Today was the first day back for teachers. I wouldn’t say I was super duper excited to get back, but I wasn’t dreading it. After going to the workshop last week and getting my new MacBook, I was pretty excited. I was thinking about how I could use my new found knowledge in teaching Trig and Pre Calc. So all in all, I would say that I had a good attitude and was pretty upbeat.
Is cheerful really that hard to do on day one? We all know that we have a tough road ahead. Our kids are coming in less prepared every year. We’re newly designated title 1. Enrollment is down. The microscope under which we all work, is turned up. I needed a little inspiration today. I needed a little, “The road ahead will be tough, but we can do it” kind of talk. Did it happen? Nope.
We did have a guy talk to us about making AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress). We did in reading the last two years, which is great. Math is another story. And as a Math teacher, you can’t help but feel like you have a bulls-eye on your head. Some college could probably write a semester long course about how to understand the NCLB law and how everything works. In order to understand how they calculate AYP, AYP-Safe Harbor 1, AYP-Safe Harbor 2, etc. I think you need to be a statistician. The man who coined the phrase “fuzzy math” sure had his peeps figure out some math that’s way beyond the average bear.
So I’m ridin’ the roller coaster of emotions. I was up, then I was down. I got on my treadmill and ran off some stress to get part way up the hill again. I’m tired of people telling me the problem and not offering any solutions. It’s my nature to problem solve. I don’t want to hear the down side. I already know it. Give me something to keep my hopes up and help me to try to fix the problem. I operate much better under those conditions. Maybe the district Math meeting will give me some hope on Wednesday. If not hope, at least some ideas of how to work in this situation.
