5/24/16 Last Day Teaching at Heritage

      Today was my last day with my three classes. On Thursday there is a school wide assembly but we won't be sitting with our classes. I'm really going to miss the students. This was the last day for students to finish up their final exam. Some had time to work on extra credit. Students are beginning to see the consequences of their actions. One student realized that he does not have enough points to pass the class and now has to take summer school. Another did just well enough on the final to squeak by with a B minus. My heart goes out to those students who didn't pass but I know that I did my best to let them know how they were doing as we went along. For the most part students who came in for help ended up doing well.
     This evening Heidi and I stayed up grading finals. Just a few more days and we'll be all done. What a fun learning experience this has been.

5/3/16 Last New Topic

     Today at Heritage we went over the double angle identities. It is the last new topic we have time to introduce this year. All that's left now is review and exams. I have two students that have done so little work that there is a good chance they won't be able to catch up. I feel for them so I hope they kick it in gear. I'm more than willing to help them but they need to  learn the material. 

4/30/16 In Field Homerun

     Today was the annual Staff vs Seniors softball game. Some were calling it the Seniors vs the Seniors game. Last year the students won the game so the teachers wanted to win back the title. The students got off to a solid start. They stopped us from scoring our first at bat and then dropped 5 runs on us. We were worried it was going to be a long game. Then I got my first at bat. The picture above is of the first pitch. Heidi gets the photo credit. It went right to a sweet spot and I smacked it over the short stop and it lined drived past the left fielder. I ran past second as they were getting control of the ball. I rounded third and the ball was still in the outfield so I hustled toward home. As I approached the base I saw the ball in the corner of my eye so I slid. The tag missed me and I scored the first run for the teachers. I was winded and added a small hole to the knee of my pants but otherwise appeared to be whole. The teachers went on to score three more runs that inning. We then held the students scoreless in the bottom of the second. Over the next few innings we took turns scoring. The students had some kids from both the baseball and softball teams. They hit several all the way to the fence. Mr. Hembold (sp?) the drama teacher hit a grand slam with two outs for the teachers. In the end experience won the day and youth and vigor were defeated. The seniors played hard but made some youthful errors. The last out the boy had refused to accept the walk. He took one more pitch and hit a fly ball which David Bear the Junior High Science teacher caught to end the game. Final score 21 to 16. I don't think I've played this well since Kailua II won the stake softball tournament. I told Mr. Hembold it hurts whether you win or lose so you might as well win if you can help it. 

      The rest of the day I spent reapplying icy hot to, hopefully, minimize sore muscles tomorrow.

   We went to goodwill and got some clothes for the kids. The kids played in the grassy field. Matt, Lucy and Alex came over to play and so did Lauren. I did my best to take it easy. My experience in the past is that it can take a day or two for my muscles to notice I've done some exercise. We'll see how it goes. 

4/21/16 Quiz Day

      On Thursdays I've been giving the students a quiz. The idea is to give them motivation to master the masterial by a deadline. Some kids seem pretty unmotivated right now. They seem to feel discouraged about learning math. It doesn't help that there are only a few days left in the school year. I need to find more ways to keep/make it fun. Kelly recommended a site called teachers pay teachers. I've found some ideas there. There's only 3 days left for teaching new material. Then I'm supposed to have a last mid term and then review for 2 days and a 2 day final exam, yikes! All told 10 more days in class, including the last day of school. Crazy how fast it's going. 

     This evening I finally got to grading the exams from last week. Thanks to my TA for grading late homework I'm now caught up. Hooray. Bad news is that the kids are struggling with a new concept and with an old one. No one came for help after school. Gotta keep trying to find stuff that works. 

     David and Lincoln went and helped out at the pack meeting last night. They made musical instruments. Loud but fun. 

4/12/16 Exam Review and Broadcast Test

      Today at Heritage I started my General Math kids on the Arithmetic mission on Khan. It's review for most of them but they need to be able to do it quicker. It seemed to go well. It was sort of a confidence booster for kids who think they are not good at math. In Precalc we reviewed for the exam. It seemed to go pretty well. The proof will be in the exam results. 

     This evening we did a second webcast test. Adobe building checked out but Des Moines has terrible internet speeds. Bob is going to put in a trouble ticket with Facilities Maintenance and we'll test again tomorrow.  

4/5/16 Teaching Day

      Today was the first time I took away a citizenship point from someone for talking in class. It was lame but it did allow us to make it through the lesson. I had one kid come for help after school and one call with a mom about her son. It felt good to be able to help them out. Only about half my students turned in the homework today. It took me awhile to master the material to teach it so I'm sure it's challenging for them. I'm not sure why more people don't come in for help. I just remembered that another student came in the morning so that makes 2 asking for help. Alma is one of my "A" students and his proactive attitude is why he has an "A". I wish more of my students were like that. I have to remind myself that being proactive is a learned skill. It has taken me a while to learn it and it is a skill that I continue to work at. There are things that I procrastinate because they are hard for me. Perhaps it is time to learn to teach time management skills. 

3/10/16 End of the Quarter

     Today was the last day of 3rd quarter for my math students. I gave them a quiz but let them fix any problems before turning it in. I felt less beat up today. The kids were pretty good. Some are starting to give the old "I'll never use this so why do I care" line. The truth is they may be right but then here I am. I never expected to be a math teacher when I was in high school. Maybe it was spring break talking. Teaching continues to be hard but well worth it. This is the half way point for me this semester. It's going by fast. 

      I created an assignment for them for spring break and asked them to come up with a good reason it should be extra credit. Most couldn't go beyond "please, it's my vacation". One boy however, finished his work and did a write up of reasons on the board. It made me smile and I liked his logic so it will be extra credit and I will give him extra for he effort. His name is Lance (short for Lancelot) Orton. Fun kid. 

       This evening we headed over to the church. Heidi was teaching Scoutbook to some leaders and the pinewood derby was going on. We didn't have a horse of our own in this race but The Roche's did. Bradley came in first place! Great job to him and his folks on the hard work. 

     Meanwhile the kids and I made an animation in the nursery. I may share it later on. We're planning on doing a media workshop sometime this summer and I wanted to practice. Fun fun. 

3/1/16 Tough Day at School

      I've heard lots of teachers talk about how hard their first year teaching was. Some talk about crying regularly. I've had some tough days before now but none have been as trying as today. I gave a test that, in hindsight, was too hard. At first I felt the fault was with my students for not doing the homework. When I  talked with my students I felt initially that I had been fair and did not want to bend on how I graded the exam. Gradually the class got more and more angry until teaching became impossible. Gratefully that only happened in one class but it seriously shook my day. I went to the principal. He helped me see that my exam and my expectations of the students were too high. In hindsight I began to see several places I went wrong. I hope I can learn from them because I'd just as soon skip another day like today.  

2/23/16 Quiet Can Happen

     Today something happened that made me chuckle. Two of the girls from my noisy 2nd period class stopped by my 3rd period class. One of them had lost a cell phone and was trying to find it. When they walked in one of them said "It's so quiet". They seemed amazed. One told me later that she thought they must be taking a quiz. I told them that this is what my other classes sound like. I am still a little baffled that my 2nd period class is so much noisier than 1st or 3rd. I didn't let it bother me today. I spent my energy working with the kids who wanted to learn. The exam is on Thursday and I hope they will all be prepared but I can't always talk over them or lecture on being quiet. The reality is that they have the highest average grade of the three classes so perhaps they do have it down and I need to challenge them more.

2/16/16 A Day at The Lab

     Today we used the computer lab for all three of my classes. My Precalc kids are really struggling with graphing sinusoidal functions. ie graphs of sine and cosine problems. The lab helped some but there was still much confusion at the end of class. I'm not sure how to break it down more for them. They seem to be lost at how to solve sine and cosine and way before getting to the graphs. Oh well, we have another day at it on Thursday. Hopefully some revelation will strike me by then. 

1/29/16 Faculty Meeting Number 1

     I've heard some other teachers say "only at Heritage" will you have a Faculty meeting that starts with a lesson on agency that references religious principles. It was a very interesting discussion. Much of the meeting was devoted to the types of things you'd expect. We talked about the calendar. Some teachers were concerned about kids hanging out in their cars at lunch. The student body president spoke early on. The theme for the next dance sounded a little too much like slang for something inappropriate. He said that was unintentional but accepted full responsibility. I was impressed with his maturity facing a room full of people much older than himself. Later on I got to meet the rest of the math faculty. Teachers make great company. They are a good group. It's going to be fun working with them. We even ended being fed lunch. Not a bad deal. 

     This afternoon there was plenty of accounting work to do. His evening I started grading the exam. So far it's looking pretty good. 

1/4/16 Heritage Academy AZ

     Today I did my first official work for Heritage Academy. I met with the head of the Math Department Angela Parker. I also met HR/key office lady Karen Hunt, handyman Vince and IT specialist CJ. Eric Parker (no relation to Angela) teaches the other sections of Pre calc. Michelle Baldwin is the teacher I am replacing. She came and let me know where the classes are at. There is still much to learn and much to do. The best thing for it is to get started and keep at it. The school on the whole has a good feel about it. It reminds me a lot of my time at BYU. I thought it was a fun that when I was at BYUB there was an Angela in my department and a Karen in a key office position both of whom were great. I also spoke to Earl and Jared Taylor. Both are warm and caring individuals. Earl is the Principal. Jared is listed as the business manager. I have had good experiences with each of them. Tomorrow is my first day teaching. Time to prepare.