Mystical

Reposted from my personal blog:

Day two was geometry, I mostly observed. I did however take on planning my first lesson for Geometry: Pythagorean Theorem. Ninety minutes complete origional. I teach it tomorrow.

Today I took over instruction for a lesson on exponents with common bases. I observed the lesson first period to see what was up. Then I took over instruction for the other two classes. At the end of both classes I asked the students to turn in anonymous papers with positive and constructive feedback on how I did. Thankfully none of it was news to me.

Fifth period went well. Students felt that they understood the concept well and they appreciated how I approached teaching the concepts. On the other hand I can definitely improve my board management. My handwriting is poor and my control on how I present information on the board is somewhat scattered. I can also spend a little more time going through the small steps to show how the math flows. The best observation came from, judging by the handwriting, a male student:

"He sounds gay. I mean the teaching was good, but he sounds gay." Gold star buddy. Gold star.

I don't know what the hell happened for the last class. Be it fatigue or a rowdier class, something went wrong. I lost focus, fell off the lesson plan, got myself confused and transformed a 45-60 minute lecture into 80. Despite the verbal clusterfuck of vomit the students did comment they learned the skill and concepts from the lesson.

What brightened the day was a small conversation I had with a student from the second class while they were scribbling their comments:

Her: "I should put down that I really like your accent."

Me: "I have an accent? I'm a Portland native!"

Her: "No it isn't an accent, it is how you talk. It is, like, mystical..."

So no Mr. Phobestuent. I'm not gay, I'm mystical!