So, I'm well on my way to becoming a real teacher now. I've hit a sort of plateau in my creativity, and I am looking forward to the weekend (and it's only monday). Wednesday night my coworker and I are heading to Atlantic City for a NCTM Conference where we will be inspired to teach math in a creative way. (hopefully). I need some inspiration right now. That's for sure.

I convinced my Principal that the students NEED to have Math on Fridays and that the poetry class that I was teaching is a real waste of time. She kind of agreed, and is letting me teach math instead. I am going to use it as a review / further exploration day. She wants my kids to have some sort of product from this class that may be performed on Friday's at our "Cafe" a.k.a. bullshit excuse for my Principal and her boyfriend (who is also the music teacher) to show off their talents and make people think that we are going such a wonderful job with our students. Meanwhile, the math scores are in and every student fell at least one level. We have NO level 4 students, when we used to have about 10. I made sure to mention this when persuading my principal to let me teach ONLY math.

Anyway, this little trip should be refreshing. A nice break from reality, and hopefully I'll come back with a better outlook and a better strategy!