TOMORROW IS OUR LAST DAY BEFORE SPRING BREAK. ONE MORE DAY, MY FRIENDS, ONE MORE DAY.

(And since you’re wondering, I’m leaving New York to go to San Francisco for a few days.)

So my school offered the AMC 10 and the AMC 12 (math competitions) last week. And although we have a number of pretty strong math students, none of them broke the 100 point mark. No student in recent history — apparently — at my school has done that. The fact is that to do well on these competitions, you have to be familiar with the types of questions and methods to solving them. There are techniques to doing well, tricks that any student who has seen enough of these can put away in their mathematical arsenal. These contests require a different way of thinking, a different way of approaching problems.

I am the faculty adviser for my school’s math club, and I just go with the flow. I listen to what the students want and we do it. Sometimes students bring an interesting problem or an extension of a problem. Sometimes I bring a problem. Sometimes we watch a video. Sometimes we work on contest problems.

Last year and this year, the students haven’t wanted to dedicate time outside of math club to doing math. We have only 25 minutes a week to meet. Well, frankly my dear, you can’t get through much in that time — especially if students don’t want to concertedly work on problems outside of math club, and then use math club to present solutions or failed methods of attack. When it comes down to it, to do well on these contests, you need to practice.

I’m okay with students not wanting to spend time outside of mathclub working on math problems. They are all busy and well-rounded and are juggling a ton of different things.

Still… I am waiting for the day when someone in mathclub says: “Everyone, I am going to solve every one of these 25 competitions problems by next week” and goes at it. Whether or not they succeed, it’s irrelevant to me. That’s the kid I want to take under my wing.

PS. I finally got around to taking the AMC12 under testing conditions (75 minutes, no calculator). I scored a 108. Which is around the same score I got last year and when I was in high school.

It’s about time for hiring season to begin for independent schools. It’s truly begun this weekend, interviews and all. Good luck for those looking for jobs!

I have old two posts that I thought I’d highlight that might help you out.

1. My musings on being on a hiring committee
2. My musings on being on the job market

I hope they help any of you looking for a new job or considering looking for a new job. If you have any questions about my experience teaching in an independent (read: private) high school, feel free to ask. I have a lot of really great things to say about it, but there are a number of trade offs too. I’d be happy to give whatever counsel I can.

I’ve accidentally came across a few videos on youtube of students getting their College Board AP Scores letter and opening it live on video camera.

I know I’ve posted a bit about this, but it’s so interesting how little I remember about the emotional heights that high school brought. And that time when you know those scores are on their way, those anxious, expectant moments after you see the College Board envelope and before you open it, the rush of emotion when you see the scores inside —

wow.

It’s hard to capture it in words. But watching these videos, I got a rush of those feelings back. Words don’t do it justice, but seeing these kids’ facial expressions, their inability to comprehend, the tone of their voice changing… it’s drama at it’s purest because its a lot of emotion boiled down to a few seconds.

I wonder if people do this for SAT scores too?

The images below are thumbnails. Click on the image to see it properly.

ALL 4 SLIDES TOGETHER:

To see the slides individually (click on them to see bigger versions) and read my reflection, jump below the fold.

(more…)

Just a quick link passing you along to Dan Meyer’s Annual Report contest.

Design information in four ways to represent 2008 as you experienced it. This can mean:

• four separate PowerPoint slides with one design apiece,
• one JPEG with four designs gridded onto it,
• an Excel spreadsheet inset with four charts,
• etc.

I had a blast working on it last year. To get a sense of what we’re talking about, check out examples from last year.

The memorial service for the student who passed away last weekend was held today. I went with a group of teachers so we could support each other and students. The church was packed and hushed, and the service was emotional. Students — his friends — spoke about their memories of the deceased, and about his best qualities, and about the love that exists between friends. The pain in the tremors in their words was hard to hear. That was the hardest part of being there for me. But hearing all the wonderful memories, how much this person touched those around him with his large heart and humor-filled personality, was also the best part about being there too. I almost cried when someone read “Goodnight Moon,” which was one of his favorite books when he was a child.

A few of us went out for a late lunch afterwards and just being around each other was helpful. Not that I’ll ever forget this incident, and surely there is still going to be an aftermath for weeks to come, but with this, I think I’m done talking about it on this blog. There’s probably just going to be one more post about how this relates to teaching at some point in the future.

Goodnight stars
Goodnight air
Goodnight noises everywhere