Happy Labor Day!! Labor Day is meant to give workers a day off that isn't a holy holiday or holiday celebrating anything special. I decided today to reflect a bit about working. I have resigned my position as a high school teacher and have decided to focus my energy and life on my family and myself. I found I was too tired to cook good meals or see my parents and with my father's passing it was eye opening to realize I need to see my mom more. However, I have to say Labor Day should be a day for teachers, nurses, police, firemen, and all essential workers. We should reflect on what others do for us and appreciate them!! Today Steve and I decided to commune with nature! We went to a local farm and did the You Pick Flowers. I now have a beautiful bouquet of zinnias, snapdragons and sunflowers. Plus, we spent half an hour or so in the sunshine with flowers, butterflies, bees and each other.
I have spent time this summer reflecting on my teaching career. Education has changed quite a bit over the years I have taught and taken my break. When I started teaching in 1994 out of graduate school, graphing calculators were the big thing along with Macintosh computers. I remember having a classroom lined with them along the walls. There was various software they had loaded on them to aid in teaching math. It was a big deal to have them. It was a big deal to have a classroom set of graphing calculators too. I was young and I focused on teaching the concepts and getting the kids to do the work. I started my career at a vocational high school so we truly focused on when the math will be used in real life. I taught at the first school for three years and then was offered a job at one of the top high schools in the state. I went to a few of the top public high schools in the state before I got married and stopped teaching (for 16 years). I wanted to focus on having a family and knew I would not be a good mother and teacher as I put so much of myself into it. I tutored for a bit and worked in a store or at some of Hazel's schools as a substitute or an aide. Then I decided to go back to teaching high school math at a small private school where Hazel was going to middle school. It is a special school. Teachers truly get to know the students and the education was catered to each one. But the truth is teaching math had changed in those 16 years.
The focus in math now is what it truly does for our development. It helps develop parts of the brain that can't be developed in other ways. This is truly why we study math. Most of the math concepts are not something people use every day. There are some careers that may use the concepts regularly, but the idea of math is to develop the brain. That can give a huge freedom to teaching math, except the courses offered have not caught up. Most schools still teach subjects like Algebra 1, Geometry, etc. There is a push to teach kids to think more than just to solve problems. Last year I shared a book I read over the summer that motivated me for the new school year. As I tried to incorporate the lessons in this book, I realized that it required a bit of a different structure than I could do in most classes. I tried to focus on the kids thinking and problem solving but found I didn't have as much time to teach them about the techniques or the time for them to truly problem solve in the way discussed in the book. I however was teaching a middle school "class" called math lab. It was for the kids who were in higher maths (Algebra 1 and geometry) that didn't have math every day like the lower math classes did. It gave them five days of math. I was allowed to do whatever math I wanted with them and did not have to grade them. This freed us up to experiment and focus on problem solving. It was amazing to see the difference in the kids in this class and the traditional classes. The problem solving was much greater and the kids were willing to take more risks as there was not a grade or a test attached to it.
However, in my traditional classes where I had to provide grades, I found it was not as easy to continue incorporating the new way of teaching and being as student driven. I took some time to do problem solving and thinking problems with them but also had certain subjects to teach. It made me realize that math education really needs to be looked at and changed. The ideas shared in the book last summer need to be started at an earlier age so kids can learn to talk about math and problem solving more. They need to be taking risks so it so more natural. There needs to be less at stake, so they are not afraid to take the risks. So as we celebrate Labor Day and begin the school year, I hope my reflection will help some struggling teacher. We try to do the best for our students, but society has set the role as teacher with more demands and less rewards. So please, try to appreciate the teachers in your life and take it easy on them. And I truly hope that education will look at what is happening in the world and perhaps adjust so we can teach our students to think and be good humans and not just know technology and shortcuts.
My other idea for Labor Day is always back to a patriotic kind of day. I'm not sure why, but for some reason I think red, white, and blue. (Perhaps because Memorial Day is patriotic and it is the unofficial start of summer whereas Labor Day is the unofficial end of summer?) Today I am sharing a neat book called America: A Photicular Book created by Dan Kainen and written by Ben Shawn Ho. I shared another book in the Photicular Book Series previously and today's book is perfect for the 250th celebration of the United States. These books are not just for children. In fact they are more for adults with fun pictures that "move".
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| The Bison looks like it is running when page is turned. |
Publisher's Summary:
In a magical celebration of our nation’s 250th birthday, this book marries the unique Photicular format with eight amazing images that capture the beauty of America.America is a perfect title for the bestselling Photicular series. Using an innovative lenticular-based technology, precision sliding lenses, and four-color video imagery, each image is like a 3D movie on the page, delivering a rich, fluid, immersive visual experience. From wild horses galloping over the plains to the hubbub of New York’s Times Square, Steamboat Willie changing the face of popular entertainment to the majestic aurora over Alaskan skies, it is a uniquely stirring way to celebrate the country’s 250th anniversary!
Coupled with reflections from history writer Ben Shawn Ho, readers will learn what each image represents and its place in our incredible patchwork of a history.
From Me:
What is our country to you? Do you love the natural beauty? The mountains, lakes and rivers and flat lands of the prairies? Or do you like the bright lights of the cities like New York or Hollywood? Or perhaps you think about the cowboys and the ranches or the amazing shows from Hollywood and more. The United States of America is full of so many things. It has provided opportunities for immigrants to come and start a new life for 250 years and more. This book shares so many different aspects of it with the magical pictures and lots of history. It includes quotes from famous people as well as history about music, culture, food and so much more. It even shares the history of the first cross country trip in a car!
There are so many beautiful parts to the country as well as so many American developments and inventions. This book shares many and celebrates the amazing country. This book is perfect for the history buff, patriotic family or a family that will enjoy the special photicular pictures. I see it as perfect for a coffee table book. I think visitors would find it quite interesting and it would bring about some discussions!
