Seeing Progress

One class yesterday actually did pay attention to me. When there’s a substitute, a lot of the time, the kids get a little more rowdy—They think they can pull more tricks with the sub. However, I pulled the “Guys, you’re taking a test on Friday, I’d recommend you pay attention if you want to do well. If you already know everything, then you can keep talking.” Everyone stopped talking and were very attentive after that. We went through the homework and questions at top speed yesterday and Mr. Griffin noticed a big increase in overall understanding of factoring. My method of delivering information is to get people to see the big picture/the concept. That’s why I was never natural at English or History when I had to analyze details. I was always a big picture “general-to-specific” kind of person. This seems to work for factoring. The kids now don’t memorize exact numbers, but see patterns. Soon, they won’t even have to use the substitution method to see these patterns.

One regret that I may have had yesterday was for the kids who clearly understood what was going on. I was basically wasting their time answering other kids’ questions at the front of the room. I wish I could just give them the homework and have them start on it (and since they clearly know what’s going on, they don’t need to talk to other kids and be distracting while I answer questions form kids who actually need it). That probably would have been a much better use of their time, but it would have also divided the class and people may not want to ask questions because they want to get the homework as soon as they can.