1. We were supposed to calculate (for a grant) how much extra time we spent after school last year tutoring students. So I figured on average I spent 3 extra hours per week at about 30 weeks that year. Wow, I calculated, I spent 900 hours tutoring! I rock (though apparently not at multiplying 3x30).
2. As the week goes on I get more and more sleep deprived (that's my excuse preamble for the following). I also daily wear my wedding ring that I never take off, and many other silver rings that I take off at night and put back on daily. So on Friday I get to work, and to my classroom, and I instantly feel and see that I have all my rings on except my wedding ring (of almost 13 years). Gasp! Oh no! Did I get too skinny (cough) and it slipped off on my way from the car to my classroom? I obsessed about it all day. That night, I went home and saw that it was in my ring tray. I don't even remember taking it off. I don't remember realizing it wasn't on all morning. I don't remember seeing it and sifting around it in the morning while I'm putting on my other rings.
3. I had this lesson that was working really well on symmetry of functions (even/odd/neither) on Friday (remember, in my defense, I'm TIRED), and I divided my overhead slide into 3 rows and would graph, describe, give the rule, and give an example for each type before moving on to the next type. I was running out of room on my slide, so I slid (tee hee) it over to the left and continued writing on the overhead glass to finish up the EVEN example. I then used my spritzer bottle and rag to clean the glass before moving on to the ODD example. I got through the graph, the description, the rule, slid the slide over, and then looked above at my EVEN example, and realized that, Oh no!, I forgot to give an example for the EVEN function, and here I am on the ODD example. So I start walking them through the steps of the EVEN example, and I'm patiently waiting for them to continue, and a student asks, "didn't we just do this?". Oh my.
You have to read this. And no, I wasn't tired.
ReplyDeletehttp://jd2718.wordpress.com/2007/09/05/Ice breaker: Your teacher's an idiot. No, really/
I've been picking on my freshmen in good humor, and picking on myself, and laughing harder at myself. It's all about your "I'm so nervous" kid. I figure if class is about laughing and joking then we also work harder and faster, and feel better. We'll see if that really works.
That IS funny. It must be that we're juggling so many other things in our mind that we're sometimes on autopilot. This, I choose to believe.
ReplyDeleteMs. Cookie