MBC northwest connecticut community college

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 that EVERY student should learn to do is to problem solve.  Polya's "How to Solve It" is a great text on how to do this.  Problem solving can be applied to every aspect of every person's daily life, if they think about it.  Life is full of problems, and the better able we are to solve them, the more likely that it is that we become successful humans. 

At any rate, back to MBC.  I'm very excited to teach it tonight, because it gives me the ability to help people who really want the help.  Last round, my students were very successful, and earned the right to take classes for college credit.  I'm hoping that this 2 week condensed version can achieve the same level of success as the other one.  I'm wondering how to take this experience and make it relevant for my high school students.  I want them to have the same level of drive as these people attending community college, because they've picked a career and want to do whatever is necessary to achieve success in it.  Perhaps I can take some success stories from MBC and craft a Paideia Seminar about motivation and resilience that will teach my students those lessons before the SAT, so they never need something like MBC in their college career.

Anyhow, I hope you all have a great day!

~Mark

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