a problem. I want them to present to their peers with minimal guidance for me.

Unfortunately, the amount of material to be covered in this short amount of time seems to be preventing me from operating in my ideal state. When I put problems for them to work on their own, they wait for me to work them out. Prompting from me produces, “This is hard!” Very few are willing to come to the board. If they get it wrong, I try to ask other classmates for their input rather than rushing in to fix it. But the volunteers seem to resent having their classmates tell them where they went wrong.

I try to encourage them to work through problems in small groups, but their participation varies. Some days, I can hear them helping each other out. Other times, they are texting or talking about some frat party, or heaven forbid they try sneaking in a nap. Midterm evaluations will be given out on Monday. We’ll see how I fair.

Middle of the Road

by Rob Shenk

It’s midterm time and I am feeling it. I’m having a hard time staying focused this week, and my sleep patterns are off. I had a paper due Tuesday, and I submitted it about 5 minutes before it was due. (And yes I was on Facebook when I should have been writing.) I missed study group on Sunday, so the homework from that class is proving more difficult. I keep finding myself on the net instead of working tirelessly at understanding the problems. I can see that I’m walking in the wrong direction, but I can’t seem to get turned around. It’s temporary thing, I’m sure, but I’m just tired this week and in need of ME time.

by House Of Sims

I’m not so proud of my teaching this week either. It’s a test week. As a teaching assistant, I don’t write the test. In fact I don’t tend to receive it until a day or so before I give it. So in some ways I’m blind to how they’ll be tested. I guess I’m OK with that, although it makes me nervous during test week. I want them to do well. When they don’t, I view it as a reflection of my work. Some might say that it is a reflection of the effort that they give, but I think that’s only partially the case.

Part of my reason for saying that is based on how we teach as opposed to how they are tested. Due to the level that my students are at, we have a prescribed curriculum. Its focus is on processes. This is the algorithm for factoring by grouping, for example. Given the vast amount of material to be covered compared to the amount of time available, there isn’t much time for constructivist teaching, although I try to do what I can to help them discover why this method works. The problem is that we test via application to some degree. In other words, the test has “story problems” and contextual situations, while the examples we give in class and the homework we assign are what I call “raw, naked problems”.

So now I need to give some serious thought to how I will incorporate context into my teaching without deviating from what I am required to teach.

Just keep swimming

by Rob Shenk

For those who are interested, I am managing to keep my head above water, but my arms are getting tired. As you know, I had to drop a class and go back and take the prerequisite course. At the moment, that is going well. I manage to understand the lecture and am able to contribute to solutions and answer the questions of classmates. I’m even managing the homework with little error.

My education-focused course is going well thus far. I’ve led a class discussion with relative success and received decent marks on my first paper. As we start the research for our final paper, I am starting to think about potential topics of research for a dissertation.

The math course that was initially going well may be taking a turn however. At the beginning of the semester, I understood every lecture, but the homework took forever to finish. In fact I didn’t typically finish all of the problems in time. This past week, I’ve found myself feeling lost in lecture, but having a better understanding of the homework.

Recently I find myself better able to complete problems on my own before discussing them with the study group. In fact, I finished today’s assignment hours before class. This might not seem like a major feat to you, but believe me I’m celebrating. We receive our problems on Friday or Saturday and they are due the following Thursday. I touch those problems every day for a minimum of an hour. And up until now I was struggling to finish. In fact, I had to visit with the professor on one of this week’s problems, and we spent over an hour in solving it. That’s one problem with the assistance of the professor. So can I get a virtual high five for completing my homework on time?

by House Of Sims

As a teacher, I’m still negotiating the balance between leniency and strictness. My biggest issue as a junior high teacher was that I was too nice. I loved teaching and I wanted the students to like me. I had to be reminded that no grown woman needed 12 and 13 year olds as friends. But I loved the humor of students at that age, and I was too easy going with them. The result was that my classroom management was nonexistent by the end of the year.

So one of my joys in this environment was the belief that classroom management wouldn’t be an issue. If they didn’t want to pay attention in class, they were wasting momma and daddy’s money and their time. Not my cross to bear. I can’t write a referral and send them to the office, so as long as they don’t disturb those around them, was I to stop them from texting during lecture? While the answer may seem obvious to you, the verdict is still out for me.

My larger issue is still the leniency though. As a junior high teacher, I was always willing to give extra credit or make up assignments so that my students had a chance to pass even if they had blown off most of the work in the grading period. The policy here is no late work. Period. If you're absent test day, I'm sorry. You'll have to do well on the remaining tests.

We have a “five minutes late and you’re absent” rule. But I tend to give every one a chance to sign the roster if they are present by the first 15 minutes of class. I’ve been occasionally persuaded to let students turn homework in by 5:00 if there were problems that they didn’t understand. When students approached me to let me know that their financial aid hadn’t come in yet and that they couldn’t buy books without it, I was inclined to extend due dates on assignments.

On the surface, I suppose that these are small things. But experience has shown me that the small things add up. And I have a feeling that I’m going to have to learn some things the hard way.