How did today go? 9
Three Good Things:
1. Kids actually understand conditional statements/converses/inverses/contrapositives. Why is algebra still so difficult?!
2. I had a kid last year tell me the funniest thing today. I walked into the front office at the start of the day, she looks at me and says "Mr. Hart!! I miss you and your class! This year is so boring." Then I say something along the lines of "aww shucks, no biggie it wasn't that exciting" then she turns to the clerk and other people and starts bragging about how I actually taught math and made it fun...but that she still doesn't understand it and that she feels sorry for the teacher she has now because she won't understand it. So, the last part of that wasn't so great to hear, but hey! She liked me and thought I taught well.
3. The first day I offered tutoring I had two guys come in and actually PARTICIPATE in tutoring, not just ask me to do every problem for them. It was really pretty awesome. They stayed until about 6 o clock, and I didn't hate it. I helped one kid catch up with his work because he had been gone on a basketball tournament in Phoenix (he's a baller!), and the other was one of his good friends who honestly just wanted to learn the material better. We talked about my college experience, some shenanigans that I would never advise them doing (I'll admit, up on the quad during class sometimes Ian and I would bundle up in layers of clothes, run really fast, jump on the ice and smash into each other--highly mature and fun activity with zero injuries ever...). I showed them pictures of Jewell in the winter and spring and fall and they were so amazed to see seasons. It was really funny. Then I showed them some articles with me in it, so they finally believed that I played soccer in college, and now they think I'm legit. They both seem really interested in college and bragged how "we actually care about our grades". Hopefully I can make their attitude catch on and become contagious in my class. I think I would like to make tutoring a pleasant and fun experience this year, unlike last year when it seemed tedious and obnoxious.
