vacation

I was subbing the other day and had a bit of time at the end of the day before dismissal (I was a sub for a reading teacher and guided reading groups were over), so I wandered into the office. There was a student sitting there who was talking to the secretary and this is how the conversation went:

student: Can I have a vacation form?

secretary: Are you going on vacation?

student: No, I just want the form.

me: So, do you think just by having the form you will be going on vacation?

student: Yup.

secretary and me: Hahahhahahahahhahaha!!

WTF????

If your child came home from school saying "Mom, we get to use the F-word, the N-word, and WTF if math class", WHAT WOULD YOU DO???? Hopefully you would question your child more instead of just calling the school and complaining.

These are 3 teaching methods I use in class. The F-word means Formula Word. There are five formula words that we use--Area, Perimeter, Circumference, Volume, and Surface Area. The N-word means NOT. For some reason, kids skip over that three-letter word that means so much. WTF=What's the Formula?? When we are finding the area of a shape, I make the kids do a multi-step process. List the shape, list the "F-word", write WTF and the formula, plug and chug (fill in the numbers and solve), write the answer, write the label. If they do this every time, they are almost certain to get the correct answer!

This just makes learning a little more fun!

Homework

What is the deal with students and homework? When I was in school--many, many, many years ago--we had homework daily. Researchers suggest students are successful if they have 10 minutes for every year in school they are in--seventh graders should have 70 minutes of homework a night. My students have about 15-20 minutes of math homework a night--if they waste time in class and don't finish. No other subject in our school gives homework regularly...well, reading has them read their library book for homework. I average 1-7 kids per class period DAILY who do not have their homework finished. WHAT IS UP WITH THAT?????? My policy is to have the kids call home each day when they do not have their homework finished. I have kids who call home DAILY! AND THEY ACTUALLY TALK TO THEIR MOM OR DAD DAILY!!! Why are these parents not requiring their kids to do their work?????? Then, when the kid fails, the parent has the nerve to question ME!

In order to be successful in Math, you HAVE TO HAVE HOMEWORK!!!!!!