I'm excited it is Friday because that means I get to do some more exploring around Ireland, but it also means my time here is quickly coming to an end. I'm disappointed I only have two weeks left at my school here. I'm going to miss the kids and other teachers here. Although the silver lining is that I get to go home, see all my friends and family and graduate, in approximately 22 days, but who's counting?
This was a good week overall. I gave my first years a quiz on Wednesday that I was a little nervous about, after our less than stellar review, but they did pretty well. Their biggest issue was not having to with their knowledge about ratios and proportions, but that they weren't reading the questions carefully. I guess that's a universal issue with students. They lost some minor points on not simplifying when it asked to or writing their answer as a fraction when it asked for it as a decimal.
I've already altered my plan for the next lesson so that I can go through the quiz and stress to them how important it is to read each question carefully. From my assessments during the classes, they are getting the content, now we just need to work on them actually reading the questions.
Next week will be the last time I'm introducing any new information to them since the following week will be a review and test. I've planned a little game for their review, but I'm a little nervous about how it'll work out. I'm not 100% sure they'll be able to handle it, mostly because it's not something I think they are used to. I've already made a worksheet version of my game questions just in case we need to abandon the idea, but I hope that's not the case. I think it has the potential to be a fun review for them before the test and I want to do something they'll have fun with, but still get a good review from.
Still one more observation, a portfolio and a few other loose ends to go, but I'm pretty excited I'll soon be able to call myself a college graduate and certified secondary math teacher. (Since I'm not planning on royally screwing it all up in the next few weeks, let's hope I haven't just jinxed myself with a freak accident!) It started to feel like this day would never come for a little while there, but I enjoyed (almost) every second of my senior year, especially those spent in the classroom. I guess since I'll be spending a lot of time in the classroom in the years to come, it's a good thing I enjoy it so much!