Stability

My frustration from last week has passed.  The annoyance from my students who kept saying, "I don't get it, I give up" was my own issue.  

Yes, they shouldn't give up so easily and need to be taught a little perseverance, but I should have known.  At least I do now.  

After about 2 weeks with my special ed math basics class, I'm learning that what those students want the most is stability from me. They want to know what to expect and they want to feel success (who doesn't?) in the things we are doing.  So, the next time I want to have a little wacky problem solving fun, I need to warn them days in advance and then be very super clear on the expectations of the day.  I need to train 'em up; prep them for what is to come.  

The rest of last week and today, my math basics class was great.  I have 15 pretty hard working kids, with the exception of one or two, but they are coming along.  When they know what to expect and it's at a level where they can experience success, they are happy.  They are always compliant and are completing the tasks I ask of them as long as they know what to expect.  

Now, life isn't always full of things you can expect, so I am planning to keep throwing some curve balls at them and try some new things, but I know that I need to approach it with very careful planning.  

The tricky part of teaching this class is the variety of students I have in the room.  Every student has an IEP, but all of course, for different reasons.  Some really struggle in math, some really struggle emotionally which then has caused math to be an issue.  It's an adventure every single day.  But having some stronger math students in the room (even though they don't think they are strong math students) helps the other students in the room as well as builds confidence in a student that otherwise may have not had a lot of math confidence.  

So, the point of all this....my new goal for this class is to be consistent and stable for the kids as much as possible.  However, I am also going to push them to move outside their comfort zone and try something new.  I want them to know it's OK to not know the right answer in math class...that's how you learn.  I think I have been given the best possible environment to help them stretch themselves in math.  So, here goes.  I'll keep you posted on the journey.