11 October 1999, Monday

Today, the class is missing five students as a consequence of the major offense they committed. The class, in effect, was unusually quiet. Everybody seemed to be pulled down by gravity. There was no trace for enthusiasm. To add to that, I was not feeling so well, too. I myself felt heavy that day and in that class. I was wondering how I am going to hack the job of being a teacher. To add more to what was already there, the plan for that day was a little less interactive. I was caught between trying to cover up all the lessons to be discussed before the quarter ends and trying to make it lively. We still had to check the homework I gave them over the weekend. To check the homework was already 20 minutes out of the class time. But I find it very helpful to waste time checking the homeworks because I get to clarify the ideas. It was like a reteaching for them a mastery of the lesson. After checking the assignment, we had a short class still about inequalities.

This class was particularly a test of my patience with myself and the students. I did not want to teach in fact during that time because I felt weird, but I had to be there. That thought was enough to make me walk toward their classroom and teach. I had to extraordinarily exert more effort to check their homework and tediously discuss the numbers they had to answer. I was heavy, they were heavy…I wonder if they did learn something…in Algebra or in life.