Tuesday 22 February 2011

math review. . .


i have just accepted a position working at timpview high school.
woot woot!
i'll be working with special ed students, who either struggle due to physical/mental handicaps
as well as students who are performing below grade level.
i'm really excited for the job!
i was not so excited today however when i arrived at school and they told
me i would be teaching math.
math.

words cannot describe how much i loathe math.
not to mention how horrible i have been at it my entire 23 years of life.
so i walked into the classroom filled with students, and the math teacher
proceeded to hand me a book as he said, "have fun!"
i literally stared at the class for about 7 whole seconds in terror.
they were learning about parallelograms, linear symmetry and trapeziums and stuff. . .
i introduced myself as mrs. theodore.
"you mean like alvin and the chipmunks?" a girl yelled from the back of the room.
i said yes as i stared at the problems in the book i was supposed to teach.
i had no idea what was going on.
their teacher told them to work on problems 1-43 in the chapter before he left.
therefore, i told the kids to get started on the problems, and i would walk around
and answer any questions they had.
bad idea.

before i knew it their hands were shooting up left and right like rockets and everyone wanted to
know how to do #16 and #23 and #31 and #34 and basically they didn't
know how to do anything.
i had a flashback to my high school years sitting in math class. terrified the teacher would
call my name and ask me to solve the problem on the board.

i clutched the math book in my hands as i tried with every fiber of my being to
describe how to find the answers to their questions.
the book did a great job of telling me the answers.
after each question the answer would be written in red.
you would think the book would give an explanation as to how to achieve these answers, but
that would be too much to ask.
therefore i was forced to use every brain cell i could muster and recall back to my 9th grade math years, when i myself struggled through countless math problems.
after about 40 minutes of this torture by myself, the teacher came waltzing
back into class with a smug look on his face.
i wanted to kill him for leaving me alone so long.
he took over at the front of the class as i continued to walk around attempting to help.
when a kid asked me a question i would literally stare at the book for a whole 20 seconds
at the answer, and then try to come up with how it was to be achieved.
for those of you who have kids in remedial math classes at timpview, i am letting you know
that i am truly sorry that i was hired to help your child.
i was as lost as they were.

luckily, teaching is not really in my job description!
i will only have to step in when they are desperate.
most of my time will be spent in the classroom with students who need individual attention.
ill help them take notes in various classed, set goals for them, meet with
their parents if needed, etc.
it will basically be a tutoring/counseling position.
can't wait to walk those high school halls.
go t-birds!

3 comments:

  1. You would. haha... very classic Mare story

    ReplyDelete
  2. go t-bords is right!!! kickin it in my old high school. love it. and love the story. I once tutored a 3rd grader and had to help her with math and struggled to remember how to do long division..

    ReplyDelete
  3. vance and I had a good laugh over that!

    ReplyDelete