W
ell, it's official. Summer is over. Not in the astronomical sense, but in the school starts tomorrow way.
ell, it's official. Summer is over. Not in the astronomical sense, but in the school starts tomorrow way. For the first time in many years I'm actually nervous about it. It's been a long time since I've taught something that I wasn't confident about. In Jr. High I always taught PreAlgebra or Algebra, the last two years at the High School I taught computer classes (not part of NCLB), Psychology (also not part of NCLB), Algebra and the UBSCT* Prep class - which is basically all Algebra stuff. This year I have 1 semester of UBSCT* Prep, a semester of Psychology, an Algebra class and 2 Geometry classes. The last are the ones that are giving me the concerns. I've taught Geometry once, during my student teaching back in 1993. I spent a little time this summer going over the material and I know that I know it. The problem is, as any teacher can attest to, that knowing the material doesn't mean the students are going to understand your understanding of it. So I'm a little nervous. But not too nervous, because I know that it may take a few rounds with the material, but I'm pretty good at figuring out what works and what doesn't. So, I'll muddle through the first chapter or two, until my mojo gets going, and then I'll be fine. I hope. I think. I pray. No matter what it will be nice to have a little change from the same-old same-old Algebra that I've been teaching for the last 15 years. So to wrap it all up: Nervous - yes. Scared - nah. Optomistic - yuppers. Oh, and one of the nice things about the school I'm at - the biggest class I have right now has 25 students.
*UBSCT - Utah Basic Skills Competency Test. It's basically a graduation test that the state requires all students to take. Right now they can graduate whether they pass or not, but in the future they will not get a diploma if they do not pass the test. For now, if they don't pass they get "Did not pass UBSCT" stamped on their diploma. Kind of like back in the day when children born to unwed mothers had "BASTARD" stamped on their birth certificates.
