Maybe I shouldn't have started this blog now, not with everything that's been going on.

There were no classes yesterday because it was Manila Day, which explains the lack of an entry.

On Monday night, I was very fortunate because even though I had waited in the department until past 10pm for the person who was going to check the Mensa test papers (not that I was idle all that time), he did not show up. I didn’t want to call him up and pressure him, because it is all still voluntary work. I had been seeing him walking with someone else about 200 meters ahead of me in the nearly deserted campus, but I didn’t recognize him. I only realized it was him when I caught up with him at the gate, and he gave me the scored test papers already.

The only problem was, since I did not expect to get the papers from him until today (Wednesday), I did not bring the table for converting examinees’ ages and test scores to IQ and percentile. I was able to list them all down on a single sheet of paper though, for faster converting (instead of shuffling through 90+ papers each time), which I’ll start with in a little while.

In my 920am astronomy class, I reviewed them with practice questions on the constellations, the same type of questions that would appear in the test. It not only gave them an idea what kind of questions to expect, but also boosted their recitation scores.

In my 1030am introductory programming class, I gave them an exercise that needed the use of multiple consecutive if-then statements, which will segue nicely into teaching them about the select-case statement next lecture class (How many topic lead-ins have I mentioned since the last lecture? Are all of these to be discussed in one meeting?). With this one they had an easier time relative to the last meeting, although I have to emphasize the importance of having end-if at the end of each if statement, which will be focused on when we talk about nested program branching.

In my 230pm astronomy class, different from the earlier class, I started them off on how to answer the zodiac constellation calendar questions in the exam without using the sliding pieces of paper. I emphasized to them that unlike the quiz, wherein points were only given to the final answer because it was the only thing being asked for, with this method, where they can write the time and direction alignments on the paper itself, and be given partial points even if their final answer is not correct.

I also told them that given their performance in the first test, I was practicing them on the calendar first instead of the constellations (like my other classes) so that they have more time to process and absorb the methods. After that, I again reminded them of my consultation hours.

What I did not expect was the blank looks on the students’ faces after each example. I showed them that I saw their apparent incomprehension, but no one answered me even though I was already asking leading questions that indicated I was reaching out to them, attempting to meet them halfway.

Is it because they do not want to show their classmates their weakness? As future educators themselves do they have a certain pride in wanting to be in the same level as the teacher?

I just hope those that ARE having a difficult time understanding will approach me for consultation.