special training session

My plan worked perfectly and I was able to get a decent enough sleep for today’s classes. I mean I was a bit tired by the end, but that’s usual. I only had two classes for the day, so it wasn’t a big stretch for me and in both classes I didn’t have to do much. The first 8th grade class was easy because they were just writing the introduction and conclusion to their speeches which is just adding a sentence or two to their composition. But we made each student rewrite their speech, so their writing took the whole period. We had them speak at the end of class just to present the introduction and the conclusion. We actually got through the whole class, which was nice.

The 11th graders today just had their movie report speeches to give. It was their final exam for the oral communication class. We finished a bit early and I thought that they would be able to do a better job, but I’m not sure why they weren’t able to do so. It could be the lack of preparation, or just the level of difficulty. I mean the assignment itself wasn’t too challenging, but the students took it upon themselves to make it more difficult. They would get too in depth with the information and just have too much to memorize, when we really didn’t require them to. I think overall they scored well, even though I felt they could do better, judging from the last performances.

After school, I hung around a little bit for a “special training session.” All I was required to do was just to listen to the 8th graders give their speeches. It was good because I was chosen to be a judge at the Speech Contest. I heard the student’s speeches and corrected them accordingly. I think they all will do a fine job. I mean they have to memorize it next week for their final exam. The speech contest isn’t for another month away, so they will have plenty of time and preparation for that. I think they will be wonderful because of all the time we have spent for them to practice and get them into a position for them to do well. Then I left abruptly. I just felt like I needed to go home a bit early, I didn’t know why. I was getting a bit tired and feeling a bit ill.