Retesting

As most of the students know, we will be retesting them next week on the nine standards that have been tested throughout the course of the year. Students must work with other students, do extra problems, go on Khan Academy, ask another teacher for help, etc. before they will have the chance to retest. The students will only be given ONE chance to test their skills for their chance to become proficient. I will be staying after school a few days next week to help students if they would like extra help on a specific topic. I would advise students to start studying old material (homework, tests, notes.etc.) to prepare for next week.

The Hunt

As my time at Maplewood Middle School starts to wind down, it's about that time when I start looking for a full-time teaching job. I have started my job hunt in surrounding middle and high schools. I have found that there are many openings throughout the state. I've began creating a resume, cover letters, getting letters of recommendation, as well as many other things needed to apply for a job. This has been an interesting process and I am learning a great deal about how applying for a job and how competitive the profession is as a whole.

Graduation

This upcoming weekend, I will officially be graduating college from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. I can't believe that it has been five year since I attended my first college class. It has been an absolutely crazy couple of years, especially this last year. I just want to thank those who have been there to support me and be there for the times when I needed friends the most. I have made some incredible friends over these past five years. I'm not sure where everyone will be going or even where I will be, but I wish all of those people the best of luck in the future. I also wanted to thank my family for always being there for me. My sisters have listened to so many of my teaching ideas that I'm sure they are sick of me asking if they think a lesson I have come up with would be a good idea or not. I would also like to thank my brother for always being there for me. We have had so many conversations about school and he has given me so much insight on certain events. I can't think him enough for always being there for me. Lastly, I would like to thank my parents for everything that they have done. They have given me the opportunity to start off my future in the right direction and pushed me to be the person who I am today. If it weren't for them, I would be able to say that I have officially graduated and ready to move onto the next chapter in my life.

Math Conference

This past week, I was able to attend the Green Lake Mathematics Conference in Greenlake, Wisconsin. This is an annual conference that brings presenters from around the nation to Wisconsin to present and share their ideas on mathematics in the classroom. I attended several different sessions that varied in their content. The first one I attended was one that helped integrate the use of the iPad into the classroom. The presenter gave many ideas on how to connect the students with the iPad, as well as, many different apps that they use to present their material. The session that I attended, was put on by three presenters that opened a charter school in the Waukesha School District. They have a very different teaching style then what many schools are used to. Their school is very student based that uses the STEM program as it's main basis for learning. The last session that I attended was put on by a presenter from Atlanta, Georgia that works with school districts all over the nation. The presenter gave a very in-depth look at the RTI programs that are being inserted into schools all over the country. I really enjoyed this conference and learned some new skills and techniques. It gave me a chance see other techniques and build up my knowledge on what other mathematics teachers are doing around the state and country.