February 10th, 2015
Today, we, yet again, had another delay after not having school yesterday. I find this to now be super frustrating because it completely ruins lesson plans. I plan for 84-minute classes, so only having an hour is quite frustrating.
I found myself smiling today as I realized that the students have really gotten a hang of my expectations. They came into class, picked up their warm-up activity, put in any late work in the trays without pointing it out to me, and took their homework as they left class. I was so proud.
My first class kind of angered me today, to be frank. There was a lot of chit chat and disrespect, so I found my face getting red and my expressions getting serious. I think I need to be a bit stricter with this class because it is my largest class. I also have to worry about copying with this class, which is something for which I have zero tolerance.
I also found that I really want to change my routine a little. I have been going over homework and the warm-up at the beginning of class, but that leaves little to no time for actual classroom learning. From now on, I plan on having them complete the warm-up, do the lesson, and then--if there is time--go over the homework and warm-up. If I do not get to it, I will simply have the students leave those assignments in the tray for me to take home.
I played a game with my students today that was very effective. All the students were engaged and supported each other! I loved it! With my last class, I moved seats to better facilitate learning--which then allowed for 4 groups of 4, too--and I was very pleased with the result!
La vieja and I talked a lot about literature today; I really need to start reading more! I need to read Fuentes, El beso de la mujer araña, El coronel no tiene quien le escriba, and much more! La vieja also talked to be about performance versus something else (she is going to kill me for not remembering the word), but these are different forms of assessment. I do not want students to constantly be memorizing, rehearsing and producing simply what the practiced. Otherwise, they will soon forget. I want to make sure that students can produce the language naturally and spontaneously. Food for thought. Hoping for a full day tomorrow!
Cambio y corto,
El joven
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