28 September 2008

So far this year

It has been a terrific, challenging year. I told my students this week that I haven't done as good of a job forming relationships with them, so far. I'm not really sure why, but I haven't. I think maybe I have already lost sight of why I am doing this. I went to a workshop this week that talks a lot about forming relationships which reminded me of my inspiration to teach. Michelle (my wife) is my inspiration. She forms relationships with students and I saw that which is the reason I decided to teach. Did I lose sight of that already? Maybe so, but my batteries have been recharged and I am ready to work towards that goal again.

We will see what this week holds for me. I think it's going to be great.

06 September 2008

So far...

It has been a typical beginning of the school year. Mishelly and I have been busy with the sophomore class at SNU and our new family group, not to mention my Physics and Astronomy club at PC, and of course the kids have their own interests that don't always match what we would like to be doing. It has been really good to see Jessica blossom as a social, young academic and I am really hoping JC follows in her footsteps.

My classes have been typical as well. I picked up a Physical Science class again this year within the first week of school. They are certainly challenging me. I am already out of resources as far as classroom management goes. My phys. sci. class last year was tough, but not like this.

On a lighter note, I came up with a great analogy to use in that class the other day. We were talking about school in general and they were complaining about our block schedule. I was trying to encourage them and asked "If you had (insert cake ingredients here) could you make a good cake?" Most replied in the affirmative, as expected. Then I asked "Could you also make a bad cake?" Of course they agreed that it would also be possible to make a bad cake. So then I said "well, you have a block schedule, physical science, me, and yourself...which kind of cake are you going ot make?" Do you know what their response was? "We are gonna make a CAKE in this class?!?"

I just about fell out laughing. Had I not been so frustrated at the time, I probably would have. I then asked if they knew what an analogy was and they said "No". So there you have it: one of my goals is to teach them what an analogy is this semester.