My school district is offering algebra 1 summer school for students who wish to be accelerated in the math program. I am thinking of applying to teach it, but I am nervous. The classes are 4 days a week for 6 hours a day (w/ a 30 minute break and a shorter 15 or so minute break in there) for about a month and a half. Have you had experience with this? I am worried about cramming so much into such short time. Obviously I would want to break it up with activities etc., but I don't see how to fit a whole curriculum into such short time without killing the kids. On the bright side, they will be motivated students (I believe at least!) as they want to be accelerated so it's not like teaching math to kids who despise it over the summer. But 6 hours of math in one day will be a lot for them. Do you think I should apply? Any tips?
YES! Teaching summer school gets you a paycheck that you otherwise would't get, and in my county, it is often higher because no one wants to teach. I love teaching summer school.
Since it is for acceleration, it will be strong students, and could probably be pretty fun. I taught "credit recovery" summer school Geometry. Five hours a day, five days a week, five weeks to 40+ students who had failed Geometry. That was a very tough job.
What did you do? Did you just teach 5 lessons in one day? Basically I view this as fitting an entire week of instruction from the school year into one day. A normal week for me tends to me 3 days of direct instruction, 1 day of activity/practice, and 1 day of assessment. (Varies sometimes) So did you generally cover a whole week of material in one day, or did material get cut? (I wouldn't want to cut much as our accelerated track is very tough, and I wouldn't want them to be disadvantaged!)
I had actually never taught Geometry before! (I was a first year teacher) The district pared down the standard syllabus to the core information to be covered. Generally my sessions would be instruction, practice, activity (often constructions) then proofs. A full year of Algebra, starting at one step equations and going all the way through quadratics and rational expressions seems pretty daunting.
I didn't teach 5 lessons in one day, but I have taught summer school. For some odd reason, summer school has been more fun to teach than during the school year. I think it is because it is all about teaching and not politics, meetings, duties, testing etc. It is just about a teacher teaching and students learning. Maybe that is why the students seem even more eager in summer school to learn (my experience). Each school is probably different, but mine has been very positive in teaching summer school at both public and private schools.
I usually teach summer school because I get bored in the summer and for the money. I honestly don't like it because I feel like students don't retain information that is being taught in such a short period of time and it is hard to fit everything in. I prefer teaching a test prep course rather than an actual course for this reason.
I had my first experience with summer school this past summer and loved it. It was only 4 hours 4 days a week for me and lasted I think 5 weeks, so I did still have some time to myself to relax and unwind like I typically would during the summer. My summer school is much different than yours but I think you could make it work and make it interesting. It would be worth it in my opinion. Good luck!
