Good Student Day

I had such a good day as far as my students are concerned.

My day started off with an email from the mom of a student I tutor.  I've only met with her three or four times, but she's already one of my favorites.  She's so sweet!  When I started working with her, she was struggling to maintain a D in math.  I worked with her twice before the end of the quarter.  She had two tests to prepare for, and she managed to get Cs on each of those.  She started doing a little better at the beginning of this quarter.  Today, her mom emailed me to say that she got an A on her test last week.  I couldn't have been more thrilled for her!

A few hours after receiving the email, it was time for my lowest class of the day.  We have been working on one-step equations with addition and subtraction.  Since I haven't taught 7th grade math for a few years, I had forgotten what a struggle this was, but the other 7th grade teachers reminded me before we got to this chapter.  I was prepared to deal with it.  I came up with a hands-on activity to help my students understand WHY and HOW we solve equations.  It took awhile.  In fact, it took about 3 days for my lowest class to grasp the concept.  But I knew it was all worth it today.  At the end of class, one of my students came up to me and said, "Thank you Mrs. Herman.  When you first told us what we were going to be doing with all of this equation stuff, I thought it looked SO hard.  But, now, I really get it and it's so easy.  I know you didn't have to do all this extra stuff to help us get it, but it really did help."  It was such a great thing to hear!