Weekly report: becoming a math teacher

Here is my 2/26/09 weekly report of how I’m doing with my job search.

message crafted?
I made some notes about what I wanted in my message. They are the following.

• teach math/explore math/learn math. This is for what I want to teach. “Teach math” is the most succinct, but I’m wondering if it would be better to say something like “I want to help students learn/understand math…” Explore? Maybe not. It might be a little too touchy-feely.
• struggling mathematicians. This is what I was/am and who I want specifically to work with students who have trouble making math connections. I believe that my past history with math will help me find more ways to help students understand concepts.
• organization/goal setting. Something I rock at is organization, anyone who has worked with me will tell you that. I believe that being organized isn’t something you are born with, but something you learn. All my students will master steps to become organized learners. I would like to incorporate goal setting into my curriculum. By setting and monitoring weekly and monthly goals, students will not only have a greater understanding of what reasonable goals are and the steps to meet them, they will also use their goals to master math concepts.
• different ways to solve problems
• cross curriculum
• students will learn: math, organization, goal setting.

…Picking up on 3/7. And I ran out of time and had to go to work. So I didn’t set goals for this last week. It was a busy week and not a lot happened in the realm of future math teacher Patricia. So I will finish reporting what happened and then make new goals.

student teaching started?
This was much easier than I thought. I asked my boss if she would mind if I observed math class, and taught a unit or two. She thought that was a fine idea. Then I just had to ask the 4/5 teachers. I caught both of them in the kitchen on a short break. Here’s how the conversation went:
Me: “For my math thing, I don’t technically have to student teach…”
Julie: “Yes”
Jo: “I get her.”
(They argue)
Me: “I haven’t even finished what I was going to say!”
So I am currently observing Julie’s Math class two days per week and will teach a unit sometime in the near future. So far I’ve observed I need to work on my mental math skills.

informational interviews begun?
Um, yeah, contacting 10 people was a bit much, especially given how much I don’t like to do informational interviews. I contacted no people and stewed about the issue and finally decided to order What Color is Your Parachute from the library. I did that and read the chapter on informational interviewing and now that I have done that, I guess I have to move in that direction. Sigh.

blog posts kicked up?
I did three blog posts that first week and have done none since.

Goals for 3/12:

• finish that message thing
• look at three potential volunteer tutor jobs
• contact five people about informational interviewing
• write two blog posts.