The Good:
* Thank you to whoever (whomever?) I read who wrote about answering questions with, "that's a good question!" and walking away. It's my favorite technique, now, especially on tests. Of course, I gauge whether or not it's something I want/need them to figure out on their own first.
* My Precal Teaching Buddy and I are working on a project to do with sine waves and their graphs and applications. We (I) usually don't like math "projects" that are "meaty" because they end up not seeming meaty and taking away too much time for the students to learn the basics. We structured it so that there is class time and explore time and lots of check points. It's not perfect yet, but here are some questions the students came up with as a result of the project:
1. Is there a relation between where a color is on the wavelength spectrum and how often it appears in nature?
2. Can gamma waves cause hallucinations? 3. Can frequencies cure mental illnesses?
4. Does manipulating your brain waves during the day affect your dreams?
5. Can other cellular components of our body be regulated by a sine function and is this information useful for doctors?
* I'm actually following through with my Marathon Training Schedule, and have been into it since school started. My long run/walks on the weekend are now up to 13 miles. Toot toot goes my horn!
* My Computer Science kids are happy, and the administration is now seeing that this is an good class to have at school, especially an all girls school, and they want to expand it somehow.
* Our first-time-graduating-class kids have started to trickle back and visit. Even the ones I had trouble with were all smiles and happy to say hi. They are thriving at college, so that's a win.
The Bad:
* What is UP with my right shoulder! Tendonitis? Bursitis? Pinched Nerve? Some stubborn person WON'T go to the doctor, but she may soon have to.
* There are STILL a smattering of kids choosing to fail. I don't know why I still am annoyed by this. It's a pattern and their choice and I see it every year, and it usually works out for the best because it puts a fire under their butts. But people, grow up already and figure it out, so I don't have to have these heated conversations with you inside and outside of my head, full of scrunched faces and wild gestures.
The Ugly:
* Lack of enough sleep. Crow's feet. Bad home situations for various students.
Okay. Break over. Calculus and DE finals ... here I come.