Success

5/29/2007 12:08:00 am

Well this just made my day ...

Linger is a student in my AP Calculus class. She does some of the most exceptional work when she is scribe. She recently published her Developing Expert Voices project. Lani left her this comment:

Hi Linger!

What a great introduction!

"The questions that I chose are of interest to me, and I chose them to challenge myself. My goal for this project is to learn something new and to be able to teach you, the reader as well. Yes, becase "together, we can learn.""

I really appreciate your wanting to move out of your comfort zone. And from your reflection, "Now I am twice amazed, because I got to make the problems on my own and I got to understand it in a different point of view.", it was definitely worth the effort!

Your problems were of interest and your explanations clear and valuable! I personally really liked the music to accompany my learning; just the right touch -- helping to move calculus out of "gross" as was your intent! :-)

You mentioned that you learned math and about yourself from this project. Do you find one more valuable than the other and why?

Kudos to you on your learning and teaching!

My very best wishes,
Lani

Here is her reply ...

Hi Lani, thank you for your comment!

I find learning about math and learning about myself equally valuable. I'm a very competitive person and I saw this project as a competition where I was against myself.. and that is the best kind. Because it's not like being in a team, where people have to pull their own weight to keep things balanced. This is the type where you're all in or you're not. It's the kind where you know how well you did, and you've got no one else to blame.

Mr. K told us the other day that he made us do all these things (blog, project, other assignments) so that we learn in many different ways. It doesn't matter what you're learning as long as you know how. He wants us to become life-long learners, and I think, on my behalf anyway, he succeeded. I really value this project, and our AP calc blog. Mr. K's job is to teach, and he did it well.

This project taught me a lot.. yes, math was the main point but learning about myself was a double bonus ;)

<smile>

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2 comments

  1. Darren,

    What else to add to what your students have so accurately expressed? Silence and reflection are the best ways of responding to your post.

    Except, perhaps, one thing. Aren't these students'words -probably read at the end of a long day- the ones that make it all worth the while? I mean, the time to train yourself, reflect on the blog, set up the wiki... not to mention the resistance we are bound to meet outside the classroom.

    If we were at the Olympic games, I think this teacher and students team deserve the gold medal. Congratulations, Darren, on being able to keep the learning flame burning and for passing it along.

    All best,

    Claudia

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous29/5/07 11:47

    Linger made my yesterday, you made my today. ;-)

    Thanks Claudia!

    ReplyDelete