Some Thoughts ....

As I have mentioned before in this BLOG ... I woke up one night and came up with this DVD idea ... an idea which really hinges on the TAKS tests and its associated testing materials. This is kind of funny ... because one of the reasons I left the classroom is because of the TAKS test!! I hated what it was doing to my geometry class. I hated what it was doing to Secondary Math period!! HOWEVER .... I wouldn't have minded teaching a stand alone TAKS Math class. But if the new principal had known I actually wanted to teach TAKS Math, she would have tried to find something else for me to teach ... I promise.

Anyway ... I woke up ... had this idea ... recorded this idea the next day ... and then ... within the next 10 days. I had two things happen which helped to affirm that this is what I need to be doing.

FIRST THING ... I walked into our local Wal-Mart and an employee stopped me and said "Ms. Khan??" (I used to be Ms. Khan .. for about 4 years). I told her I used to be ... now I am Ms. Mackinnon. She told me that I was her favorite teacher and that it was because I helped her pass TAAS (the older version of TAKS) Math that she was able to get her diploma and go on with her life ... and she gave me a big hug. I taught her 8 years ago .. and she now is a beautician at Wal-Mart and seems to be very happy!

SECOND THING ... A few days later I was getting a pedicure in a nail shop which I have been patronizing for 10 years or so. I was soaking my tootsies and reading a book when the woman in the chair next to mine touched my arm and said "Do you still teach Math?" She looked vaguely familiar ... but I have been teaching 22 years with about 180 students per year. I said that I had just left the classroom this past Fall. She then said that she couldn't remember my name but that she had never forgotten me because I helped her pass TAAS Math .... the one thing she needed to graduate. She had failed to graduate in her hometown of New Braunfels, TX (because of TAAS) and had moved to Lewisville to try one more semester in a different school to see if that would help. She was in my TAAS Math class and said it made all the difference! This was 10 years ago and she still recognized me!

I think that says something .... something about Karma ... and synergy .... and all that other cool stuff .... I decide to make a TAKS DVD to help students who have failed TAKS Math ... and within days I am met by 2 students who remember me fondly for helping them pass TAAS and graduate.

I just wanted to share that ... isn't it cool?