Diary of a BTR Resident

7.15.10 By Stephanie Wingfield

Between teaching full time and going to graduate school full time, there wasn’t much time to write regularly for a blog, but here are a few notes that I can share with you from this past year:

January 2010
Most of my students are Haitian or Haitian-American. As details about the January 12th earthquake slowly come in, it is becoming clear that nearly everyone has lost a loved one in that catastrophe.
May God have mercy on the long-suffering, resilient and beautiful people of Haiti. 

February
I began teaching my own math unit this month. To my great relief, I’m finding that I actually like trigonometry!  Interestingly, I am also finding that my classroom management is more effective when I wear a very brightly-colored clothing—seriously. All of this, combined with going to school, is a lot of work.  My math students are great.

March
A few months ago, I speculated on what mathematical function would best model the function of teaching, or f(teaching). After an instructor of mine recently described the school year in terms of a series of high and low energy points (in an attempt to explain why we residents felt so exhausted), I realized that the f(teaching) function had to be sinusoidal—a type of periodic, undulating wave. The school year begins on a high note in September. It dips to a low in October/November, then goes up in December for the holidays. It dips again in January and then spikes in February for winter break. We are currently in the doldrums of March, soon to be followed by the high of April spring break. Another low follows in May, when students find out what type of options they will really have in the fall. Are they on track to graduate? Will they go to a college of their choice? Then a big burst of energy in June pushes us into summer. In short, an almost perfect cosine wave..

April
I spent spring break catching up on sleep and school work and planning the rest of my ESL unit. My ESL students are great too.

May
Most of my students are seniors, so they will be signing out within the next two weeks. Psychologically, they are “done” with school.  It is a challenge to keep them engaged. I wish them all the best in their next endeavors.

June
Words cannot describe how happy I am to be almost done.  It has been an incredible year. I am proud to have made a difference in kids’ lives this year. Some have even asked if I’ll be back in the fall…