Midterm Update

Well this midterm update is a lot more positive than any other midterm update that I've ever had. I don't know what it is about this year's freshmen but they are awesome. I've talked to a couple of other profs/staff members and they all have the same reaction. My kids are the same. They talk, they participate, they do their homework for the most-part (there are always a few exceptions to the rule....), they make me laugh, it's such a good feeling. I love having fun while I teach and sometimes I'm so focused on those students who frustrate me that I can't enjoy the students who make my job enjoyable. This year 95% of my students make my job enjoyable and I love that.

I feel like there are so many variables this year/semester that it's hard to tell what's changed. Is it the students? Is it my slightly altered curriculum? Is it that I've been doing this for two years now and feel comfortable with my knowledge of the subject? Who knows. But it's a good feeling to know that my students are doing well and that the way I've structured things, the majority of the core issues are already taught. I assigned a midterm this year instead of just an essay or two (oh man are those essays usually horrific....) so I'm interested to see how the students will do.

The trouble with Effective Studying is that it's so hard to test. If the students do well the rest of their college career, they've learned. But you can't test that. So my midterm is all about making connections between what we've learned so far- like, how to learning styles, motivation and test-taking relate to each other. I teach one more class tomorrow and then they take their midterms so by next Thursday or Friday I should have an idea of how they've grasping the concepts. Second half of the semester is a focus on projects, some new concepts that I've never taught before, and my favorite days of speeches and debates.

Of course, I have those few students who are problematic. What would a school year be without them? A few students are very "roller-coaster-y", which I know is a made-up word. Sometimes they're great and sometimes they fail quizzes and don't turn in HW and don't participate. I have a few who haven't shown up for three weeks. I confiscated a phone last week because the student showed up late, didn't do his HW and then was on his phone in class. Don't mess with me. Seriously, don't mess. I want to try and help as many students as I can but in all honesty, the kids who don't make any effort whatsoever are kind of nice to have because it makes giving them a midterm score really easy.

My education students are all quite nice and we've had some fun days of role-playing for discipline strategies and discussing what to do in situations. What I've said since day 1 of teaching this Intro to Teaching class, it's so hard to teach teaching. I dont' remember much about how I learned to teach but I do know that my I learned so much from being in front of a classroom. I'm excited to see how they fare out at Middleton because, unlike last semester, I'm really not nervous at all about any of them in the classroom. A few kids are kind of quiet but they've also talked about their previous experience so I'm not that concerned.

This week is midterm week and then it's fall break- lots of fun things planned for the best few weeks along with the usual teaching things. Unlike the last few years, I'm really confident, excited and comfortable with what I'm doing. And I'm very grateful for that, as well as for the friends that support me on this crazy ride.