Student Investment

She was the only student present for my review, but she seemed to enjoy it. More importantly, she seemed to get it! She improved greatly on this second quiz. I’m so proud of her. She is also the only one consistent in doing her homework and showing up on time (or close). She will be absent this Friday, she told me, but she would like the linear equation work early. What kind of summer student requests her work early?! This is when all the hours I stayed up finishing lesson plans and writing Math Millionaire cards pay off.

Where has this last week gone? Monday, I taught more linear equations—two different forms. It was tricky sorting out which form went with which name, but they did get the concepts very well. Unfortunately, I’m down to two students. Our chronically late student finally stopped coming at all. This leaves my two best students all alone with me. I can only hope that their scores will show the improvement I have seen. Wednesday was all review—with a little Jeopardy thrown in. A little competition goes a long way.

Why do they never ask questions until it’s almost too late? Today was our final test. It was the same as the diagnostic that we gave them the first day of class. This is supposed to see how much we taught them and how much they caught. I am not a fan of this particular diagnostic test: the questions do not assess the state standards they are designed to; they are also as confusing as all get-out, with several steps and extra information and unit conversion all to assess a simple equation or some such. Naturally, I’d prefer not to teach so that they can answer only the test questions. I want to teach them the things they need for future understanding and success. Yes, we can teach those types of questions, but the test does not even stress the key items from each standard. Alas, this is the life of a teacher with a state curriculum. I’m hopeful that Louisiana’s curriculum has been evaluated more thoroughly.