I was going to write a really negative post today, partly as a form of catharsis and partly just to let the world know how bad things can get once testing is over and student’s motivation goes out the window. I’m floundering and at the end of each day, all I can think about is…

On Monday, we tested. I has expected this day to be full of emotion — victory and disappointment and uncertainty and hope. I had expected this day to be a moment of truth, for me and for my students. It was a victory lap, an unexpected success, a wake-up call, and a hopeful sign of…

Tomorrow ends our second week of state testing.  Some of my colleagues have already blogged about their experiences on TeachForUs.org, but I thought I’d add my own thoughts and observations as well. As we approached testing, we could feel tensions rising in the school.  There’s a kind of tension you get before a big game…

BIG NEWS. Our geometry test, scheduled for Friday 4/19, was pushed back to Monday 4/29. With this switch comes a major shift in review strategy & motivational gameplan — how do I keep my kids going for another week, when so many of them were ready to take the test on Friday? This past week…

Over the course of a school year, there are thousands of things that a student attending school in a low-income community deals with that his or her more financially stable counterparts don’t. From lack of parental support to poor nutrition, gang violence to high teacher turnover, the kids that I have become so close to…

The school year is beginning to wind down.  This week we began administering state standardized testing.  The feeling is like having prepared a team for the championships and its about to go in for the big game.  So far, I have been favorably impressed by the sense of determination and focus I’ve seen in the…

My pre-calc class saved me yesterday, without a doubt. My lesson wasn’t as air-tight as I had hoped it would be, but my students were awake & alive & ready to learn. They were interested (& hard-working, even?) – asking about the reasons behind the math, not just copying down formulas & getting to the work. We let…

Sprinting. As teachers, that’s what we do 70% of our days. But at what cost? This weekend, I stumbled upon my reflection not in a mirror but in a New York Times article. What were these words of wisdom that sent my brain into overdrive? “He noticed that when I was anxious about something, I…

Ever since I became a teacher, I’ve started answering a lot of questions. My students ask me questions about my math objectives, my friends ask me questions about my social life, and my family asks me questions about my well-being. But on Wednesday night, at a dinner with TFA donors, I was asked a question I wasn’t fully prepared…