Spotlight on Students

I am daily impressed by my students!  I think they are just fantastic.  They probably have no idea how much joy I experience from working with them.  Many times they are the highlight of my day.  So I just have to share them with you and tell you about the work we've been doing lately. 

I'll start off with my BU098 Business Math classes.  The latest unit has really opened up a lot of opportunities for real life application.  We've been doing things like writing checks, making deposits, reconciling bank statements, calculating gross earnings and deductions, and sales & property taxes.  I hope I've sufficiently put a healthy fear in them of credit cards and debt.  One day we turned our class into 4 stores - a clothing store, food stand, fruit stand, and toy store.  Students were split into consumers and store owners.  The consumers got to practice buying with a credit card and keeping records of their spending.  The store owners got to practice keeping good records of their sales and returns so that they could calculate their credit card deposits.  It was great fun for me to watch it all unfold.  They're quite hilarious.  Here they are in action:

Busy store making lots of sales.

Elwina being quite the sales person of their tasty food.

Everybody wants some fruit!

Decisions, decisions.

Keep good records girls!

Ioanis, in the red, is always smiling and laughing. 
It's contagious!

Lucia cleverly turned her calculator into the credit card
machine.  I loved it!

Never too busy working to throw up the peace sign :)

Tiffany really got into it.  I could always hear her saying,
"Credit card please!"  and then she would end with
"Thanks and have a nice day!"

I also want to show off my MS099 Intermediate Algebra class.  They work so hard and produce some of the nicest work I've seen.  We meet everyday, so I spend the most time with them.  I've been so impressed with how much they have been able to learn so far.  This week we were graphing functions.  After learning how to graph linear, quadratic, and absolute value functions, I broke them up into groups to practice each.  They work so well together.   May I reiterate that I love working with older students; they know how to delegate and share responsibilities.  Amazing!

These girls are always great!

Super nice work!

I think the girls did all the work while Ander watched.

Guy group showin' how it's done!

These are the results!!!!

Sweene, Robinson, Saileen

Janet, Jaylynn, Maryjane

Ander, Erica-Lynn, Evangelina, Vrancine

Meriel, Kathy, Stacy Ann

Daryl, Mavrick, Karson

Jennifer, Myoleen, Jeneassa

Restlyn, Amanda, Barnabas

Yes, after 7 weeks I do know everyone's name (in this class at least).  ;)  Getting them to take a picture is so difficult; they would be so embarrassed to know that you're seeing these.  But how could I not show them off?!

I know almost all of my posts are about the beautiful sights and adventures on the island.  But really these guys are the reason I'm here.  They're the ones that I'm excited to get to school every day and work with.  God sent me here to work with them.  He loves them so much, and he has given me a love for them as well.  I only hope that I can give them a little glimpse of how wonderfully made they are so that they can reach their full potential!