The End

Due to schedule constraints next week, it looks like this will be the last time I was able to be at Ypsilanti High School for the partnership program, so this will be my last post about it. This was also the last day for seniors, and unexpectedly a half-day - teachers are given the other half of the day to work on taking stuff off of the walls, and packing up, since there will be a lot of renovations going on over the summer.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to see the first-hour physics students, since the half-day was the later classes (although in the morning). I did get to visit with one of Mr. Ambrose's afternoon chemistry classes, and I was in Ms. Colwell's algebra class. Her students were working on factoring polynomials, and they were actually pretty diligent for a half-day/last day for seniors/day before a holiday weekend. Some of them were having trouble, so I showed them how I handle difficult polynomials - set up a table of the factors of the constant term and go through them to see which one works. Given only a few possible factors for the kinds of numbers they're seeing, this isn't very time-consuming, and it helps when you can't see things right away. I wished them all good luck, as well as Ms. Colwell.

As I think back on the year - on what I expected, and what I experienced - a few things come to mind. First, I've got a much greater appreciation for high school teachers. It's a tough job. Second, I was surprised that there don't seem to be any books of "typical labs". There are books teachers can buy with worksheets that they can photocopy and use in their classes, but if there are books of labs - instructions and lab sheets for students - no one seems to have them. If I had known this up front, then before starting the program I might have tried to work on some ideas for labs. During the year, it's difficult sometimes to plan things "on the fly". Third, I was interested to see the ways that it's possible to connect with students. Sometimes, a chance comment about an experience of mine would tie in to something that they had dealt with - often when least expected. Fourth, it was great to see that the students really liked to see practical applications of what they learned, since that was something that we as Teaching Fellows are capable of bringing to the classroom.

It's been a really interesting year, and the partnership program is a great one. Although I won't be able to participate next year, I look forward to reading the posts by the students at Michigan who will be participating, and I wish them the best of luck.