I hate multiplication. 

I know as a teacher, I should be really excited about how great it is for students, but I think that I have a carryover from my own school days. 

Today, while observing my TA quiz her students on multiplication, I had the creeping feeling of dread come over me as she randomly quizzed her students. In my head, all I could think about was "please, don't pick me!" How has that carried over for so long? What makes me still dread the idea of being asked 8x6? (48 I believe)

Part of it is because I never did pick up on my multiplication table. I always struggled with it, and I always wish that I had done a better job of memorizing it. But should that give me cold dread? 

i think that it was probably because of the being called on in elementary. The cold dread is similar to how I felt back in grade 4.

I need to come up  with some ways to teach students so that they can learn their multiplication without having to experience what I still do. Mutliplcation is important, but so is the lack of fear. 

Snow day! Almost... Today, due to the bad weather, we had a total of three grade sevens show up at school today. At least that beat the attendance of the grade 8's and 6's, which only had one student show up each. 

So today's reflection is about creating positive lessons in the time off that you have. It's a great opportunity to catch up on marking, lessons, and planning in general. 

For me, I need to focus on working on closure activities. It's one of my toughest areas as I either lose track of time or give students extra time to get stuff done. I do the occasional exit card or activity, but I need to be CONSISTENT with my approach. Even just seeing that students are on the same page and ready to continue would be beneficial to teaching. 

I think that I also need to STOP ASSUMING that students have learned the material, but to collect it in a meaningful way that can prove where they are learning. I guess formative assessment is a lot more difficult than I thought. It's more than just wandering around a room... 

Something to work on I suppose! 

I taught a good lesson. As a teacher, it's important to not just critique how you could have improved things, but to reward yourself when you have a positive experience as well. 

I taught a lesson in my poetry class about riddles. I started off with reading some riddles from the book "the Hobbit" I think that this did a good job of tying in some good literature along with the actual unit., I didn't just read the riddles, but also read parts of the book to get students interested. 

This lesson just had good flow. Students were interested, they were engaged, they got their work done. Can a teacher ask for more?

Even though these students are fairly shy, all of them even told their own riddles at the end of the class. 

Sucess! 

These reflections are turning into a bit of a rant. The latest thing that irritates me as a teacher is interruptions. Today I had plans to return student tests and go over them with the students. We had problems with two particular questions and I wanted students to have the opportunity to get it done ahead of time. 

Instead, the school announces that we have a surprise guest speaker coming in to talk to the students.  This happens to land right on the block I had set aside for these students. 

The next time I see these students will be Wednesday. I have to have final marks in for report cards, and I wasn't planning on giving extra class time for students to complete their work. Now they have a shortened week to get their work into me. 

Im also frustrated because this puts that particular group behind everyone for a class. Unless I slow the other classes for review, this one class will be behind. 

I guess as a teacher, the important lesson to take from this one is flexibility. I will have to adapt this class so students are adequately prepared and on the same page. I also have to be prepared for the constant interruptions that can occur within a classroom. 

A little heads-up would be nice though! 

One of the key phrases used when discussing teaching in the classroom, is not to teach content, but teach students.