For my students...

This week I found out that 2 of my classes were being changed.  I was asked not to reveal any of this to my students, that an administrator would come in and make the announcement.  For me the stress involved taking on another new class.  One which I haven't taught before.  I knew a new curriculum map was created and I did proof read it, but I wasn't considering the possibility that I might be teaching it so I really didn't study it.  This post, however really isn't about me.

This shift affected my second hour and fourth hour classes.   They are very different groups.   One is a little slower, but more easily drawn into the material.  They struggle well with the math, and tenaciously figure it out.  They love the puzzles and discuss them amongst themselves, with little prompting.  The interruption occurred after our warm-up and there were tears and yet we did return to and continue working on the math.   Three of these students came by at the end of the day, with a couple of Freshmen in tow telling them, "he's my favorite teacher".

The second group is comprised of students for whom math requires less struggle.   They need a bit, read "a lot", more coaxing to get talking about the math (though this isn't true about talking in general). They enjoy the warm-ups we're doing (Thanks Fawn and Mr_Stadel).  They also were the group I was hoping to show the greatest growth.  Our goodbye was less teary, but no less difficult.

I welcome my new Precalculus students, and I'm sure we'll have fun, but this posting is for the students who I will miss, who still smile when they see me in the hall and who are so excited when I stop by their new classroom and see how they're doing.

We're looking for a new math teacher, if anyone is searching for a position in the southeastern Michigan area..