Hello All, from the exhausted rubble of Sullivania! We have to get the obnoxious neon elephant out of the room first: This year has been rough for my family, and that translates into the classroom the same as it does for students. Goblin2 battled his way through five ear infections in a matter of months, resulting in antibiotic resistance, tummy troubles, and eventual surgery. We were, and continue to be, in the midst of four straight months of sleepless nights, up one to three times as BabyBear relearns sleep regulation after all that. Due to the sleep deprivation (kids are used to hearing me say "If I can do math being up since 0330, you can sure give it a try!"), I missed a week of testing for the first time in nearly three years and we're pretty sure that resulted in COVID and months of after-effects. With zero precautions in area schools, we added in RSV over the Solstice break and I ended up in the hospital twice. As a double-med asthmatic, it was close, nearly what we have feared for three years, but 'Yay for basic medical science!' I'm still alive and kicking. I tell folks this because my classroom and relationship with students is founded on honesty, transparency. I don't have due dates, materials are online with livestreamed classes, and alternative assessment is available because I know life can pack a punch. I treat students as young adults who can make their own decisions and offer the flexibility to work around those punches when they need. I don't hide things from kids because being genuine works best for us. Sorry if it's an overshare, but on to the "good stuff," anyway. |
"Mind the Gap!"
The Fall '22 semester showed the math department as a whole a swiss cheese-like collection of knowledge gaps as the cumulative effect of the ongoing pandemic. So many kids have missed days or weeks of school due to illness, instruction has been interrupted, and no one has been running at their best. We tried to fill those holes, but Algebra II and PreCalc saw a noticeable decline in performance, even after slowing down and missing entire units to focus on critical content. Students have what they need to progress, but this will be a trend for years. Be patient with kids
The Fall '22 semester showed the math department as a whole a swiss cheese-like collection of knowledge gaps as the cumulative effect of the ongoing pandemic. So many kids have missed days or weeks of school due to illness, instruction has been interrupted, and no one has been running at their best. We tried to fill those holes, but Algebra II and PreCalc saw a noticeable decline in performance, even after slowing down and missing entire units to focus on critical content. Students have what they need to progress, but this will be a trend for years. Be patient with kids
Starting Off Right Spring '23 semester, however, seems to be more on-pace with what we typically see. Algebra* This is our year-long, permission-only remedial Algebra class. Students are here to shore up shaky skills from last year before rejoining the main classes or, more often, get the basics required for graduation. These kids did solid work last semester, several with big pushes to finish, and (this is normal) have fallen back on some old behaviors/choices after the big effort. Most of those Fs and Ds are simply missing work/tests, so we hope to see a bounce-back moving forward. My goal for this class is to get kids the skills/credit they need to move on. I want nothing more than a class full of Cs or better, so the class structure is built with accommodations galore as standard procedure. I will be reaching out to several families to makes sure we get them across the finish line! PreCalc 2nd semester has its usual 50-50 mix of upper-classfolk and accelerated sophomores. They're doing great with material past the secondary curriculum (seriously, College Algebra is just Alg2 again!), and stepping up to the challenge. I hammer this point in class, especially with the younglings- parents/guardians, please be kind to kids who are likely seeing their first B or C. Precalculus is tough stuff and expectations of perfection are unhealthy. Spearfish students regularly crush the ACT because of high standards and that's where the real payoff (metaphorically and literally) is. No blood-sweat-and-tears math, but PreCalc students are often experiencing their first instance of things not coming easily for them. Remember that solutions are all online, I am available before and after school, and students have near-24hr access to assistance via Remind. A Note About Infinite Campus As laid out in Grading & Assessment, I aim to support students as fully as possible, allowing them to choose their level of engagement. In addition to resources and our catch-and-release model, while I am in the building, I drop everything to help students first. I don't want to push around papers, I want to help kids. That means Infinite Campus will have little posted for grades, just quizzes (every 6th day of class) and all unit daily work in one lump. Believe me, students know how they are doing. They self-score Daily Checks and that Daily Work grade is broken down on a cover sheet (attached here) after every unit. Ask how things are going, if they every ask questions outside of class, and even join our class Remind to get the same assignments/updates they do! |
Game Club While I haven't been keeping our socials updated (see description of dumpster fire above), the Nerd Herd is still thriving. A community of supportive teens that has each others' backs in more than just gaming, I'm proud of these kids and the space we have created. This weekend is our Q3 Geek-A-Thon, too! We take over the library with consoles, PCs, tabletop games, D&D, and junk food galore. There's no rosters or fundraising here, just donations and good vibes. |
Thanks for following through the infodump. Hopefully updates like this address any questions you may have. If not, peruse the website and contact when able. I hope to see some of you at PT conferences (I'm passionate about kids and love talking about helping them succeed), and everyone stay safe out there. Weather and otherwise, things have been wild!
Ryan Sullivan
Legendary Creature- Human Advisor
Ryan Sullivan
Legendary Creature- Human Advisor