Adventures in Arizona

So today was the big day. Our 20 students took their final exam, and 17 passed the class (final was only worth 20%). We have one more day tomorrow that is enrichment. In other news I have been officially hired by Glendale Elementary School District and will be teaching 7th and 8th grade math. The school is 10 miles/20 minutes from my apartment. I am going to use the words of one of my students to finish out this post, but will write more soon. This student was the only one to respond to a post-test option of writing something to us, her teachers:

All three of you are great teachers. For the past 6 years or so I hated math teachers and never even tried in class or respected the teacher at that. But for once I actually tried and cared because you guys are cool and I enjoyed learning from all of you. I know wherever you go next and teach your students will love you. I really hope I passed this test but I really doubt it. I forgot most of what I learned and my mind kept wandering and I just found out my good friend relapsed yesterday and I let that get to me while taking this test so I apologize because I know I didn’t put my all into it but thanks for being awesome teachers and I wish you all luck with whatever in live, being teachers or not.

(Signed)

Although just barely, she passed the class

Once again it is Sunday before I have sat down to update you all, but it was quite the week last week! My interview a week ago went very well, and I hope to have news on it by the end of the week (some action is needed at the school district level before I can hear anything).

My second week in the classroom went very well, with a mean score of 75% on the midterm assessment. The students are definitely warming up to me, as they were starting to get squirmy by the end of the week. Tuesday was marked by a surprise “TFA” which in this case stands for Totally Free Afternoon! (More on acronyms later, but its safe to say that TFA is obsessed with them Then, we got Friday off for the holiday, and Ashley was down here from Thursday night – Sunday night to help me get the apartment set up. We now have a bedroom, desk/office, dining table, TV, and more! We bought a sofa on Saturday and it will be delivered next Saturday, and at that point the apartment will be pretty much complete…except for all the boxes still in the garage!

On Saturday night we were two of 50,000 locals at Tempe Town Lake for food and fireworks on a very hot night….in the mid-90s still around 9 pm. Now, believe it or not, it’s Sunday night again and I have printed tomorrow’s materials, finalized Tuesday, and have drafts done for Wednesday and Thursday. Which means I only have four real lessons left to plan! (Friday, then Monday – Wednesday of next week. Next Thursday is the final and Friday is an enrichment day.)

As I said, the end is in sight….maybe I will even have time for a mid-week post this week!