Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Putting me in my place...

Today I began teaching a math lesson about using repeated subtraction to solve division problems. OK, OK, I know what you are thinking, "What?!? How do you use subtraction to solve a division problem?!? Lisa must be confused....that poor girl....and to think, she's a teacher!" Nope, it's true, you really can solve division problems using repeated subtraction. If you want me to show you how, my math class typically runs from 1:15-2:15, you are welcome anytime.

Anyway, I start my lesson, deliver my instruction and model a few examples. Then, one of my students, let's call him N, raises his hand and says, "Mrs. S. you aren't really teaching." (As an aside, N is a student who is a nowhere-near-the-box kid.....he'll say something that makes absolutely NO sense whatsoever, but if you give him a chance to explain it will either be really clever or so totally confusing that you'll feel like you just spun around in circles fifty times in a row and your head is dizzy. He's come out with some real gems this year--my personal favorite is "Writing is like karaoke." Yup, he really said that. And it actually made sense to me--once he explained it. I'm not sure if that's scary or good.)

My first reaction after he tells me I'm not teaching is to look at the special ed. teacher in my room at the time with a clear question on my face, "Wait a minute, I thought I was teaching? Aren't I teaching? What's going on here?" She looked back at me with a grin and mouthed the word "Breathe."
Which I did.
Then I asked N what he meant....his explanation? I wasn't teaching I was just giving them another trick for solving division problems.

Right.

3 comments:

Kelli said...

HUH?

Kelli said...

P.S. I meant Huh? to the above comment - not your post! :-)

Tina said...

what's up with whoami123?

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