My Dream

I guess I just had my first nightmare about teaching.

But who can blame me? I went with my family to my dad's office Christmas party--complete with Christmas carols, the presents game where you draw a number, pick a present, and steal gifts from each other, and "graduating college, eh? What do you plan on doing with your life?" interrogation questions.

My life? I don't know. But I plan on teaching in the near future. The following are actual quotes:

-"Oh! ...Wow. That's... a noble endeavor."
-"Teach high school? ...but why?"
-"Teach for America! I had friends that tried Teach for America! ..They had a hard time.... Yeah.. a really a hard time... uhh... good luck."

And, a quote which I overheard from halfway across the room. They were talking about the woman who sent a death threat to Michelle Obama:

-"She looks completely harmless--like a high school teacher or something... someone that no one would ever take seriously!"

= = =

In my nightmare, I dreamt that the kids tore the classroom apart, tore me apart, and then tore each other apart. Then I dreamt that I time traveled (I'm currently reading The Time Traveler's Wife), visited the me of 2009 and told myself not to ever become a teacher. And then I dreamt that I went on to teach English in Japan to a group of robotic, uniformed schoolchildren.

= ==

I know that I really want to do this. I need to keep telling myself that because it seems that teachers and non-teachers alike are quick to share words of caution. In particular, non-teachers wonder why a soon-to-be college graduate would choose teaching as their first profession, let alone a last-resort profession.

= = =

I really want to do this.

Gotta love them kids

After being verbally harassed by the creator to post, I've decided to share my best conversation I've had with my kids this year. Mind you, not a single adult that I meet believes that I'm out of high school, let alone teach them yet in spite of my boyish looks, all my students believe I have a wife and several kids (neither which are true...yet).

Student A: Do you want to have kids?
Me: Uh...
Student B: No, Mr. Kwok don't have kids. He sees us and dont wanna have kids no more.

Student B later on: The only reason why I'd want to have kids is so I can whoop them.

Needless to say, I could not stop laughing. Made me also rethink if I do want to have kids and whether I'd whoop them...

"He's at least 30, yo"

Marcus's hand shot up a little bit too quickly and at too odd a time for his question to be about today's lesson. I was expecting "When do we get out of here?" or "Can I go to the bathroom?" Instead, he paused for a moment and smirked. "How old are you?"

I'm the world's worst liar, and I'm 22 years old. You can read my facial expressions like a book, so I had a lot of fear in that moment that my whole house of cards was going to come tumbling down in front of me. I wasn't having a particularly strong sales moment, so I cracked up for a second and continued teaching without answering. Of course, that invested every other student in the class in the answer to this question.

"42!" (I don't think that one was serious.) "34!" "25!"

"Nah, he's at least 30, yo."

Clearly I wasn't getting out of this without an answer. My internal random number generator landed on 27. "27 - now Marcus, remind me how to test if a relation on a graph is a function," I said.

They totally bought it. The grumblings I heard afterward were that I was lying and lowballing my age.

Lessons:

1) Continue wearing a tie. Backwards hats cut your age by 15%, and ties apparently inflate it by 30%.

2) Kids are pretty gullible. I'm on the lookout for strategies to positively exploit this more.

The Glorious Perks of the Job

Fellow Teachers,

We are all too familiar with the gripes we hold for this job. Overworked, under-appreciated & underpaid. Sleepless nights and days that feel like 5 periods worth of torture. Sometimes you're in the mood to be on stage, but sometimes you're not. One thing about this job: if you're not feeling it one day, those wondrous kids will be sure to make sure you feel worse. I've driven many days looking outside the window, longing to switch spots with the man walking to his comfortable, cushy, & safe office desk.

The perks that make this job unique are limited and sometimes downright invisible. But the one that's most obvious is this: BREAKS.

An opportunity to relax, refresh, and rejuvenate. Thanksgivings, Winters, Springs, & GLORIOUS Summers. In one year, we work 180 school days. This means we get 185 of 'em off. And, THAT means we have a unique opportunity to find a sort of balance in our lives that could elude peers in other professions.

It's upon us, fellow teachers. It is here. Enjoy.

Happy holidays,

Mr. G

Review Games - Math Basketball Turned Trashketball

Since subscribing to giants of the math edubloggosphere, my review tactics have grown tenfold. We've gone from review worksheets pre-quiz to whiteboard reviews & speed dating and the like.

Well, here's another to throw at you. My kid's LOVE math basketball as much as me, but I believe I've just met it's prettier older sister.

Trashketball brought to you by Dan Greene over at Exponential Curve. Enjoy.

pride & joy

I am so proud and happy for one of my students that I must share her story.

A is a senior in my Regents Chemistry class. She has an infectious smile and is wholeheartedly devoted to her education. Needless to say I really enjoy her presence in my class and I pretty much love her to pieces.

For the past couple weeks A, like all seniors in high school, stressed about turning in her college applications on time, searched tirelessly for scholarships, and juggled her everyday coursework.

Today all of A's hard work paid off. Today A was awarded a Posse scholarship, which means this amazing young woman earned four years of full tuition to Wheaton College! A's smile was shining the entire day; she spread joy everywhere she went.

My heart is so full right now because I have faith that A will take this award and use it to its full potential. A will take this opportunity to make her mark in higher education and I cannot wait to see what she is capable of.

I have high hopes for the future; you should, too!

Edublog Awards - Show Us Some Love

First, we rejoiced in the props respected bloggers hooked us up with (here and here), and then we decided to take a peek at the edublog awards site. And then, we underwent a collective "Wait, WHAT!? We're actually on the ballot!?" Thus, here we are unabashedly soliciting your votes!

JK, all good if y'all don't vote. But, imagine how happy the day you'd make for this group of teachers if we somehow were actually awarded this thing (picture confetti and champagne).

So, if you're a true fan of this blog, vote vote VOTE here.