I about lost it today. Things were going well. I'd designed an activity (Jojo's Cheese and BBQ Emporium) and was ready for some nicely hidden drill and repeat practice. First class went great. Then the next class came in. Now I'd already moved a test from Friday to Monday because the kids were working hard and I didn't want to rush through anything just to get a test in. I figured an extra activity (see Jojo above) would be good. I stayed up until almost 2:00 AM making it. We got through exactly ONE new example in an 84 minute period. ONE!
Even that, in itself, would not have been so bad if it weren't for the complete lack cognition on my students' part. We were using two formulas: one for Interest and one for Balance and both for simple interest (I don't know what I'll do with compound tomorrow). I say we because this class is co-taught. There are two certified teachers in the room. I asked everyone to write down the formula they were using at the beginning of each problem. One of the students asked me for help (that is to say he was staring blankly at his paper doing his best not to attract my attention in any way). I asked him to write down the formula. He asked which one. I asked him which formula matched up with the given information and he proceeded to point to a formula that had nothing in it that was provided by the problem.
Meanwhile, my co-teacher was asking a similar question of another student, but she narrowed it down by saying, "If you are choosing between these two and it's not this one, which formula are you using?" Her student still picked the wrong formula. Actually, that's not true. Her student picked up her calculator to try to figure out the answer.
Back to my student whom I had told which formula to use by this time (maybe he'll choose right next time) and I ask him to write the formula down. He copies it wrong (the equal sign isn't that important, right?). I remind him to write it down exactly how it looks on his sheet. He proceeds to switch around the order of the variables. I remind him again, a little sterner to get my point across, "Copy it down exactly how it looks on your sheet." Still not right. Eventually he gets it, so we start filling it out. I ask him if we know the first value. No, so keep the variable. What comes next? No, you have to include the equal sign still. Do we know the next value? Yes, good, write it down. No, don't skip it, you have to write it down.
I don't know what happened after that. I honestly cannot recall. I think I may have a stress induced mini blackout.
At one point, I just sat in a chair that I have at the front of the room. Defeated. If the co-teacher weren't there, nobody would have been teaching for a while. I have never wanted a drink so badly while working in my life and I can't actually think of a time when I really did want one.
Tomorrow's a new day, by which I mean they will have forgotten whatever they gained and it will be a fresh start. Cthulu would have a hard time stealing my sanity from this class.
