"See, What I'm trying to Say is..."

Often times, teaching can be such a frustrating career. With so many responsibilites inside and outside of the classroom, it can definitely prove to be an overwhelming job.

Today in my intership one of my students was asked to come up to the whiteboard and work out a problem. We were learning about doubles +1. She absolutely knew how to work out the problem but when asked to describe how she got that answer, she began to get frustrated because she could not find the right words to explain it. She ended up saying, "See what I am trying to say is..." I thought this was so funny because often times, teachers feel like getting frustrated and saying this exact sentence!

Before class today, I made a chart to help my students remember their doubles. On the left you will see the doubles equation followed by a word or silly phrase on the left to help them remember the equation. I struggled with finding a word of phrase to match 6+6=12 so I decided to ask my students for suggestions. When I asked them during class time my focus student shouted out, "Melve!" He was right! This silly made up word does rhyme with this equation and everyone began to giggle. We decided to put it on our chart even though it was a made up word and place a question mark after it!