I'm now two weeks into the school year and I'm noticing a lot of similarities to past experiences:
1. Having a top-down approach to pacing is bad for me trying to be better. Our district has dictated the scope and sequence for the year's standards to be met. With my math department we (they) drew up a calendar for when we're teaching what. This has been horrible for what I want to do: not be a traditional math teacher. I want students to discover things on their own. Our first two weeks was all about solving equations and non-compound inequalities. I wanted my students to decide on "rules" for solving equations by having them create equations and challenge each other to solve them (the one day we spent on it was actually a lot of fun and they came up with some great stuff!) But we couldn't fully develop the ideas and test them out because we needed to "cover" other things like solving inequalities. The result is my students have an incomplete understanding of solving equations and I had to do some crappy lessons using direct instruction methods which my students were immediately turned off by. I feel like my good plans can't fit in the top-down system... can't we focus on learning rather than teaching?
2. I'm some students' favorite teacher because I let them sit by their friends, and some students hate me because I'm not a traditionalist and don't just tell them exactly what to do. I had a few students tell me I was their favorite on the second or third day and this past Friday I signed at least two forms transferring students out of my classes.
3. We had a quiz that I know my students weren't ready for. Another interesting tradition that schools have: we give tests because that's when they're scheduled. Some people say it is so you can stay on schedule. I say we should just schedule better. Personally I'm a fan of giving students a quiz they're not ready for. It helps them see what they do and don't know - we just need to make sure they have an opportunity to redo it later.
4. There are a lot of things I want to do, but I don't have the time to do them all so I only get to do half of them halfway and so nothing works out close to what I planned and now my students don't know as much as they should. Wow, that was a long sentence, but it get's to the point. I need to choose my battles better. Maybe this isn't the year I have a complete problem-based approach to teaching. Maybe this is the year that we do a cool task once or twice a week while we focus on Assessment for Learning techniques everyday.
I think this is what I'll try: Focus on one cool task a week and Assessment for Learning. I am really new (2nd yr teacher) and I've got oodles of extra stuff to do: Go to district classes two nights a week, finish moving in, get all of my Master's Program homework done, and spend time with my wife. This is sounding like a good plan to me. And I don't have to be a traditional teacher during the rest of the week either. I can turn typical guided/individual practice into games which I love playing :) I think I'll actually use that Game Library that I've been building.
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