What is a "cool" teacher?

About a week ago, I had a student come up to me and say "Mr. Franzowiak, you're a cool teacher." I was very delighted by this compliment and gracefully said "thank you." Over the past couple of days, I've been thinking about what really defines a "cool teacher." Is it the fact that I am a younger, college aged student-teacher? The fact that I am a little more laid back than other teachers? The fact that I do enjoy using technology? I don't feel that I am doing anything different than any other teacher. I look around at the teachers in Maplewood and see many teachers in my eyes who I define as "cool." They aren't the youngest or use the latest technology, but understand the true meaning of what it takes to be an effective educator and are willing to go above and beyond what is expected of them. I can't really define what it means to be a "cool" teacher. I'm just a regular student-teacher trying to improve my skill set and try to take in as much knowledge and advice as possible from established teachers.

As the semester continues, I hope the student's opinions about me don't change. I hope that students can realize that there are many other "cool" teachers in the building who have many more years of experience are just as "cool" as I am.

Review Preview

This week was definitely a crazy week and I would like to thank the students for giving me the opportunity to teach full time for part of the week. I learned a lot from this experience and took away many positives and negatives from it. I know that for some classes, having me up there teaching was very different. I would like to thank you all again for participating in class discussions, asking/answering questions, and staying focused while Mrs. Braun was gone for those couple of days. 

The students have recently been introduced to algebra tiles. Over the past week or so that students been using these tiles to create, set-up, and solve a variety of algebraic expressions. We talked briefly about different values of what “x” could possibly be for when we set-up our expressions. I like seeing the connections that the students are making from setting up the tiles and solving to writing the expressions and solving them on paper. The book uses these tiles throughout the rest of the year and I’m happy to see many students understand how to use them and to use them appropriately.

*Please note that there is a chapter test coming up next week. This test will cover proportions, the use of algebra tiles, and a few other ideas from chapter 4.

Homework and Pride Rally

This week was a busy week for our 7^th grade class. We are finishing up talking about proportions and how we can create a proportions web, which include: a situation (words or scenario), a rule (equation), a table, and a graph. These ideas and problems have helped us to begin a discussion on what a constant rate is and what kind of specific characteristics a proportional graph/table should include. There was a homework assignment everyday this week. The students can find a VERY helpful homework tip on Mrs. Braun’s website. 

There was a school-wide pride rally on Friday afternoon. All of the band members did an outstanding job performing their schools to get the rally started. I would also like to congratulate those who were selected to be the VIP members of the pride rally. Nice job collecting those Jay Bucks and hope you enjoyed it! The dance/cheerleading team also did a very nice job in their performance. Just a reminder to all students that there is now Goodwill clothing drive going on school wide! Donate and change a life!

Feeling Welcomed

I have really been enjoying my time at Maplewood over the past two weeks. I’m learning a lot about all of the kids, as well as, getting to know most of the faculty. The students and the staff have been nothing but outstanding in welcoming me to the school. It’s great having students from other classes and grades come up to me and say “hello.” I would just like to say thank you to all who have made this a great start to my student teaching experience.

The students finished up all of their tests and we have started to move onto chapter 4, which involves proportions and expressions. Yesterday started to talk about what a scale factor (multiplier) is and how they can be used to shrink or enlarge a similar shape. We will continue this discussion and topic throughout next week.

Have a great rest of the weekend and enjoy Super Bowl Sunday!