Friday the 13th

What a way to spend today than to have 6 classes. I only had to lead three, but that’s still a lot. And because I have so many classes today, I had to get up at 5am to get ready to go to work. I took a faster train to get to work so I arrive really early. It’s not very usual, but at least it was nice to get to school so I could get my lessons ready.

My first class didn’t go as well as I planned, but still much better than Wednesday’s first period class. I’ve been having many problems teaching this grade level, but I do believe that I’m getting better at it. I do better in some classes than others. Not that the students are better or worse, but really it’s what I am doing in the class that I feel I’m not doing my best. My plans when I made them at the beginning of the semester lacked some details that would have been nice to have finished and thought-out so I wouldn’t be running into the problems that I am now. Actually they really aren’t problems, just things that I feel I could be doing better. And that’s only the first period.

Second period was much better. Even though their ability was much lower, they still are able to get involved. I think that’s because I have built a good relationship with each student. NOT THE PERSONAL KIND YOU ARE THINKING OF PERVERT!! But I have started to remember most of their first names and things that they are interested in. So I think that I’m really able to get their attention and be able to teach them English. Last year they were being yelled at to shut up and to obey, now that teacher no longer works at the school, and this year has been a complete turn around for them. I’m really happy that I’m teaching this class because it really allows me to see if I can really teach or not. I think I’m making progress, even though it’s slow, it’s still progress.

The next two classes were just like normal because I wasn’t leading them, there really wasn’t much I can say. I’m glad to be part of the class, but when I’m not leading, I’m really not able to do too much. I think I’ve really got to start to develop a way to be able to be more of an active participant in the class in the teaching area when I’m not leading.

I finished my last class that I was leading with a bang. At first they weren’t too interested and it seemed like something knocked the wind out of them. Before they were very energetic and into the lesson, but I guess it was only the topic. But today, I was able to get their attention because I was talking about what would have to go in their speech mid-term exam. That sounds like fun doesn’t it? Welcome back to school and don’t forget about that mid-term that’s coming up… haha damn I’m evil. They have the ability to do it, but I guess they just don’t want to. So I was able to bring some things and topics up that would help them incorporate what other classes have already done, since they are a few days behind the other classes. I think today was just a day to catch up and possibly even get ahead of other classes. I think I was successful in doing that too. I think the students started to enjoy the class too because by the time the class ended, they were more active and participating. But I made my first mistake today and called a student by the wrong name. The name of the girl was right, but I was just looking in the wrong direction. So I’ll have to fix that later.

I was so beat after all my classes. I mean I felt energized at the end of the day because my last class was good or at least they like to get into the lesson, which at the very least makes me feel good. This class is different from all the other classes because they really enjoy English. They have some of the highest ability speakers in the school and some of the most energetic too. I was very fortunate to pick a good class to teach English and it really helps to boost my confidence and my will to teach. I didn’t have club today after school, but I was getting ready for my class with MSta tomorrow. I think that the lesson will be very fun because it will something that I know she’s never been exposed to and I know that it will work. All the teachers that I’ve shown it too were really thrilled and surprised that I came up with something so revolutionary for teaching a lazy student. They were all confidant in my ability to teach her because they were really surprised by the results when they had taken my little test and it made perfect sense for them too. And it’s something really simple to do, so I’m really happy about that.