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| Yesterday, an agnostic friend explained to me what an evangelical Christian is. It was a very concise explanation, and it made me realize I don't identify as an evangelical Christian. She explained to me that the act of sharing your beliefs is intrinsic to the Christian faith, but the evangelic sect of Christianity has its own subculture and its own agendas/prerogatives that don't necessarily align with what Christians in other sects believe. I'm comfortable with the idea that sharing your beliefs is important, but I no longer identify with the philosophies of the evangelical "camp". The term "born-again" however, is a term that I comfortably identify with. | | |
| I wish I were more thick-skinned. The world is not a "safe" place... the real world at least. I like engaging it, but it's so tiring. I'm growing a thicker skin slowly and incrementally, but it's not in my nature. It's fun to learn how to grow into qualities that I lack.
Today was back to school night. Some of my students told me about how much they liked my class. Others told me how it moves really slow. A few admitted they get bored when it's too easy. Luckily, no student has told me (yet) that they think the class is boring. A student confessed that they heard that I was a "mean" teacher. Last year, I was the most unpopular freshman teacher on campus, and my students agreed they heard many rumors. But this year is different. Most say that I am nice, and I am very patient with them. They say they enjoy the fact that I break down the steps in a very easy to understand manner. For the most part, they are enjoying it.
Today, a parent told me that her son felt neglected and unliked by me. He was a quiet boy. He was a good student. It made me extremely sad to hear this about him. I showed the student's mother all the work he turned in, and she was mildly appeased that I did in fact check her son's work and gave feedback; There is evidence that I am not ignoring her son in my class.
A girl cried in frustration (literally cried) because of how hard the math was. She complained that she was feeling ignored. I didn't ignore her, but I admit I was unable to answer her questions during class on multiple occasions. The truth was that her skills were extremely low. She hasn't passed a single math in her high school career, and yet she is a senior student in my college prep Trigonometry class. Is the school setting her up for failure? Absolutely. I don't have time to stop my entire class to teach her how to add negative numbers, how to multiply two numbers, how to add simple fractions, LET ALONE HOW TO FACTOR A COMPLEX QUADRATIC TRINOMIAL THAT REQUIRES PULLING OUT A GREATEST COMMON FACTOR. Poor girl doesn't even know how to find the GCF between two numbers. =( It's not her fault, but I cannot meet her learning needs. To tend to her extraordinary needs during class would be a disservice to the entire class trying to learn college prep Trigonometry. I told her to come to tutoring on multiple occasions, and she gave me reasons why she couldn't come after school. It's a messed up situation, and at the end of the day, we are both feeling frustrated.
All in all, I love my classes this year. Students are actually grateful that I am trying to teach them something. I'm not being targeted by students. There are still hard and frustrating moments, but I like it.
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