For some reason, I've been really sensitive to the idea of covering vs. teaching material lately. I know I've been guilty of saying, "But I know I covered that!", rather than focusing on whether I *taught* it or not. This is the first year in many, many years that I know that I will not get to everything in the AP Stat syllabus. Pacing wise, I'm about a week behind where I wanted to be and I'm going to have to be okay with that.
Part of the difficulty is my class makeup. I have classes of 32 and 33 and try as I may, I just can't cram the same amount of material into a 55 minute class with 32 students than I could when I had 25 per class. Add that to the mixture of students and it's tough. I love my students and I've really got a great group this year, but I also have kids that had Calc 3 last year sitting next to students that made a D in Algebra 2. The wide variety of students makes differentiation a necessity but it also means that some kids are ready to move on well before the others are.
I feel like there are better connections being made and better conversations being had, so I'm hoping the depth will make up for some of the width that I'm going to end up lacking in the end. I want to make sure students are absorbing the information for the long term and I'm not just "covering" it to check it off my list.
I want to teach, but sometimes I fall into the habit of covering, especially when I start to panic about getting everything done. How do I break out of that rut? :(
Today I'm Thankful For:
One last beautiful fall day before the bottom drops out! Today was an absolutely gorgeous day, with highs near 80. I set my timer on my phone for 20 minutes, then went for a walk around the building just to soak up some Vitamin D and fresh air. Tomorrow's high temperature is 43... BRRR!!!
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