Being a teacher poses many obstacles these days like being shot at work by some kid you failed or a crazy maniac with a grudge against a former teacher who called on him too many times. What ever the case...teaching sucks!!! About half the teachers quit after 5 years of teaching. I laughed at that when I heard that stat when I was a first year teacher. But I can completely understand now. Your 1st -3 rd years you are just trying to keep your head above water. Your 4th and 5th year you are wondering why you didnt listen to everyone who was warning you about teaching.I currently have 31 students in my two math classes. Out of those 31, I have 23 targeted "at risk" for AMI (Accelerated Math Instruction). Basically meaning they have educational gaps in their Math education. By district and state laws I am required to keep documentation on these 23 students. 23 kids, 23 folders, 23 AIP (Accelerated Instructional Plans), 23 kids who may not pass TAKS. Keep in mind that I only have a total of 31!!!!My remaining 8 kids I have to raise their scores to show a year's growth and hopefully get them to commended performance on the TAKS.
Today we did a review over all the material we have covered in the past 8 weeks. I might as well have not taught anything to them the past 8 weeks. Because they proved to me that they could not remember anything that I taught them. For example, one of the problems included 3 cubed. I had more than one student come to me and tell me that 3 cubed was 12!!! I asked "How did you get that?" Students reply "well 3 x 3 is 9 plus 3 is 12" Really? Well I need to call Harvard because you have just discovered a new math concept!!! Mind you I have taught exponents to great lengths. And they still do not get the whole idea of what to do.
At what point do I get to cut to the chase with these kids and just tell them it doesnt matter if you learn it...you are just going to mow lawns the rest of you life or mooch off the government along with all the rest of your uneducated family .
1 comment:
I keep telling you ...you need to get in a school district with midddle class kids so you can see all your hard work as a teacher paying off to 3/4 of the class instead of 1/4 of the class. I admire you for teaching those kind of kids though...you are a good teacher.
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