CP absent

The first class that I had this morning was with 10^th grade kiku. We were working on the Environment topic and getting them ready for the presentation next week. I gave out the papers for them to make their posters and then offered them some more information so they could give a complete report. They had some questions to answer, so I just let them do that for the whole period. I was hurrying them along so they could finish before next week. I think this class went very well.

The second class today was with 7^th grade ume. Last week we worked on animal riddles using a worksheet. This week, I had them write their own riddles and give it to the class in a presentation and the students listening would have to guess the animal. They did a very good job in this class. They were a bit loud though, which is very unusual since this class is supposed to be very quiet. We reviewed animals and body parts to make sure that they understood it, but it seems as though they had forgotten it. I just couldn’t really get through to this class. They were distracted by many things and weren’t paying much attention even though they were able to complete the assignment. I just felt like I wasn’t getting through to them.

The third class of the day was with 9^th grade yuri was one where I had no idea what I was doing until a few minutes before the class. We decided to cover what they were supposed to cover on Saturday, but didn’t. It was all for the preparation to go to America. I actually had to yell to get their attention today because it was very important. They have about 10 more days to go before they go on their trip. So we covered customs and immigration terms and some questions that they would be asked. The syllabus said that we would do Fast Food, but we thought it would be better to hold off on that till next week. They just did some things to get ready for their trip and answering and writing questions to ask UCSB teachers.

The fourth period class was with 11^th grade ran. We did the activity for do it, say it and draw it. I think it was good that I could do it on my own and not have any comments from the back of the room. It went pretty well at the beginning, but I think that after awhile it died down. The energy just wasn’t there and I started to feel very tired. It was good that this was all happening right before lunch too so I could get some energy eating. It went well, but not my best performance I feel. This class has been hard to teach recently and I have started to feel out of touch with them and don’t really know what’s going on. They have been loud recently and just not paying attention. I’m not sure why that is though. But it’s a bit discouraging for me since I used to get along with them very well and they wouldn’t be so chatty all the time. I don’t want to yell, since this is supposed to be fun month.

The last class of the day was with 7^th grade yuri and we did what the second period class did today. We did riddles again today. They had to make their own, but the problem was they threw away all their papers from last week. I couldn’t really believe it, so they had trouble with that. But they understood what they had to do, and they did a perfect job with it. They are really capable of doing things and it really showed today. I think this class went really good and probably one of the best of the day. The rhythm in this class went smoothly. So I felt really good afterwards.

After school, I stuck around to make sure that I got all the details and everything ready for tomorrow. I helped a few students with their speeches for their speech contest. Actually they have tests this week to make sure that they know how to give their speech and how we could help them improve. I also did some moving around of some things. Some English department teachers went to the gym to move around some things. We did a pretty good job with cleaning up and made everything easy to get to and all out of they way too. It was raining and cold at the time, so I actually wanted to leave about an hour before we started to work. But I’m glad I helped out, I think I contributed a lot to the moving around.

After I left, I picked up dinner at Yoshinoya. It’s been a long time since I’ve eaten there, so I’m glad that I went. It was great like usual, but didn’t seem as filling as usual.