Return to the Fold

Well, at least the students remembered who I am, and some even seemed excited to have me back. I just started a new term and will now be going in to class on Thursdays and Fridays. I hope that the consecutive days will provide more flexibility in doing problem solving with the students. Instead of try to wedge everything into a single day (or two disconnected ones), I'll be able to continuously engage the class. Come this Thursday I will be doing my first word problem of the term, provisionally #3340 (with some minor alterations to encourage interest).

Though class was out for nearly two weeks, it seems that no one has lost their vim or vigor. In fact, several of the students appear especially stressed. This may be related to threats that they'll have to repeat the first term material if they fail to pass their midterms, or maybe it's just the return to school. I am usually content with letting Molly handle the discipline and restricting myself to instructional efforts, but trends have convinced me to be more confrontational with the students about their actions. In particular, several students use talking out, throwing things, and harassing other students as a means of demanding constant attention. It is no surprise that these actions are detrimental to the entire class (whether one chooses to ignore them or cater to their whims), but I've come across no good solutions. In many cases the parents are not involved enough to care, and removing them from the classroom simply puts them farther behind (which worsens their behavior in later classes). Mentioning that proficiency in algebra is a requirement for graduation merely elicits shrugs.

This suggests several, equally displeasing, possibilities:

• They do not believe that they are capable of passing high school.
• They do not care about passing high school.
• They believe that the issue will simply disappear.
• They do not understand the word 'required'.

The first issue is, perhaps, the most difficult to deal with. Its presence is obviously rooted in (lack of) self-confidence. Though not a universal truth, I feel that most if not all of my students have the necessary faculties to complete high school if they so choose. The solution is then one of how to convince the students that they have such abilities. Any solution that would work on one student is not likely to work on another. Ideally, imparting motivation to the student would not be the responsibility of a single teacher, but rather the responsibility of every person the student interacts with.

The second issue strikes a bit closer to home for me. One of my primary duties in the classroom is to impart a physical appreciation for math and learning in general. This is done with the understanding that if the students perceive a usefulness for education, then they'll desire it. Either this assumption is wrong or I have been inadequate in my description of mathematical applications. Again, it would be a cheery world if everyone participated in demonstrating the usefulness of education, but I believe (with no evidence) that it should only take one or two particularly compelling subjects to carry a student through high school.

As for the third issue; much like when I ask the students to share their work with me, they may believe that the best approach to an obstacle is not acknowledging that it exists. In this case, it's instructive to quote an already over-quoted text (and perhaps convince them that not every adult's memory is short),

"A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value. You can [...] wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (such a mind-boggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you)."

As for the final bullet point; there are several students that fall into this category and the school's opinion is that full immersion is the best approach to learning a language. I question the wisdom of using a math class to teach language, but such issues are beyond my pay grade.