On Day 2, we drafted TEAM and Teacher norms, or unspoken agreements, that we will adhere to when in room 009 together. Each period wrote their own norms, and each period will be responsible for reviewing, revising, and adding to their norms in October.
These norms will guide my teaching, your learning, and our discussions on Seminar Thursdays.
THANK YOU for working so hard the past two days to make these norms yours.
For readers:
TEAM Norms are the unspoken agreements that students will "sign off" on--literally sign their names--tomorrow. They wrote these over the span of our first two days together. Teacher norms are what my students expect and demand from me. I intend to honor these to the best of my ability, but know that my students will call me out on any transgressions.
For my TEAM:
Unfortunately, I never did take a math seminar at Yale. As enriching as they can be, seminars are tough. Not only does participation become a bigger chunk of your grade, but participation is (almost) always voluntary in college. Your professor won't call you out if you don't speak up. Not only are expectations high from day one....sometimes it's hard to get a word in!
When you go to college, you realize that people have so many opinions and perspectives you never considered. And some people like to listen to themselves talk. A lot. If I didn't enjoy being in seminar, it was usually because my peers didn't respect one another. They spoke too often or for too long, inhibiting others from participating. They didn't acknowledge others' opinions. Unfortunately, such lack of respect still occurs frequently in college.
I wish my seminar professors in college had taken the time to write class norms with my classmates and me.
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