Academic Intervention

So, at Week 3 I already have about 20 freshmen failing my first year class (this is out of 113). For I'd say 18 of them, this is for no other reason than it has taken a lot more error than trial to figure out that they must actually do things like homework and study - imagine! That said, most have learned more quickly than in past years.

Having tried and failed in previous years to get a handle on this group of students, I decided that I would go to that last possible end. What I've done is mandate that they come in during their lunch period, eat lunch in my room, and devote the entire period to studying Latin. Last Friday was the first day of it and they were not happy about this because, of course, they view this as nothing more than punishment. I am taking away their one free time to socialize.

Friday, like I said, was miserable, in addition to 4-7 more students crowding into my already packed classroom (during their lunch, but not mine, so I'm still teaching a class), seven share a lunch period with me. Included in this group is that one student with whom I've already had many conflicts. He was really hard to handle, trying in every possible way to show me that he was the one in control of the situation. That spread to the rest and pretty soon, I was dealing with four or five very unhappy kids. I was at the end of my chain. It didn't help that five students didn't show up, which means I had to assign detentions, email parents, and track them down.

Then, today happened. Unbelievably, after just a day, I can already see the effect it is having. Even that one student began to get with the program. Perhaps they started to work because they see how much I care about their grades, or (more likely) they know that if they start passing they can go back to lunch. Regardless, a few really started to relearn and understand the concepts much better, most completed their homework, and every one of them did at least a little more work than they otherwise would have done. Perhaps I've finally figured out the key to this thing; perhaps I will finally have a semester in which I lose only one or two as opposed to ten or twelve. Man, that would be nice.

All that said, seven didn't show up today, which means more detentions assigned, more emails to parents, and more hassle.

But I can't wait until they do show up.