Tuesday, December 1, 2020

 Tuesday, December 1, 2020

I’m doing a series on my teaching - lessons learned.

Yesterday, I wrote about getting my first job.  Nothing quite like taking your first job sight unseen from a phone interview (without any research).  

Today, that first year at West Grant High School!!

I student taught - so I ‘knew’ how to teach.  Piece of cake.  Many times, I have said that I should have paid the West Grant School District for that first year and it was a whole year of student teaching (without a supervising teacher!!!)

***** 

My first real exposure was the teacher's in-service workshop.  As I remember, it wasn’t much.  Maybe a pep talk by John Gehn, then we broke up into individual units.  I was in the high school unit, so Mr. Mitske did that part of the day.  It wasn’t too memorable (and rarely are those back-to-school teacher sessions).  I knew where my room was, I got my schedule, I got my teacher's books - and I pretty much was set.

The schedule was an eye-opener for me!!!  There were NINE periods in a day and I had to teach SEVEN periods.  (Later as a professor, I generally had a 12 credit load - which meant I had four classes three times a week.)  The classes were about 45 minutes each.  I had one prep period and a study hall.  I was busy!!  And, of those seven periods I taught - there were six different preps.  (For non-teachers, that meant I had six DIFFERENT classes a day - but my two sections of Algebra I would be one prep.

I taught: 

-. Two sections of Algebra I

-. Geometry

-. Advanced Algebra (junior level)

-. Senior Advanced math

-. Consumer math

-. Basic math (for those who couldn’t do algebra)

Every student needed two math classes to graduate.  For the college-bound, the two basic classes were Algebra I and Geometry - at a minimum.  For the non-college-bound, it was basic math and consumer math.  

For my teacher friends, teaching high school math is so easy (okay, some bias).  The normal class day would be: 

-. Start of class - review yesterday’s material and check the homework - 10 to 15 minutes

-. Introduce the new material (which built on yesterday’s lesson) - 20 to 35 minutes

-. Do some examples of the new material

-. Give an assignment (like do the odd problems on page 231)

-. Dismiss with the bell

*****

My first day of class.

Since I accepted the position in late April 1969, I was thinking.  That first day of class was going to be so motivational!!  It was going to be a combination of commencement address and fire-and-brimstone (logically speaking).  I was going to motivate these students so they would be so excited they would go to the Principal and Superintendent and beg for a longer class period.  

Every class (except the senior math class) was going to get this rah-rah - motivational talk.  It was going to be awesome!!!

Unfortunately, I was so wrong!!  I gave my motivational thoughts, and about eight minutes later, I was done.  My point had been made.  I didn’t have anything else to give them!!  I didn’t have any course material ready for the first day, because it was going to be the grand day of motivation!!!

FAILURE!!!  (In later years, I had both motivational ideas AND course materials ready).

So, on this first day of class in fall 1969, the students got about 35 minutes of free time to talk and visit about their summer with their friends.

*****

Timing and Spacing.

 As the semester went on, I learned about timing, spacing.  I started to really PLAN - to outline where I was going.  Yes, these were the days when the textbook ‘was’ the class.  Start at page one and go to the end of the book by the end of the class year.  Pretty simple!!  And, the teacher’s edition of the textbook had sample schedules, and test questions, and suggestions for teaching.  I learned quickly not to stray too far from the teacher’s edition.  I definitely was “by-the-book” (as I got into teaching at the college level that changed).  

Senior Math.

West Grant was not a large school!!  The average graduating class was about 22 to 25 students.  In my senior math class, I had TWO students:  Joe Deininger, and Dana Fleming.  I am friends with Dana on Facebook, and Dana is married to Joe’s sister!!  

This was NOT a textbook class.  These two learned quickly to do the work and get me off on a tangent.  I tried to make this a solid pre-calculus class, and in some respects it was.  But, Joe and Dana found we could talk about mathematics in other respects.  Hey - it was a class of two - and if the proof is in the outcome - they both were great students who went on to great things.  By-the-way, with a birthday in late August, I turned 22 just before the school year started.  I was about four years older (really probably less if their birthdays were in (say) December as compared to my students.  I couldn’t really pull the “I’m so much older and wiser than you!!!” trump card!!

Junior Algebra

This was at least a class.  I remember about 11 students in this class during that first year.  And, about five of them went on to my senior math class the second year.

Geometry

This class had about 18 students.  Since math was required for two years, most students did algebra I and geometry to meet that requirement.  

Of all my high school classes, geometry was maybe the most fun - the logic, the proofs, and ‘seeing’ math.

Algebra I

The traditional basic algebra class.

Basic Math and Consumer math - for those that didn’t excel in math.  Consumer math was maybe the most interesting and challenging.  These were concepts I never learned - like how to balance your checkbook and how to actually write checks.  How to figure the amount for payment on loans.  

*****

So, off to a start in the world of teaching.  I had to start someplace.  And, I had to learn and grow.

Tomorrow more about my first year at West Grant, coaching, and more!!

LOVE WINS!!

HUGS!!

Karen