Category: Two cents

For each school day of the 2020-21 school year, I will be writing two sentences to capture some of the impressions, feelings, experiences, or thoughts I had that day. This is the seventh post in the series.

Monday
A day full of annoying highs and lows. I was forced to change rooms out of no where and fielded complaints from students about my error-analysis quizzes.

Tuesday
Back to teaching from my bedroom for a day. The only highlight was getting to share my kids with my students.

Wednesday
Anxiously refreshing both the CNN a NY Times homepages frequently throughout the day. At a loss for for motivation, I did pushups in 9th period after a student gave a thoughtful response to question.

Thursday
I was finally brave enough to announce and begin the Token of Appreciation today. It may backfire, but this year the token will be a piece of paper that is mailed to each other.

Friday
The cogen strikes again, this time with another member. Had a good departmental meeting today; I see a “problems of practice” distributed facilitation model that I really like.

bp

For each school day of the 2020-21 school year, I will be writing two sentences to capture some of the impressions, feelings, experiences, or thoughts I had that day. This is the sixth post in the series.

Monday
Responding to email is more taxing than I could ever imagine. Had a good discussion with the folks at Math for America about developing an antiracist White affinity group for the spring.

Tuesday
Out of sheer mental exhaustion and frustration, I find myself bypassing meetings and forgoing previous commitments. This is disappointing, but strangely satisfying; what must be done, must be done.

Wednesday
It’s wild how buried events and people can be rushed to the present moment and remind you of what really matters. After school, the RSJ committee publicly acknowledged and condemned the peripheral treatment that racial equity PD has been given by our school so far this year.

Thursday
In one of the funniest moments of the year so far, I caught a kid eating tissue on camera in 8th period today. Left school feeling motivated for a variety of reasons, including when a math colleague mentioned that he wants to find a way to incorporate the 1619 Project into his Geometry unit.

Friday
My cogen went well today; maybe it is actually turning into something meaningful. I had a two-hour chat with someone that was two years in the making; the time flew by and I desperately need it.


bp

For each school day of the 2020-21 school year, I will be writing two sentences to capture some of the impressions, feelings, experiences, or thoughts I had that day. This is the fifth post in the series.

Monday
No classes — Indigenous People’s Day.

Tuesday
I took my cogen’s advice and developed “consistent” breakout rooms where the same 4-5 students stick together for a few weeks. After school, I caught up on a massive amount of grade input; importing grades form Classroom to Skedula is a life saver.

Wednesday
Out of nowhere, I developed a weekly Self Check-In for my students. Also out of nowhere, I created my first Feedback Video of the year; it’s deepening how I’m thinking about my planning.

Thursday
I fell into a discussion today with my eighth period class which let me know that, despite our long distance relationship, we are in fact making progress. Whether it is pumpkin spice, the Lakers, oranges, velvet red cake, or Ninja, I sense that the glue is forming.

Friday
I had anxiety about my cogen not showing up today, but they did, and it was great. Ending the week, my school’s structures seem to be as unstable than ever…and my class is finally beginning to feel just the opposite (thanks to preassigned breakout rooms, DeltaMath, student bios, Google Form quizzes, Turn-Ins, Self Check-Ins, cogens, etc).

For each school day of the 2020-21 school year, I will be writing two sentences to capture some of the impressions, feelings, experiences, or thoughts I had that day. This is the fourth post in the series.

Monday
They have free breakfast and lunch for staff now. I had both, yum!

Tuesday
Zigzagging between rooms to teach is driving my crazy and keeping me being fully present with my students. Decided today to stay put at my desk and had a productive day.

Wednesday
Seriously considering a “traveling letter of appreciation” for all of my classes this year; it’ll be mailed from one student to the next in lieu of having the token of appreciation. Ending the day feeling isolated and down.

Thursday
Had a mini-debate over orange and apple juice today in first period — orange juice won. It’s needless to say, but my kids still aren’t learning much math.

Friday
I teach no classes on Friday, but this day felt stuffed. Had my first cogenerative dialogue — also known as a cogen — with four students today; I had no idea what I was doing, but I was excited.


bp