I'm concluding my first year at an international school in the Philippines after leaving a wondeful public school in Oregon. The contrasts between jobs is stark. In my current position: I have an abundance of prep (500 minutes a week during contact hours), only teach two grade levels, no emphasis on standardized testing, complete freedom to teach how I feel is best. My old school: I taught 3 levels of math (6-8), 1 social studies block, 1 reading intervention block, and 1 math intervention block, had 200 minutes of prep a week, every meeting revolved around test scores or how to improve them, and I felt very little freedom in the classroom.
Despite the contrasts, the one big similarity that I face is that there's no easy way to teach math. Some students walk through the door with a predisposition of hatred towards the subject and anything to do with it. This will chronicle my attempts, my success, and my failures at reversing that mindset. Let's see how it goes.
