Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results!

"Don't worry about it, you'll be fine!" This was the advice I was given when I asked for help after accepting a middle school teaching job half way through the school year with no experience whatsoever. The other teachers were just relieved that the students were not eating me alive and ready to kill each other. (I later found out that that was why the teacher before me had left in the middle of the school year.) So, basically I was a babysitter. The following school year I was determined to make a difference in the way math was taught at this school. I was going to be an effective, engaging educator; not a babysitter. What I did not account for was that I would have absolutely no resources to work with and no support from other staff members. The same materials had been used to teach algebra for years resulting in the same old standardized test scores and the same poor attitudes toward math. I started doubting myself and my abilities when I saw that my students were not getting out of my classes what I hoped they would. Eventually, I was laid off which was actually a blessing in disguise because it allowed me to go back to school full time and pursue my Master's Degree in Mathematics here at Lesley. I am almost half way through with my course load at Lesley, and I have never been more inspired. I feel empowered. The materials I use in my courses are the same materials I could use to teach algebra to my middle school students. The weekly modules (assignments) give us step by step instructions that not only teach us the "how to's," but also they teach us the "why's" and how to connect each concept to the big picture. We are given meaningful and useful investigations and activities that force us to really stop and think about what we are trying to convey to our students. We want to change the way things "used to be" and create a new way of thinking about math. We want our students to be inspired by math the way we are by the online mathematics program here at Lesley University.