10 days, really?

Wow. I can't believe it has been 10 days since I published that last post...

So, one week of school down. I have really enjoyed my classes, even the particular challenges that have already presented themselves.

In one class, I have two special education students, each with the same diagnosis, but expressed very differently. I've really enjoyed getting to know them and am excited to learn how best to reach them. I'm extremely happy that the less-functioning of the two has especially thrived in my classroom, accomplishing tasks and normalizing his behavior in ways that, in many respects (so says his parapro), he has never done before.

One first year class is definitely more challenging than the other three. There are three or four students who still have a little way to go in their maturity, as well as another student in particular who has proven somewhat difficult to manage. Again though, I am hopeful and glad to be a part of their growth. I have already invested a lot of time with the one student, talking with him for about a half-hour during our mutual lunch period. He's interesting. Down deep there is a good guy, but he has A LOT of interference between that good guy and how he acts. Even in that lunch period, it took me 5 minutes to sort out his BS to get to what is real with him. He seems very concerned about being in control of every situation and every conversation. It must be difficult to live with that much insecurity all the time.

Thursday was the first quiz and Friday was the first homework check for Latin I. Every year, I am reminded just how ill-equipped freshmen are for high school. Now, despite very deliberate and repeated instructions on how homework is checked, etc., these are (I swear to god these are real) actual quotes in the ensuing 60 seconds after announcing that I am grading their homework:

"What do I do if I did the wrong section (blank look)?"
"We're graded on this?"
"Do the answers have to be, like, right?"
"We have a workbook??"
"What was the homework?"
"What do I do if I read it, but didn't answer the questions?"

These sorts of questions make perfect sense, because the average score was a 73%. Consider also that this first homework check was deliberately an all English exercise devoted to cultural topics: read a few pages and answer corresponding questions. In other words, no language skills necessary.
Ex.
From Reading in Book: "The atrium was the main room in a typical Roman house."
Question: "Which was the main room in a typical Roman house?"

God bless 'em. They'll learn, but hopefully quickly. Their parents will learn too, because I also get a bunch of emails from parents who are stunned by such bad grades. I have to teach them too - to ask their children to show them why the grade was so bad, and (unfortunately) not to believe everything a 14 year old with an F says.

It's all a process and it happens every year. It's fun, but in a laborious way.

The real issue is how to handle the dozen or so kids that, without some serious intervention, won't have a prayer of passing. It is this group about whom I worry constantly. What can I do differently this year that will work? To be honest, I've tried a myriad of interventions in the past and very few of them have worked. I am well aware that, in the end, the student has to want to try, to study, to learn, etc. BUT, let's be real, many students just don't care. I've got to get them to care or I've got to make their lives (and get their parents to do this at home) so suffocated by my support that they'll pass just to get me off their backs. Stay tuned.

On another note, I have my AP class again first period and I love it. This year is especially neat because they are students I haven't taught since Latin I. We are in many respects meeting each other all over again. They, I think, are blown away that I am such a different teacher for AP than I was for them four years ago in Latin I. Different methods for different situations.

So, one week down and many more to come. I am excited and nervous. After 5 school days, I can put about 90% of faces with names, but who really are these faces and names? I am always fascinated by my first impressions when I look back at them after a semester. The school year is in many respects a play, a drama, and sometimes even a soap opera; what will the plot be?