Math(s)

Hi all, I'm not really a complainer.  But I need to vent for a bit.  In the past month, while trying to do my job as an educator (I won't say where), I've been swung at by a high school kid, who nearly connected.  No consequences were given by administration.  Then, today, an 8th grader shone a laser pointer at my retina, and though I did everything I was supposed to do, the student has received no consequences. I'm not an administrator.  I don't get the big bucks to have an 092 and walk around the halls, solving problems.  I just do my duty when I am asked to, teach my class as well as I am able, and would like to think that I am safe in my building.  I'm a large, imposing guy.  Kids don't generally mess with me, and if they think they can they generally think twice.  Fast.  I've never put my hands on a student, nor have I ever needed to.  They generally do what I ask them to do, the first time because they realize they should, or the second time af

Hi all, I'm going to propose a solution to the behavioral epidemic we have in the public school system in America.  We have been using suspensions, both inside and outside, to try to encourage students to behave better, since 14 years ago when I started teaching.  The problem with this solution is that students come to like inside, have days off where they are unsupervised at home when they have outside, and come back with no behavioral change.  Here's what I propose.  We need people who are trained as counselors, yoga instructors, philosophy, psychology, or some related field, one on one, to reflect and help students make behavioral goals before they can return to class.  It needs to be one on one, and it needs to be by very well qualified folks, because they are dealing with the most fragile, most difficult, and therefore most needy students we serve.  Few people want that job, so we have to pay better than a regular ed teacher.  Students would attend regular classes with t

Hi all, I love my second job.  My favorite thing is teaching people who want to learn.  I think that adults who are going back to college, for a specific reason, are inherently motivated because they have made the choice to be there.  This is a stark contrast to my other job teaching high school, where I convince students to learn nearly every day.  It feels like a sales job -  I have to tell them the things I am teaching are relevant, daily.  I have to be really clear about why things matter and how learning them can make their lives better.  The actual truth of this, in many cases, is that it's only for the SAT or to prove to colleges that the students are smart enough to attend.  I haven't used parallelograms lately in my life, but I've definitely had to do taxes.  We don't teach the 1040EZ form though - we teach about geometry.  This is a real problem - for many students, they will not use the math I teach again for a long time, if ever.  Past Algebra I, the thing