I had originally written for the "20 facts about yourself" prompt, but after the crash I'm feeling defeated and don't want to type it all again, so I'll come back to that prompt later and instead I'll respond to prompts 6 and 7. (For the list of prompts visit statteacher.blogspot.com)
First is "One time in math class... (as a teacher)". So last year I had a student that had a very big personality, and his other teachers and I spend a lot of time teaching him when it was ok to be funny and when it wasn't appropriate. By the third quarter he had things pretty much under control. One day I was at the board leading the class through an example and I called on that student (he was just over my shoulder, so chances are I was just making sure he was on task, I don't remember exactly). I do remember turning and looking over my shoulder at him- waiting for an answer- and he must not have heard me call on him because I turn to see him doing a little dance in his seat (pencil in hand, looking at his sheet), snapping his fingers, and very quietly singing (now keep in mind everyone else has heard me call on him, so the whole class is watching and waiting for his answer) "you know what to do with that big fat butt... wiggle wiggle wiggle". We all bust out laughing and he looks up with the most surprised/shocked face I've ever seen, he had no idea we were watching him; I swear I'll never forgot his face in that moment. It was one of those times I couldn't help laughing, and he was an easy-going kid so he laughed along with us. It became an inside joke with that class and helped me remember that it's just as important to laugh with my kids as it is to cover all the standards.
Now for my "One time in math class... (as a student)". It was seventh grade when I realized it was math I wanted to teach. I'd always known I wanted to be a teacher, but up to that point I had no idea what I wanted to teach. We were learning about volume and surface area. Our teacher gave us each a little box of nerds to eat while we took notes, but we had to be very careful with the boxes. After the notes she had us measure the nerds boxes, then find the surface area and volume. We worked in groups, and I remember a lot of my friends were struggling to find the surface area; the top and bottom of each box has four flaps and they were counting both long flaps on the top and both on the bottom. I struggled to get them to understand that for surface area you only needed one of the long flaps on top, and one on the bottom. So I took them to the side one by one until each of them understood. Seeing the lightbulb go on and helping them understand is what convinced me I wanted to be a math teacher; I loved math and loved helping others understand.
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