University of Dayton - MyLife

Working on Being a Cool Teacher

We are definitely not supposed to talk about wanting to be the cool teacher...but I say it all the time. I want to be a really cool student teacher.

Yesterday I was teaching about polynomials...and I was bored. If I'm bored, I'm SURE my students were ready to fall asleep or pull their hair out. I decided something had to change. Today I'm taking a different approach to teaching. A much lighter one. I want to be approachable and I want the students to know that they can ask me a question and I will know the answer! Not only that..I want my students to enjoy class. We are in the routine of going over homework, learning something new and starting homework. I'm bored. Especially during the learning something new time. The only problem is that it is TOUGH to get students interetsed in pre-calculus.

I'm beginning to love my geometry class, only because I can do so many things with my students. Next week we are learning about the Quadratic Formula. Boring, right?? Not when someone wrote a song about it. And especially not when SOMEONE wrote a RE-MIX...preformed to the tune of Crank Dat--Soulja Boy. I'm probably going to practice and perform it on Monday.

Now if ONLY someone could write a pre-calc song about the equation of a parabola to the tune of Party in the USA by Miley Cyrus...Then I think I would have the kid's attention.

Until that happens...I'll be surfing the web for youtube videos and creative ways to grab my students attention. If you have any suggestions, I would welcome them with open arms. Email me at katie@udayton.edu.

Nov 3, 2009 6:48 AM Permalink