I’m a doer, not a desk-sitter. 7/13/2012
What an eye-opening experience into a world I previously knew absolutely nothing about! The people here at Accumold are great, the working atmosphere is wonderful, and I have a corner desk with a window overlooking a pond filled with multiple geese families! Honestly, could it have been any better?! J However, I am confident when I say that I enjoyed my time the most when I was outside the office working with employees in one way or another. Lucky for me, I had a lot of these opportunities! I have known that I’m more of an active type of worker, and that hasn’t changed here. It was SO great working with the variety of employees and positions here at Accumold. This experience has me all sorts of excited to get back into my classroom this fall and meet my new bunch of students (but not too excited, as I do have a few weeks of summer left after all).
A few direct links from this experience that relates into my classroom are a word wall, technology inclusion, and collaboration. First of all, my word wall. I’ve mentioned it before, and I keep getting more excited about it. Having fast access for students to recall key phrases will be priceless. As the year progresses, having students help create the masterpieces will provide some ownership for them. Secondly, technology inclusion. North High is a 1:1 school, meaning all students are provided a laptop for use in school and at home. Although challenging, I MUST find more applications for proper technology use. Not scanned worksheets and recorded lessons, I’m talking about interactive websites with projects and hands-on activities that relate to the content. My content isn’t changing. I will still cover the same material and give the same common assessments, but I know there are better ways of getting the material across. I guess I have about a month to get some ideas ironed out! Finally, collaboration. I have an amazing opportunity to work with the other Algebra 1 teachers at my school every other day. Most schools don’t offer that time to their staff, and I’m ridiculously thankful North High has made collaboration a priority. Last year we analyzed a lot of data and discussed generally what we were going to teach. Moving forward this next year, I’m excited to see what the group of us will be able to accomplish, working together even more as a team. We can share ideas, lessons, projects, and workloads. Three heads are better than one, and it’ll be great to fully dive in to a collaborative atmosphere.
One final concept that has been resonating with me for years is providing general life skills and encouraging math competency for my students. Number sense seems like a lost art, and it’s becoming apparent with the coming generation. I’ve had a few lengthy conversations over lunch with some employees about this very issue. It is as basic as understanding that 15 centimeters isn’t close to the same as 2 inches, or that a 50% increase actually creates a larger end result because it’s really 150% of the original, or even the notion that deleting a negative inventory does make a difference in the overall count. What?! Negative numbers matter?? I don’t like negatives, so I just delete them and they go away. Nnooooo!!! I understand reading is important, but it almost feels as though math has taken a back seat because of it. In my classroom, it’s sad to see a disengaged student who is mathematically brilliant that struggles with reading. It’s like they have a label that they know about and choose not to perform well because of it. My task: To disguise that alleged superiority, and give mathematically gifted students who struggle with reading the extra oomph they might need to continue their track to success.
One class that touches my heart on a closer level is my ELL Math class (ELL: English Language Learner). I had one semester of it last year, and I’ve agreed to have a larger class for this next full year of school. Throughout my time at Accumold, I’ve worked with a few employees who are in the process of learning English. It has been amazing to witness a possible outcome of the education I provide my students. They can be such hard workers with unmet diligence. I have oftentimes found myself giving students the benefit of the doubt, thinking I’m helping them along towards a diploma. I need to raise the bar for my students! It’s not about the math, I’ve known that. However, I think I could do a better job of helping my students become more socially competent with life lessons to be successful in their lives beyond North High. Math can be my means to that end! I will get them to be thinkers, problem solvers, and to be more engaged with their own learning. These thoughts get me crazy excited—like the giddy feel-good with goose bumps kind of excited! Now to find implementation strategies for all these ideas…
Everyone around here keeps asking me what I’m going to do with the rest of my summer. I think my hands are comfortably full.
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