Blogging to Blog

OK. I've been thinking about Anne's #MTBoS30 challenge and I'm in. It was ParkStar's post that was the tipping point somehow. But probably just for today.

I'm in the middle of grading finals, grades due Tuesday. Noon, though hopefully it won't come to that. Meant to have them done last Friday, but I've been taking every distracted path possible. It just doesn't seem as relevant. Grading with no feedback, as only .1% ever come back to see this stuff. A minority even want to see their grade breakdown. The learning is done, so why am I still here?

In particular my college algebra class that has been such a challenge. They took my lovingly crafted questions and gave them short shrift. They're showing me all the ways in which they did not learn what I wanted them to learn... and I oscillate between blaming them (which, thankfully, the #globalmath on Math Trauma by Kasi Allen helped me spot) and blaming myself.

But I know the blame cause is shared. I have to create the conditions for learning that I influence, but they have to engage and be responsible, too. And I know that I'm a better teacher for those struggles.

The struggle now is to find evidence of understanding for the standards, to fight for them to get the best grade possible. I wish we could still talk about it - so much of what they did bears discussion. I'm annoyed by people who did nothing to the last minute (although I was one of those students and am now one of those teachers; not doing nothing, but...) at the same time as I'm so happy that they didn't give up. Even if it was for a grade, and not for learning.

Here are my current learning targets for college algebra. Lots of ideas for revision, so maybe that's grist for some 2 ≤ day ≤ 30.