Miss Amy And The New School

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Note, this was written On October 25, 2020. I will update for my new year's blog bc @druinok is the queen of inspiration. Hello Dear Friends! I don't know what will be the outcome of this post, will it be more math-y or more adventure? You will have to read on to see.

Being At A New School:

I highly recommend it. There is nothing to up one's game then being the new teacher. I haven't been the newest to a school in my-daughter-just graduated-from-college-and-I-had-her-after-working-at-the-same-school-for-two-years years. I am more gracious with myself and making a greater effort to observe without judgment. 

Benefits of being newest: None. JK. There are many:feeling like you were hired with a purpose, not leftovers. feeling that honor as a talent, as a professional, and that your Master's Degree means something and your self driven PD has not been for naught. Being re-inspired by observing new colleagues, learning new routines, and ways to engage and care for students. I could not have done this without the support, intelligence, and care of the MathTwitterBlogOsphere, I truly mean it. 

While I have lots of favorite materials, I am mostly limiting myself to my comfort routines: opener that lends itself to "how does this make sense and now-I-am-less-anxious to learn something new," our everything notebooks, (oh Miss Amy, the trees, the trees), and the "Welcome Mat." I have three preps, Gr 9 Math Foundations (grade 8 standards), Integrated Math 1 (10th graders that had Foundations last year) and Integrated Math 2 (10th grade). I am trying to look through everything with a new lens. (Though relying on last years resource pages for Math 1 and 2). 

The Ss are keenly aware that I have a lot of energy, that I truly care about their welfare and am passionate about math education. They are however, not sure that their nonlinear, non-my-way-or-the-highway, teaching is the sure thing to fill them full of the handy knowledge that will make them successful IB students. As in "Keep, Change, Flip." I am like, WTF? (I didn't say that, but I wanted to!) What are you talking about? 'We know how to divide fractions Miss." But do you know why? Are you supposed to have more or less pieces? Can you draw a picture? There is so MUCH I want to share with them, working with the less confident students forces me to slow down, and take apart the learning step by step.

Having to be your best self everyday is refreshing. (tiring too, sleep 9.5 to 10 hours on weekend nights!) Not making any assumptions about your students, where they come from, how they think, what they think is refreshing too. 

Public vs. Private School:

If you are still reading this, I want to share a little about the IB (International Baccalaureate) and the school. I am at a private 2-3 yrs old to grade 12 international school with 820 students on Cayman Island. To say it is different from the 1750 Students at the comprehensive public high school school I taught at in Northern California for all those years is an understatement. I have gone from 140 students for .83FTE, to 45 for 1.0 FTE. I work longer hours, have more preps and more meetings, homeroom, and houses, and I am not  nearly as exhausted. We are face to face, what a blessing! 




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1 comment :

  1. You mention that Shelli is the Queen of Inspiration. So are you participating in her Yule Blog Challenge? If so, then welcome!

    You say that you use "Everything Notebooks" in your classes, but I'm curious as to how those notebooks work during a pandemic. I know that anything that involves a lot of people touching papers or other stuff is discouraged.

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