Mathlete

This year is full of new experiences for me. Add Math Olympics to the list. Either my high school didn't participate in academic competitions, or I wasn't smart enough to be invited so I didn't know about them. :) I think I would have liked Math Olympics as a student. Each grade level has a team of 3 and together they have 2 hours to complete a test. It is a test of 20 questions and it is graded with a score of perfect score, superior, excellent, very good, or participation. 7th-9th grade out excellent scores, 10th-12th got superior. We are VERY proud of the kiddos. One of the math teachers has been here for 20 years and she can't remember the last time we did this well. Usually one of the classes gets a very good. Gold star for us!
A few details of the trip. One way it was 9.5 hours, in a school bus, in 90 degree weather, with 90% humidity, and we had to wear pants and a collared shirt. The day of the competition the teachers got there early to make the tests. What a chaotic mess. Lets just say, it took us 2 hours to make the test when they gave us an hour. But it all got done. I really enjoyed talking to the other teachers. All the schools that participated are bilingual and I was really impressed with their English. I expected broken English when really many spoke it without accents. 2 of the ladies that were in my group had studied industrial engineering, but now are math teachers. They said even though they were the top of their class, the men always get the jobs. They do enjoy teaching now and would never want an engineering job.
In other news...On Monday half of the 7th grade class was missing because they were at the funeral of a classmate's grandpa. I found it a bit odd that they would be going to the funeral of a grandpa so I asked them why they were going...The grandpa was a former president of Honduras. Oh the kids I teach.
Here is a great Honduran law for you...if a student fails my class for the year, he/she is given a chance to take a test to pass. This test is called a recoup. The test is made up of material of the quarters this student failed. So I get to make recoup tests for a handful of students, and each test will probably be different because they all have failed different quarters. Great huh? And then if they fail this test, they can take a test made up of material from the whole year. And then if they fail that test, they can take another test. And then if they fail that test, the teacher is asked to look over the tests to make sure they can fudge a point here or there. Just wrong...So I have that to look forward to.
Less than a month I'll be home!!!