Tonight was our high school graduation. This is my first year teaching any seniors although I've already had these students for the three previous years.
I just started to reflect on what things they might 'inherit' from me. Will it be my
- habit of not cussing?
- two nice things rule?
- drinking water all day?
- sarcasm?
- eye rolls?
- overdressing?
- matching everything?
- chevron obsession?
- random cleaning sprees?
- responding to their questions with "What do you think?"
- answering "Am I doing this right?" with "I sure hope so."
- asking them about their weekend?
What characteristics do I want my students to leave with and how can I develop those in the classroom?
The following character traits are the things that I think help me with math the most.
- Observant
- Analytical
- Questioning
- Quick at Mental Math
- Pattern Finder
- Organized
Some ways I have tried to pass these on over the eyars are basically through binders, INBs, and warm-ups. I've used estimation180 for the past two years, visual patterns last year, mental math for the past three years, and thoughtful questions this year. I make them organize their binders and do binder checks at least quarterly. I stress labeling their INBs and the table of contents with title, page number, and date.
The two I've hit on the least are being observant and analytical. Two ways I've thought about working on being observant but haven't done yet:
- Have classes compete in finding the most errors that I make
- Changing something minor in the classroom each day to see who will notice
Neither of those have much to do with math. How can I better pass down these traits that have been so important to me during my math career?
Great Post Elissa. Will honor you by thinking about answer. Just wanted to let you know I appreciate the post. AZ
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