As the World Turns

Drama. It has reared it's head at Contra Costa College, once again.

T.C.
T.C. was in one of my Prealgebra (4th grade) classes two semesters ago. He dropped out due to health reasons. Last semester I saw him at Del Norte BART, limping around on a casted foot. He had just gotten discharged from the hospital, which was good. But, they had to amputate a few of his toes, and that was bad. This semester, he's better and back in school full-time.

T.C. has the potential to be a good student. His writing/reading is still about two grade levels below High School, but he's dedicated and works hard. He's probably about my age, or a little older and has the wisdom of experience to fall back on. Unfortunately, he's not use to having a full load. He's found himself favoring his Reading/Writing course, but spending less time with my class.

Result: T.C. got an F on my math test.

Boy was he pissed. In his own angered words, "This is not acceptable. This is not acceptable."

Well, we talked it out during my office hours, where he came up with a game plan that would hopefully get him back on track.

D.M.
D.M. is a returning student. She's probably in her 50's and now in my Intermediate Algebra (3rd year HS) class. Dawn has done great here at CCC. She wants to get into Counseling and is taking this class to transfer out to a university. In math, Dawn started out in my arithmetic class and followed me through the next class, Prealgebra. She went through another instructor for beginning Algebra, and is now with me again.

D.M. is a high-maintenance student. She has a case of extreme math anxiety, yet has managed to deal with it up until now. Today D.M. cried in class. She's behind in her reading and feeling overwhelmed with my pace. While I began helping her with an in-class problem, her voice started quavering, her eyes started watering, and her nose commenced a-running. I went ahead and let her cry as I walked her through the problem. Another student came up to ask a question, saw that D.M. was crying, and went back to his desk.

After class, D.M. apologized for crying and explained that she was starting to feel overwhelmed. I told her that it was pretty bad and that she should be embarrased. I asked her why it was taking so long for her to get it, when everybody else seemed to be ok with the material.

Just kidding.

I listened patiently and told her not to sweat it. Then we worked on a plan for her to catch-up and to feel less overwhelmed.


Last week I gave four exams. Two of my classes did well. So, I'm either getting better at teaching, my students are better at studying, or I'm grading easier. I think it's the last one.

Off to grade the exams from the other classes.

Oh...did I mention that I miss my family :( but I'm hanging in there. 8 more sleeps before they come home.