Last Journal

This year has been great!  I'll miss all the fun times we had in class.  Every day I came to class wondering what exciting activity we would do.  You engaged each student with your songs and outgoing personality.  Even if the material you introduced wasn't interesting, you made it fun.  Throughout the year, students knew they could always ask for help whether in person or email.  This is deeply appreciated because there are other teachers who are not as reliable when it comes to email.  It isn't helpful when a teacher responds to a homework question the next day when the homework is due that day.  Also, I enjoyed doing the blogs and worksheets.  The blogs allowed students to write freely and really think about the topic that was given.  They were able to express themselves and practice citing quotes without the pressure of being graded.  This is an area where I improved and can now not only cite the quote but give analysis.  When learning a new formula, worksheets were always helpful.  They were a useful tool that helped us remember and practice the formulas.  The only thing I would suggest is stapling the answers to the problems to the worksheet or put them on the board.  I sometimes felt a little unsure of myself practicing the formulas because I would doubt my answer.  In addition, I didn't favor the "pogils".  I feel that we should do them as a class or learn the material beforehand and then complete the packet.  Students seemed lost and unsure of what they were doing.  One last piece of advice is that students shouldn't be allowed to have so much freedom playing with their iPhones, iPods, or phones in class.  They become distracted and don't listen.  Not only is it affecting them negatively but also the students around them.  Overall, I enjoyed being in your class and felt that I had a great learning experience.  Being a young and "cool" teacher gives you the advantage of connecting with the students.  Thank you so much, keep up the great work, and have a fantastic summer.