Feel bad at math?

Here is one reason why. Chase Felker writes:

It seems that the origin of math phobia is not the content of math itself; it cannot rest solely on someone’s inability to sit through logic puzzles, because people exercise careful abstract reasoning in every other field without the same sort of fear. Instead, I think the form is largely to blame. All of high school math is basically a one-way linear staircase that leads to calculus. If you fall off at any point, you’re doomed.

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The Potluck is On!

            When:   Friday, Sept. 11
                           5:30 - 8:30 PM, or beyond
           Where:   5235 S. 75th St.
What to bring: This is a guided potluck. Sign up here. 

Scheduling Glitch

The Dept. apologizes for the problem in scheduling overlap with TEAC 808 and SPED 801A. This will be resolved by the end of the week and you will be notified of any alteration of the Tuesday schedule. Never worry about the MAet; there has never been a problem that we could not resolve.

Have a great Wed and Thurs at school!

FYI

Sometimes there is confusion, but you should NOT attend the Fall Professional Development Day on the UNL campus August 24. That is for those who are doing their full-time student teaching in the fall.  There will be one for you in the spring 2016.

Required Reading

I cannot recommend strongly enough this new, powerful book by Ta-Nehisi Coates:

It is my hope that you have and will develop commitments to working to close the "opportunity gap". This requires that you have some social justice sensibilities and a disposition to embrace diversity in your work as practitioner. Strong empathy begins with knowledge of others' experience: you cannot feel what you do not know.  Any effective elementary teacher is disposed to not only see things from children's point of view, but to feel it. What children bring to school includes their cultural history, even though they cannot articulate it (can you articulate your own?). It is your professional and moral obligation know about school, society, history and your students' cultural inheritance.  I hope you can join Coates when he says:  "When the final tally comes up, I would like to say I was on the side of the people who were trying to not live in a world with subjugation."  As a teacher you have special opportunity to actually do things to be on that side of you commit yourself to being on that side.

Read an excerpt from the book here>>>

Check out this interview with the author:

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