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During my first year at Holmen, I followed the lead of other teachers who were there. I taught at the same pace in the case that students transferring from one class to another would not be too lost. Second year? Screw it. The pace of some of the classes were just stupid. Cover six chapters out of the text each quarter? Assinine. Easier chapters at the beginning of each course were mainly review from prior classes the students had taken. The later chapters contained lessons the kids had never seen or ever before considered... they were downright difficult and needed more time. First semester second year I taught Geometry and Algebra II. The geometry book focused a lot on Algebra and the kids stuggled with the proofs. I didn't like it, so I pitched it. I taught the entire course without assigning texts, and covered material relevant to doing proofs. I included a week-and-a-half section on logic. I taught proofs using maps and games as models. I never had a more smoothly-run Geometry course in my life. It worked like a charm. In Algebra II, I covered five of the first six chapters (all review of Algebra I) in three weeks, and had the only other chapter (basic matrix algebra) assigned as a take-home project. This gave me 15 weeks to cover the more difficult six remaining chapters instead of nine, and what a difference that made! After school, students from other teacher's classes were clamoring into my classroom for help... noticing that people in my classes didn't feel bored first term nor rushed second. |