Albert Einstein was a pretty smart guy.

I have a banner in my classroom that reads

"Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new." -Albert Einstein

I figured Einstein was a pretty bright guy; he probably has something worthwhile to say, right?

Seriously, though. I chose it intentionally. Math can be kinda scary..

The funny thing is that I'm pretty sure that banner has been more of an encouragement to me than anyone else. The past tweleve weeks have been much different than I ever expected them to be. I often don't do things right the first time, and I've realized that teaching is a much bigger responsibility than I anticipated. Thursday is the last day of 1st Trimester, and I have been accumulating some goals over the past week or so that I would like to accomplish as this week finishes up and next week begins a new trimester.

1. Bring more energy. Some days I'm just really tired. Not an acceptable excuse to not do my job well. The more energy I bring, the more my students learn.
   
2. Build better relationships with more students. It's unbelievable how getting to know a student for 5 minutes and giving them a sense that you "like" them or that you care about them changes their entire approach to your class. I mean entire. Is Maslow's hierarchy of needs accurate? Yes.
   
3. Relax. I tend to take things way too seriously and personally. I also stress out about everything. I'm going to do better to keep perspective and chill out about certain things.
   
4. Expect high quality work from my students. Kids like to push. They will try to get out of as much work as possible. I will not give them a break on their homework assignment unless I really feel that it has become unreasonable.
   
5. Engage students in learning with hands on and interactive activities more often. It's a lot more fun for them and for me. They learn well this way also. Algebra is a hard class to teach hands-on. Geometry is easier. It takes more prep work and more patience with "organized chaos" in my classroom, but overall it is a more effective teaching strategy.
   
6. Challenge students intellectually and developmentally. These kids want and need to be challenged. I want to do a better job of using high-level examples as I teach and to challenge my students to be more respectful and hard-working. And in return to take some pride in who they are and what they are doing.
   
7. Be assertive ->Assign clearly defined consequences -> Follow through. Yes.
   
8. Figure out a better system to keep track of late and make-up work. I didn't realize how much organization it would require to keep a good system. I also didn't expect so many students to lie about late homework or to try and turn in 7 late assignments when they are only allowed 2. I'll do a better job of explaining the process at the beginning and also be more strict when it comes down to it.
   
9. Be more organized and prepared for class. There have been a lot of days that I just wing it. I have copies made and a power point created, but the content just comes out as we go through it. I figured that I'm pretty good at math--I can do it. Turns out that doing a math problem and teaching someone else how to do it are two totally different things. Go figure. Being 5 minutes ahead of the students is not good. They deserve better than that.
   
10. Know how to do math better. I love math. I hope I never stop learning about it.
    
11. Use more technology. Technology is super fun and can be super motivating to students. This also counts for me as interactive activities for students. I need to do a little bit more research and find some good stuff to use.
    
12. Communicate with parents more often. This has been the most difficult of my experience here so far. I didn't realize that communicating with parents is more than just parent teacher conferences and an occasional open-house..or even an occasional phone call. Parents want to be involved. I need to be more aware of each individual student's progress and notify parents when there is some kind of issue. Ufta.
    
13. Connect with homeroom. I have a group of 20 students that are in my classroom for 5 minutes every day all year. It's super easy to blow off those 5 minutes, but the purpose of homeroom is to take attendance and to get to know these kids. So I need to find some fun activities to do. Celebrating birthdays is on my list so far. Any suggestions you have would be welcomed..
    
14. Develop better SNAP procedures and use that time to build relationships. SNAP is a built-in study hall that we have three times each week. I don't enjoy it. Kids come in and want to just hang out and talk with their friends. They are pretty disrespectful of other students who really need a quiet environment to study in--which is what SNAP is designed to do. I've been so strict during SNAP. The procedure has improved as a result, but I haven't strengthened any relationships with these kids. They are all students that I have in regular class, so I really should view this time as an opportunity to get to know them better.
    
15. Represent Jesus better. I have not done a very good job of this. I very much intend to do better. In the midst of a lot of new things and in having a lot to try and balance I have managed to just become really stressed out and frustrated and have been trying to do a lot of things on my own. Dumb. I will remember to pray for a lot of grace often, as well as patience and a humble and loving heart for these people.